Clare GAA discussion thread

Amprodude

Noveight wrote: »

Took last years all ireland champions almost three hours of hurling to beat them by a single score. There are promising signs there, I believe the future is bright for this current group.

I think the same was thought in 2013 when they won the All Ireland. They werent seen again until 2018. Doesn't work like that all the time.

Noveight

Amprodude wrote: »

I think the same was thought in 2013 they won the All Ireland. werent seen again until 2018.

Time is all that will tell, raw talent is certainly there. Bit more consistency and a better sense of direction and we’d be motoring.

awec

Clare's problem is in the top six inches. More composure and better decision making. The talent appears to be there.

Amprodude

Noveight wrote: »

Time is all that will tell, raw talent is certainly there. Bit more consistency and a better sense of direction and we’d be motoring.

talent is certainly there and Clare are a good team.

Hidalgo

Amprodude wrote: »

First 25 mins on both games they were destroyed and 2 games v Cork this year. They are very beatable.

Every team is very beatable. Thats what makes this year's championship so exciting.
Before last weekend I'd have rated Galway as a step ahead of the rest, and even a few steps ahead of Clare.

BloodyBill

Yeah Clare are very talented. No lack of ability. It's just the top 6 inches like the above poster said. I have no problem with O Donnells ,Galvins, Moreys decision making but some of the backs are silly as goats.

sliabh 1956

Limerick will win the All Ireland unless Galway start hurling for the whole 70 mins
Clare had them on the ropes and Limerick are far better than Clare at this moment in time especially when you take their bench into consideration. Galway seem to think that they have a divine right to win games it must be very fustrating for a galway fan to watch their team play with a nonchalant approach to the game at times. Limerick might not be so accommodating the next day

Reputable Rog

Clare team( some of them) dropped to the train station by bus, the rest walked. Train to Limerick and then bus to Ennis. Bizzare.
Galway with outriders out the Holycross road, what in the name of god is going on?

deaddonkey15

We really do play some suicidal hurling at times. Couple that with our usual tendency to hit a shocking amount of wides and it makes it very difficult to win any championship match. Yet there was only 1 point between us today. Very frustrating. If we could actually put together a solid 70 minute performance we'd blow away any side in the country.

I genuinely believe we'd have won the All-Ireland if we beat Galway today. Very disappointing.

BloodyBill

Clare always travel by train when they can.

BloodyBill

What happened David McInerney? He used be so good and now is a liability. Pushing his man in the back for no reason...giving hospital passes left,right and centre. I think he needs a long holiday.

windy shepard henderson

Reputable Rog wrote: »

Clare team( some of them) dropped to the train station by bus, the rest walked. Train to Limerick and then bus to Ennis. Bizzare.
Galway with outriders out the Holycross road, what in the name of god is going on?

they usually travel by train as mentioned above , it probably makes more sense given how bad traffic can be at times down there

meriwether

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

We really do play some suicidal hurling at times. Couple that with our usual tendency to hit a shocking amount of wides and it makes it very difficult to win any championship match. Yet there was only a 1 point between us today. Very frustrating. If we could actually put together a solid 70 minute performance we'd blow away any side in the country.

I genuinely believe we'd have won the All-Ireland if we beat Galway today. Very disappointing.

Have you considered that you can't put together a performance for 70 minutes?

You've been beaten three times this year, in exactly the same circumstances.

deaddonkey15

meriwether wrote: »

Have you considered that you can't put together a performance for 70 minutes?

You've been beaten three times this year, in exactly the same circumstances.

I have and I've posted here before about that.

I wouldn't say the defeats were exactly the same circumstances either.

BloodyBill

meriwether wrote: »

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

We really do play some suicidal hurling at times. Couple that with our usual tendency to hit a shocking amount of wides and it makes it very difficult to win any championship match. Yet there was only a 1 point between us today. Very frustrating. If we could actually put together a solid 70 minute performance we'd blow away any side in the country.

I genuinely believe we'd have won the All-Ireland if we beat Galway today. Very disappointing.

Have you considered that you can't put together a performance for 70 minutes?

You've been beaten three times this year, in exactly the same circumstances.

