Dublin V Clare -- Dubs on the up again ?

Yavvy

Siege of Ennis fails to pay off for Dublin

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CLARE 3-13 DUBLIN 2-13

NHL Division 1A

STRANGE happenings in Cusack Park. The result was expected, as Clare
maintained their 100pc start in Division 1A, but afterwards the more
ebullient manager was the losing one.

"What do you think now?" Humphrey Kelleher asked in rhetorical mode
after his Dublin charges had threatened to steal a point with a
concerted late rally.

"That team is going to go places, no question about it. We proved that
we have heart - we were seven or eight points down and we didn't give
up. And we showed that we are not a one-man team."

Time will tell if Kelleher's optimism is justified. But the performance
was vastly improved on their error-strewn defeat to Galway - all this
despite the absence of their injured talisman, Conal Keaney.

Anthony Daly's post-match assessment was more downbeat.

"We struggled a bit to hang on, to be perfectly honest," the Banner boss
began. "And we wouldn't be happy overall with the level of
concentration. We should have killed the game halfway through the second
half, and halfway through the first half as well."

Several times, Clare appeared in cruise mode. They led by eight points
after 22 minutes before Dublin sprung to life, scoring 1-2 without
reply.

The second half fadeout was even more alarming. They were nine points
clear after 47 minutes; the game was seemingly over and Daly could even
afford the luxury of a triple substitution.

But then for 20 barren minutes his team failed to score. Four unanswered
points gave Dublin hope; Shane Martin's second goal after 64 minutes
brought the contest fully to life.

The home supporters, and players, were betraying signs of panic - just
as well that Alan Markham held his nerve when it mattered. He pointed a
'65 from the left wing on 68 minutes and, after Liam Ryan replied for
Dublin, Markham struck again following a pass from Barry Murphy.

There was still room for an injury-time 'Siege of Ennis' as David Curtin
dropped a '65 perilously close to Davy Fitzgerald's goal, but it was
hacked to safety and the final whistle immediately sounded.

"We should have won," Kelleher insisted. "We are fierce disappointed we
didn't win, and nobody gave us a hope."

Certainly, the pre-match auguries weren't positive for Dublin. Keaney
was a late withdrawal but this time dual dilemmas were not to blame: he
had failed to recover from a shin injury sustained against Galway.

However, Clare were also missing a host of heavyweight stars, with Brian
Lohan, Seanie McMahon and Gerry Quinn all easing back from injury while
midfielder Ollie Baker was unavailable.

Initially, Clare made light of these losses as Frank Lohan (the
goalscoring version) continued where he left off in Portlaoise. After
four minutes, he capitalised on good work by Daithí O'Connell to score
with a first-time shot - his third goal in a week - and the converted
full-forward added a point on the turn soon after.

Four Curtin points kept Dublin barely in touch, but then Clare
accelerated away again courtesy of Markham's 16th minute goal, a
superbly executed rising shot, and a brace of points from David Forde
and Colin Lynch. Cue the first Dublin comeback, aided by Martin's 29th
minute goal. He galloped unmarked onto a Liam Ryan delivery before
angling a low shot to the far corner.

Clare led by 2-8 to 1-6 at the break, and within three minutes they had
a third goal after Niall Gilligan escaped from his marker, Carl Meehan,
in the corner.

Dublin's previously porous defence improved in the final 20 minutes, but
a shock victory only briefly threatened once Martin scored his second
goal. His first effort flashed across goal, Aidan Glennon scuffed his
effort back to Martin who goaled at the third time of asking.

SCORERS - Clare: A Markham 1-5 (3f, 1 '65'), F Lohan 1-1, D Forde 0-3, N
Gilligan 1-0, C Lynch 0-2, C Plunkett, D O'Connell 0-1 each. Dublin: D
Curtin 0-8 (6f), S Martin 2-1, R Fallon, L Ryan, K Flynn, T Moore 0-1

CLARE - D Fitzgerald; D Clancy, B O'Connell, G O'Grady; C Forde, J
Reddan, P Vaughan; T Griffin, C Lynch; A Markham, C Plunkett, D
O'Connell; N Gilligan, F Lohan, D Forde. Subs: A Quinn for Gilligan
(54), B Murphy for D Forde (54), T Holland for Vaughan (50), C Harrison
for C Forde (59).

DUBLIN - B McLoughlin; D Spain, S Perkins, C Meehan; S Hiney, K Ryan, A
de Paor; D Sweeney, R Fallon; D Curtin, S Martin, L Ryan; T Moore, M
Breathnach, K Flynn. Subs: C O'Brien for Meehan (48), A Glennon for
Moore (48), J McGuirk for Glennon (65).

REF - G Harrington (Cork).

AthAnRi

Poor Clare team though. no B. Lohan, S.Mc, Jamsie. 3 huge losses. Hopefully it will stay that way. Can't stand the Banner brigade

Yavvy

my point is the death Knell was sounded for dublin after the coach left..but they dont seem to have taken backwards steps like everyone said they would. Dublin couldnt beat clare with its best team out (yet) but they nearly did with that match..and that is a good result

revelate

emm..

Waterford 6-17
Dublin 2-12

laoisfan

Kilkenny 2-14
Laois 2-10

thought laois might produce an upset....we are improving...but there still is that gap!!

i think we had 10 wides in the 1st half.....

--laoisfan

Yavvy

Originally posted by revelate
emm..

Waterford 6-17
Dublin 2-12

yes..so much for that theory huh ?

ack, back to the football then