Clare underline the fact that league is league in emphatic fashion
Clare manager Brian Lohan vocalised the old caution when asked about how little rated his All-Ireland champions appeared to have been going into their first championship fixture of the new season.
“We hadn’t played well all year and Cork had played so well in all of their matches but league is league and championship is championship, so we always felt that we had a shout and we had a chance and that’s how it turned out.”
Sunday in Ennis turned out to be the fifth successive championship encounter with Cork in which Clare have been unbeaten. The most recent defeat was the Limerick qualifier in 2021, which hung by as thin a thread as Tony Kelly went one-on-one with Patrick Collins at the very death and the Cork goalkeeper pulling off a super save.
In the prematch discussion, Irish Times hurling analyst Nicky English made reference to the point that Cork’s defence was unchanged since last year. That maybe turned out a more reliable reference point when set against the county’s six-goal beanfeast in Ennis during this year’s league.
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Sunday was the third successive championship match in which Clare have had to chase big deficits and gone on to score three goals in the fixture – each of course, vital on Sunday in securing what looked an unlikely draw when they trailed by 12.
What made it more impressive was that it was achieved in the absence of Shane O’Donnell, who was man-of-the-match in last year’s Munster meeting and who led the revival in July’s All-Ireland final.
On two of those three occasions, Cork also lost a player to a red card – Seán O’Donoghue last year in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Shane Barrett on Sunday.
Lohan’s point is at its most relevant when league is compared to championship. Last season, Clare managed one goal in their entire regulation league programme (plus four between the semi-final and final) and 13 in the championship over seven matches.
They scored four goals against Waterford and three in each of the Cork fixtures.
This year in a relegation campaign, the All-Ireland champions scored just three goals – a total they emulated in one match at the weekend. – Seán Moran
GAA+ do top job capturing drama of Páirc Uí Chaoimh thriller
In a game of such ferocious intensity, between two teams of great rivalry, and with a remarkable 50 scores in the end, it would be difficult not to make it all look good on the telly. Or indeed whatever is your choice of screen when viewing championship matches only available on the streaming platform GAA+.
These happened to include Saturday’s Munster football semi-final between Cork and Kerry at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, a game which against all almost expectations went right down to the wire, Kerry eventually winning by two points after extra-time, 3-21 to Cork’s 1-25, momentum madly swinging in both directions throughout.
Some people might only be coming to GAA+ for the first time this season, the streaming platform formerly known as GAAGO, then a joint enterprise between the GAA and RTÉ. Now wholly owned by Croke Park, it has the rights to 40 championship matches this season, for an all-in cost of €79 (GAA members can avail of a 10 per cent discount via Foireann).
Joe O’Connor’s thundering goal in the 86th minute ultimately gave Kerry the winning edge, still Cork had two late chances to equalise, narrowly missing a couple of two-pointers which would have meant the outcome was decided on penalties. There was already enough drama for one night.
It was all captured brilliantly by GAA+, commentator Liam Aherne, joined by Marc Ó Sé from Kerry and Bríd Stack from Cork, both of whom were left open to some natural bias, which only added to the sense of the occasion.
Visually it looks good too, the scoreboard lower centre screen, the clock just above it. (Note: why do RTÉ insist on removing the score moments after the game ends?) There are also some nice graphics, the words “goal” or “two-pointer” running across the lower screen, whenever scored, as if adding to the celebration of all that.
Even in the lashing rain, there was no dampening Aisling O’Reilly’s enthusiasm on the sideline, Michael Meehan from Galway giving some precise insight too. It may lack the million different camera angles of say Sky Sports, but GAA+ does exactly what it says on the tin.
There will always be the old argument that a game like Cork-Kerry should have been on RTÉ, who can only cover so many championship games in one season. RTÉ had already opted to broadcast the Leinster hurling championship clash between Kilkenny and Galway earlier on Saturday, and the flip side of that argument is that this fantastic game wouldn’t have been seen anywhere outside of Páirc Uí Chaoimh without GAA+. – Ian O’Riordan
Bannigan turns air blue over Donegal’s opening score
Gabriel Bannigan, the Monaghan manager in his first season in the Bainisteoir gilet, is one of the more mild-mannered and reasonable recruits to the sideline class. So it was a bit like hearing the parish priest curse when, after his team’s defeat to Donegal yesterday, he took a breath and said, “Pardon my French, but that’s f***ing bullshit.”