Clare are frustrating to follow. We've known for years that they play with a freedom that spills over at times to sloppiness. The wides situation is something I'd hold management responsible for. It's been an issue for years and they hit them each and every game. Babs said each and every ball hit should have a message on it. What's wrote on Clare's crazy wides?...'hail Mary's' maybe

windy shepard henderson

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

We really do play some suicidal hurling at times. Couple that with our usual tendency to hit a shocking amount of wides and it makes it very difficult to win any championship match. Yet there was only a 1 point between us today. Very frustrating. If we could actually put together a solid 70 minute performance we'd blow away any side in the country.

I genuinely believe we'd have won the All-Ireland if we beat Galway today. Very disappointing.

i think we need to rotate the personal more often , rory hayes came on for patrick o connor and had a fine 20 minutes , it makes no sense playing our starting championship 15 in the league games lads must be made work harder for a place in the team

all in all though you could have no complaints today , the best team won , both teams hit serious amount of wides , clare 18 while galway hit 14 , canning was outstanding , as was padraig mannion ,and david burke , we fund it incredibly hard at times trying to deal with galway's physicality hence the bad start again

we fought hard for the rest of the game but coming up short , we never took the lead in the game which speeks for its self

i taught shane o'donnell was excellent for us along with a solid performance by colm galvin , his brother scored 2 points off the bench and probably deserves more game time too , was impressed with rory hayes cameo also

we would have taken his at the start of the year , its progress and solid progress at that we need to build on it now over the next 3 or 4 years as the the majority of the panel hit there mid to late 20s

deaddonkey15

BloodyBill wrote: »

Clare are frustrating to follow. We've known for years that they play with a freedom that spills over at times to sloppiness. The wides situation is something I'd hold management responsible for. It's been an issue for years and they hit them each and every game. Babs said each and every ball hit should have a message on it. What's wrote on Clare's crazy wides?...'hail Mary's' maybe

Not sure if I'd agree with that. Silly wides have been ingrained in this Clare side under different management teams. I think the players really need to have a look at their shot selection, whilst some need a bit of work on their accuracy. We have a bad habit of taking too long to settle in to big games as well. It always seems like a case of damage limitation until our players start to find their rhythm. Galway were pulling away by 6 or 7 points in the first half today and I wasn't really worried because I knew we had yet to get going. It would be great if we could actually get going from the very start.

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

i think we need to rotate the personal more often , rory hayes came on for patrick o connor and had a fine 20 minutes , it makes no sense playing our starting championship 15 in the league games lads must be made work harder for a place in the team

all in all though you could have no complaints today , the best team won , both teams hit serious amount of wides , clare 18 while galway hit 14 , canning was outstanding , as was padraig mannion ,and david burke , we fund it incredibly hard at times trying to deal with galway's physicality hence the bad start again

we fought hard for the rest of the game but coming up short , we never took the lead in the game which speeks for its self

i taught shane o'donnell was excellent for us along with a solid performance by colm galvin , his brother scored 2 points off the bench and probably deserves more game time too , was impressed with rory hayes cameo also

we would have taken his at the start of the year , its progress and solid progress at that we need to build on it now over the next 3 or 4 years as the the majority of the panel hit there mid to late 20s

Yeah some more rotation would be good to see. It doesn't seem as though our starting team have to work too hard to keep their place. In fairness I thought they were quick to replace Reidy today who was poor, and I liked that they started Fitzgerald after his impressive cameo last week. Shanagher certainly give us a bit more of a presence and aerial threat in the forwards when he come on.Hopefully he can be starting games next year. Wasn't too impressed with Podge again today.

Can't have any complaints as you said. It was there for us today if we'd shown a bit more composure and played a bit smarter.


Out of curiosity, what did people think of Kelly's long ball at the end of the game? From where I was sitting it looked as though he could have carried it further and taken the shot on himself? Or did he think that we needed a goal? The high ball in to Shanagher seemed a very poor decision.

Clareman

Home after stopping for a few pints, I'll put a proper summery together when I've time to reflect, all I'll say now is Tony Kelly can go off on his J1 now if he wants, he cost us the game today

BloodyBill

Clareman wrote: »

Home after stopping for a few pints, I'll put a proper summery together when I've time to reflect, all I'll say now is Tony Kelly can go off on his J1 now if he wants, he cost us the game today

Agreed 100%. Cody would have sorted out Kelly years ago. He would have dropped him when he hit 3 or more inexcusable wides in a row. Ultimately Kelly would have learned. He was shocking today . He can't win his own ball and that hopefull punt into Shanagher was a disgrace.
Our full back line is a joke. Pat O Connor and McInerney are two 'Calamity Cal' type figures. Two managers are average aswell..Rory Hayes looks like he should have played all year. We've left an All Ireland slip. Limerick are breathing a sigh of relief. They 'll beat that Galway team well. Galway are luke an old punch drunk boxer waiting to be put on the canvas .

BloodyBill

Clareman wrote: »

Home after stopping for a few pints, I'll put a proper summery together when I've time to reflect, all I'll say now is Tony Kelly can go off on his J1 now if he wants, he cost us the game today

Agreed 100%. Cody would have sorted out Kelly years ago. He would have dropped him when he hit 3 or more inexcusable wides in a row. Ultimately Kelly would have learned. He was shocking today . He can't win his own ball and that hopefull punt into Shanagher was a disgrace.
Our full back line is a joke. Pat O Connor and McInerney are two 'Calamity Cal' type figures. Two managers are average aswell..Rory Hayes looks like he should have played all year. We've left an All Ireland slip. Limerick are breathing a sigh of relief. They 'll beat that Galway team well. Galway are like an old punch drunk boxer waiting to be put on the canvas .

Reputable Rog

BloodyBill wrote: »

Agreed 100%. Cody would have sorted out Kelly years ago. He would have dropped him when he hit 3 or more inexcusable wides in a row. Ultimately Kelly would have learned. He was shocking today . He can't win his own ball and that hopefull punt into Shanagher was a disgrace.
Our full back line is a joke. Pat O Connor and McInerney are two 'Calamity Cal' type figures. Two managers are average aswell..Rory Hayes looks like he should have played all year. We've left an All Ireland slip. Limerick are breathing a sigh of relief. They 'll beat that Galway team well. Galway are like an old punch drunk boxer waiting to be put on the canvas .

They won't, much I'd like to see them win it.

windy shepard henderson

kelly is a frustrating hurler at times , he very rarely enters rucks , usually stands out side them waiting for one of the grafters to win him the ball , liam sheedy drives me mad on rte with his constant talk of get the ball to tony kelly , or clare are not providing him with enough quality ball, the fact is if he is a midfielder he has to win his own ball especially the breaks , he is probably suited to the half forward line but he is no target for a goal keeper to aim at and dose not win enough breaks in this area of the field either

he has taken us out of many holes down through the years but his decision making lets him down at times , what frustrates people is no matter how bad a game he has he never gets called ashore , he probably should have been today

mullinr2

I am an outsider from Kilkenny living in Clare. I wasn't going to mention this players name but some posters have already gave their opinions on him. Lads Tony Kelly keeps letting ye down on the big occasions. He is meant to be yer Joe Canning yer TJ Reid. He wouldn't lace their boots.
I used to live close to his family home and when Kilkenny drew against Galway in 2012, his dad mentioned how lucky Kilkenny were. It wasn't luck. Henry Shefflin dragged us back into that game. When leaders are needed players like Shefflin, Canning and TJ stand up. Tony Kelly doesn't.

Clareman

Right, today's performance sums up EVERYTHING that's wrong with this set of Clare hurlers, this isn't a set of players with potential, this is a set of players who won an All Ireland 5 years ago. Not only could they have won today, they SHOULD have won, they held the All Ireland champions to 10 scores in the first half and still went in the break down by double scores, our half forwards were non existent. For the whole first half stupid ball was being sent into a 2 man forward line who just broke the ball down to Galway defenders, they couldn't do anything else, they were out manned, our half forwards were completely missing.

David McInerney's distribution was terrible, he seemed more intent to pick out a Galway player than do anything else with the ball, his striking was extremely poor. I thought Cleary was excellent, he played very well.