Bannigan’s brief use of what Bill O’Herlihy once so beautifully termed “an inexactitude” was a reference to Donegal’s first score of the game, a two-point free by Michael Murphy. It came about because of a breach of the 3 v 4 rule. Bannigan’s case is that two players broke the line, in this case Ryan O’Toole of Monaghan and Michael Langan of Donegal.
“The one that frustrated me even more was the one in the first half with the three men up, we were done for a breach and Michael Murphy got a two-pointer off that. Donegal had a breach in that very moment, a clear breach. But for some reason the ball was taken up for them. Murphy took it back out and stuck it over the bar for two points.
“If it had to be at the other end and Rory [Beggan] stuck it over the bar that’s a four-point swing. But if both teams breached it should have been a throw up, not a free to one team surely to God?”
Looking back at the footage, it’s clear that the call was made by linesman David Gough rather than referee David Coldrick. O’Toole and Langan certainly both broke the halfway line. The difference, if you want to be ultra-picky about it, was that Langan realised his mistake and quickly retreated back into the Donegal half. O’Toole didn’t – and in fact was one of the Monaghan players alerting Gough to the fact that Langan had breached the line without understanding that he was doing the same himself.
Gough appears to have decided that Langan’s was an accidental breach and that he didn’t go more than four metres across the line before retreating, whereas O’Toole went deeper into the Monaghan half, back inside the 65. So on balance, though a throw-up wouldn’t have outraged anyone, a Donegal free was probably the right call. It was definitely a crucial one – Donegal won by two in the end.
If it highlights anything, it’s the nonsense of being able to bring a 20-metre free back outside the arc and turning it into a two-point shot. In a situation where both teams break a rule – and both do so inadvertently – it’s patently ludicrous that one side can be punished to the effect of 66 per cent of a goal. That has to change. – Malachy Clerkin
Quaid’s return shows no careless whispers coming from Limerick camp
One of the stories of the weekend was Nickie Quaid’s return in goal for Limerick, just five months after suffering a cruciate ligament injury. The initial projections were that he wouldn’t be back in a Limerick jersey this season unless Limerick reached Croke Park for an All-Ireland semi-final at the beginning of July, and even that would be a stretch.
Just as remarkable, though, was that not the slightest whisper about his recovery leaked into the public domain before the weekend’s championship line-ups were published by the GAA at noon on Friday. Every team trains behind closed doors now, but that is not an absolute vaccine against information getting out.
In this case, Quaid had been in full training for three weeks, John Kiely said after the Tipperary game. Everybody was sworn to secrecy.
“Listen, there’s great unity and togetherness in our group,” said Kiely. “This is a reflection of that, I think. We’ve 62 people involved. They all have families and partners and work colleagues, and friends. It’s a really strong piece from our group, I think, in the preparation for the championship. I take my hat off to everybody involved.
“You don’t want to be putting anybody under pressure either. You’re only taking one session at a time. If somebody gets through one session, you’re waiting for the next one, for the next one. Who’s to say on Friday night that we would have been back to an alternative selection. You just have to trust everybody around you. Fair play to everyone involved.”
How did Quaid play? Like he’d never been away. – Denis Walsh
Dublin’s forward depth bodes well for Leinster campaign
Dublin got the start they needed in the Leinster hurling championship on Saturday, in more ways than one. Beating Offaly at home sets up next Saturday against Wexford – they would have always targeted two home wins to start the round-robin and eking out a win against a coming Offaly side will do them the world of good.
But even better for rookie manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin was the fact that his match-winners were attackers who came off the bench in a time of need. It’s not so long ago that Dublin hurling had no depth to speak of, particularly in the forwards. A double injury blow like they got on Saturday, where they lost Danny Sutcliffe after 23 minutes and Donal Burke at half-time, would have crippled them.
Instead, they brought on four forwards over the course of the game and two of them were the winning of the game. Ronan Hayes came on for Sutcliffe and ended with 1-1. John Hetherton brought the house down with his rousing late score from out on the left wing. AJ Murphy threw into the pot as well as time ticked down. Na Fianna All-Ireland winner Colin Currie didn’t even get off the bench.
Ó Ceallacháin has a range of options now when Dublin need a score. Wherever the year ends, that’s progress. – Malachy Clerkin