Now, for the 2 reasons we lost the match, Tony Kelly and Peter Duggan. Kelly just went missing anytime he was needed, he seemed more intent to live on the fringes than getting stuck in, at the end of the match where was our start forward/midfielder? He was BEHIND his full backline hiding from play, he seemed shocked when he got the ball, but when he did get it you'd think he'd do something with it, but no, he did the most idiotic thing possible and hit a high ball into the forwards, it was clear that any low driven ball into the forwards would have resulted in at worst a free. Peter Duggan, first terrible thing was the sideline at the end of the first half, he might as well as driven the ball out himself for Galway, he free taking was of poor standard today and his sidelines were worse, he missed 2 frees that should have been scored and put 3 sidelines wide.

awec

Clareman wrote: »

Right, today's performance sums up EVERYTHING that's wrong with this set of Clare hurlers, this isn't a set of players with potential, this is a set of players who won an All Ireland 5 years ago. Not only could they have won today, they SHOULD have won, they held the All Ireland champions to 10 scores in the first half and still went in the break down by double scores, our half forwards were non existent. For the whole first half stupid ball was being sent into a 2 man forward line who just broke the ball down to Galway defenders, they couldn't do anything else, they were out manned, our half forwards were completely missing.

David McInerney's distribution was terrible, he seemed more intent to pick out a Galway player than do anything else with the ball, his striking was extremely poor. I thought Cleary was excellent, he played very well.

Now, for the 2 reasons we lost the match, Tony Kelly and Peter Duggan. Kelly just went missing anytime he was needed, he seemed more intent to live on the fringes than getting stuck in, at the end of the match where was our start forward/midfielder? He was BEHIND his full backline hiding from play, he seemed shocked when he got the ball, but when he did get it you'd think he'd do something with it, but no, he did the most idiotic thing possible and hit a high ball into the forwards, it was clear that any low driven ball into the forwards would have resulted in at worst a free. Peter Duggan, first terrible thing was the sideline at the end of the first half, he might as well as driven the ball out himself for Galway, he free taking was of poor standard today and his sidelines were worse, he missed 2 frees that should have been scored and put 3 sidelines wide.

Duggan contributed a lot, including a goal.

Kelly did absolutely nothing.

Not fair to lump the two together.

Clareman

awec wrote: »

Duggan contributed a lot, including a goal.

Kelly did absolutely nothing.

Not fair to lump the two together.

Duggan did a lot and contributed a lot but his dead ball play today help cost us the match.

Davys Fits

Unlike previous macthes Kelly got a lot of possesion today. But his use of the ball was the worst Ive seen from him. He ceratinaly had the right ideas but his execution was terrible.
SOD all is forgiven, great game today.

awec

Clareman wrote: »

Duggan did a lot and contributed a lot but his dead ball play today help cost us the match.

Yea I suppose. The last free was pretty unforgivable.

Clare must have had 5 good chances to draw level today and they fluffed every one of them.

Clareman

Galvin had 3 bad wides, Hoey had a poor wide as well, Duggan a couple more, we just shat ourselves when we were close to drawing level

deaddonkey15

Clareman wrote: »

Right, today's performance sums up EVERYTHING that's wrong with this set of Clare hurlers, this isn't a set of players with potential, this is a set of players who won an All Ireland 5 years ago. Not only could they have won today, they SHOULD have won, they held the All Ireland champions to 10 scores in the first half and still went in the break down by double scores, our half forwards were non existent. For the whole first half stupid ball was being sent into a 2 man forward line who just broke the ball down to Galway defenders, they couldn't do anything else, they were out manned, our half forwards were completely missing.

David McInerney's distribution was terrible, he seemed more intent to pick out a Galway player than do anything else with the ball, his striking was extremely poor. I thought Cleary was excellent, he played very well.

Now, for the 2 reasons we lost the match, Tony Kelly and Peter Duggan. Kelly just went missing anytime he was needed, he seemed more intent to live on the fringes than getting stuck in, at the end of the match where was our start forward/midfielder? He was BEHIND his full backline hiding from play, he seemed shocked when he got the ball, but when he did get it you'd think he'd do something with it, but no, he did the most idiotic thing possible and hit a high ball into the forwards, it was clear that any low driven ball into the forwards would have resulted in at worst a free. Peter Duggan, first terrible thing was the sideline at the end of the first half, he might as well as driven the ball out himself for Galway, he free taking was of poor standard today and his sidelines were worse, he missed 2 frees that should have been scored and put 3 sidelines wide.

I agree with you but I think it's a bit harsh to single out just Kelly and Duggan. Podge and Reidy were very ineffective today I thought. Fitzgerald disappointing and Malone anonymous when he came on. The backs weren't great either, though I have a degree of sympathy there because if they guy their marking is simply bigger and stronger and his team are giving him the right ball - as Galway often were - then it's always going to be an uphill battle to keep them quiet.

Clareman

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

I agree with you but I think it's a bit harsh to single out just Kelly and Duggan. Podge and Reidy were very ineffective today I thought. Fitzgerald disappointing and Malone anonymous when he came on. The backs weren't great either, though I have a degree of sympathy there because if they guy their marking is simply bigger and stronger and his team are giving him the right ball - as Galway often were - then it's always going to be an uphill battle to keep them quiet.

I think Fitzzgerald proved himself to be a sub, Malone did his usual grafting self, Podge I don't know what role he was supposed to be playing, Reidy wasn't at the races. But none of them are a former hurler of the year who is supposed to be a leader of the team, he can take his new flashy Skoda but disappears when is count, the opposition centre forward scored 8 points, 3 from play, ours scored 1

Reputable Rog

I think each player tried their hearts out. Yes there should have been changes, yes we could have won.
We're in a good place,Cork and Tipp at home next season, all to play for.

Clareman

Reputable Rog wrote: »

I think each player tried their hearts out. Yes there should have been changes, yes we could have won.
We're in a good place,Cork and Tipp at home next season, all to play for.

I don't think they did and that's the problem, I really don't think Kelly tried his heart out, he hid when the tough got going and it wasn't the first time. This season we played 70 minutes twice (against Limerick and Waterford), the rest of the year we only played part of the game.

small town girl

I've said it before, and will say it again, you all see far more in the game than I do and understand the mistakes and poor performances much more than I do.

I am a simple fan, I love the pace and skill of the game and am always so proud to support our team.

There were plenty of mistakes today, I won't deny that. I will say though that we have had a fantastic year with the team.

The hurling we've seen from them this year has been exciting and passionate, I'm disappointed tonight; but ultimately am delighted with how the team performed in 2018. There is plenty of room for improvement but plenty more reasons to be excited about 2019.

chinguetti

As a Waterford person and experienced in seeing matches go away/thrown away from us, that's an All Ireland that ye threw away. Some awful wides and awful decisions taken on the ball such as driving high balls into small forwards with acres of spaces esp in the first half. Galway are a bit flaking since the Leinster final for some reason and yer neighbours have a right chance.

deaddonkey15

Clareman wrote: »

Galvin had 3 bad wides, Hoey had a poor wide as well, Duggan a couple more, we just shat ourselves when we were close to drawing level

It's almost a psychological thing with this team at this stage. It's as if they just don't believe that they can take charge in big games. Do they feel as though there's less pressure and 'nothing to lose' when they are chasing teams and therefore play a better quality of hurling? They showed great character to rescue the game last week, but never pulled away from Galway in normal time. Went two points up in extra time,started hitting more wides and ultimately needed a last gasp equaliser.

Today they gave Galway another head start, then played great hurling to get themselves back level but not once could they edge in front by even a point.

They actually started well in the Munster final and were playing Cork off the park. Then with only 1 or 2 minutes to go to half time it's as though they collectively realised that they were in somewhat uncharted territory - Clare beating a powerhouse like Cork by 8 points in a Munster final - and proceeded to bottle it and return to the status quo. Bit of fight shown at the end to get a goal and put a gloss on the defeat. Had that goal been scored before half time instead of Cork's one things may have panned out differently.

Even in the Tipp game they only took the lead late on - probably a good thing as they didn't have enough time to throw it away. They gave Wexford more than enough opportunities to get back into the game down in Cork but their shooting let them down.

It just seems that, mentally with this Clare team, they're well capable of showing some character and fight to get themselves back into a game but they hardly ever show a real ruthlessness to put a game to bed. It's incredibly frustrating.

keeponhurling

For any other player, if they are playing badly or off the pace, they will be subbed.

I guess with Kelly there is always the hope he can do something, so he's left on and it annoys supporters.

It's a tricky one. He could hit 3 wides, yet nail the next 3. Similarly he can be anonymous and then pop up with a brilliant score.

Kristopherus

Clareman wrote: »

Home after stopping for a few pints, I'll put a proper summery together when I've time to reflect, all I'll say now is Tony Kelly can go off on his J1 now if he wants, he cost us the game today

Home without any drink, bar water:D:D:D. Had a hell of a time with traffic backups starting at Birr, then a 5km backup into roscrea. All parking out the Templemore Rd in Thurles was occupied out to 3kms. It was bloody half time when I got into the the Killanin end:mad:.

windy shepard henderson

keeponhurling wrote: »

For any other player, if they are playing badly or off the pace, they will be subbed.

I guess with Kelly there is always the hope he can do something, so he's left on and it annoys supporters.

It's a tricky one. He could hit 3 wides, yet nail the next 3. Similarly he can be anonymous and then pop up with a brilliant score.

true but the same could be said for david reidy who was excellent all year but subbed after 30 minutes , not his fault padraic mannion was excellent on him , but kelly struggled all day and struggled for most of the year , i am not forgetting how he can be i just dont think he deserves to stay on the field if he is playing bad

windy shepard henderson

Kristopherus wrote: »

Home without any drink, bar water:D:D:D. Had a hell of a time with traffic backups starting at Birr, then a 5km backup into roscrea. All parking out the Templemore Rd in Thurles was occupied out to 3kms. It was bloody half time when I got into the the Killanin end:mad:.

i think some of the supporters from galway were very naive in there planning for traveling south today , i met several that came in at half time or before it , you need a plan B when traveling to big games

if you are stuck heading into templemore you will see 2 or 3 signs for clonmore take one of them and they will bing you into templemore , when you get to templemore take a left for loughmore (noel and john mcgrath country) and when you arrive in loughmore village go left and take the next right and it will lead you into thurles at the munster hotel side , go right and it will bring you back on the main road just outside thurles about 4 or 5 miles away ,

thurles is full of small roads leading into the town have a look on google maps before you plan your next journey but beware they are a minefield if you dont know the areas

windy shepard henderson

Clareman wrote: »

Galvin had 3 bad wides, Hoey had a poor wide as well, Duggan a couple more, we just shat ourselves when we were close to drawing level

remember yesterday i said if we would lose it would be by the minimum

galway are excellent at the moment but they are 5 years ahead of us in terms of average age plus if we continue on the current path we will join them on number 5 ,

i am not going to be too heavy on any player given how much we put in this year , we need heavy rotation next year and kelly included in that yes but no player this year in a clare jersey let us down ,

there is an old Mexican saying form emiliano zapata from the mexican revolution of "¡Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"

it means "I'd prefer to die standing, than to live always on my knees"

i honastly swear by this saying , it sums up our year bar one or two bad calls today we died on our feet ,give credit where its due , we would have taken this at the start of the year , we will get stronger from this trust me

caddy16

Clareman wrote: »

Home after stopping for a few pints, I'll put a proper summery together when I've time to reflect, all I'll say now is Tony Kelly can go off on his J1 now if he wants, he cost us the game today

Pathetic comment

BloodyBill

awec wrote: »

Clareman wrote: »

Right, today's performance sums up EVERYTHING that's wrong with this set of Clare hurlers, this isn't a set of players with potential, this is a set of players who won an All Ireland 5 years ago. Not only could they have won today, they SHOULD have won, they held the All Ireland champions to 10 scores in the first half and still went in the break down by double scores, our half forwards were non existent. For the whole first half stupid ball was being sent into a 2 man forward line who just broke the ball down to Galway defenders, they couldn't do anything else, they were out manned, our half forwards were completely missing.

David McInerney's distribution was terrible, he seemed more intent to pick out a Galway player than do anything else with the ball, his striking was extremely poor. I thought Cleary was excellent, he played very well.

Now, for the 2 reasons we lost the match, Tony Kelly and Peter Duggan. Kelly just went missing anytime he was needed, he seemed more intent to live on the fringes than getting stuck in, at the end of the match where was our start forward/midfielder? He was BEHIND his full backline hiding from play, he seemed shocked when he got the ball, but when he did get it you'd think he'd do something with it, but no, he did the most idiotic thing possible and hit a high ball into the forwards, it was clear that any low driven ball into the forwards would have resulted in at worst a free. Peter Duggan, first terrible thing was the sideline at the end of the first half, he might as well as driven the ball out himself for Galway, he free taking was of poor standard today and his sidelines were worse, he missed 2 frees that should have been scored and put 3 sidelines wide.

Duggan contributed a lot, including a goal.

Kelly did absolutely nothing.

Not fair to lump the two together.

Yes Duggan showed for the ball time and time again. But he isn't clever on the ball. That sideline from the impossible angle that he blazed wide was a sad effort. At least hit it across the 21. He's a one man band for Clooney and passing is an after thought for him. I like his honesty but he has the potential to go through his whole career as a 'raw recruit'.
At this level Clare's joint managers don't seem to realise that cutting down on mistakes is the key to victory. For two clever men that's shocking. Decision making has left Clare down time and time again. I'd say the video makes horrible viewing. I'm not going to take from a fine Galway side and they missed a truckload aswell. But we had the ref on our side and still couldn't get over the line. Will next year be any different?? Unless the decision making problem is tackled I don't think so.

Clareman

The Galway half forward line scored 0-13 yesterday, 0-8 from play, ours scored 1-7, 1-1 from play, to me that's where the game was lost by Clare. I haven't re-watched the game and I don't think I will, but can someone explain to me what was the thinking of leaving the opposition centre back unmarked for the first half when he was replacing another player? Surely the tactic to start with yesterday was man on man

deaddonkey15

Clareman wrote: »

The Galway half forward line scored 0-13 yesterday, 0-8 from play, ours scored 1-7, 1-1 from play, to me that's where the game was lost by Clare. I haven't re-watched the game and I don't think I will, but can someone explain to me what was the thinking of leaving the opposition centre back unmarked for the first half when he was replacing another player? Surely the tactic to start with yesterday was man on man

Very easy to say that in hindsight though. Playing a sweeper last week was key to us remaining in the game and not getting annihilated. If we went man on man from the off yesterday and got hammered we'd be wondering why we didn't drop a man back again.

Clareman

deaddonkey15 wrote: »

Very easy to say that in hindsight though. Playing a sweeper last week was key to us remaining in the game and not getting annihilated. If we went man on man from the off yesterday and got hammered we'd be wondering why we didn't drop a man back again.

Going man on man held Galway to 1-9 in the first half so from that point of view it worked, but we only scored 6 times ourselves, nearly all from frees. We adjusted last week and brought Galvin back which worked, surely with a new centre back it was an opportunity to attack them and if it didn't work after 15 minutes make the change?

awec

I think the Clare wides in the first half are making it look worse than it was. You really should have been going in at half time much closer, only for some very poor attempts.

Keano

Don't want to read any reports just yet as it still hurts. Saw the player's leave yesterday after the game and they looked dejected. All I keep thinking is that a post kept us in the championship and it knocked us out too

Clareman

Whatever about the wides from attempts, some of the wides and turnovers because of bad decisions was terrible, this was summed up by Duggan's sideline at the end of the first half. Players didn't seem to be awake at the start either, couple of times players ran out of space on the sideline by mis-reading the flight of the ball.

deaddonkey15

I think we definitely need to focus on sideline strategies now as they are becoming an important part of the game. Unless you have Joe Canning in your team, taking on the shot from a sideline is going to result in wides most of the time. I was watching a Clare sideline yesterday on the opposite side of the field to me (Duggan's wing in the first half) and Reidy dropped back almost into midfield leaving oceans of space out on his wing. One of the supporters nearby even wondered out loud where Reidy was going. It seems to me, if you have the capability of putting serious height and distance onto a sideline then it would have been better to play that crossfield ball into the space voided by Reidy for runners to get on the end of. Going for the score seems like such a low percentage option.