Clare GAA Discussion - 2024 All Ireland Hurling Champions

On paper......

Can hardly play as badly in the 2nd half. Only for malone scoring and all round general energy we would be in serious trouble

As much as I love watching Tony Kelly play he'd drive you nuts at times, one of the greediest players out there!!! What is wrong with alot of our players they can't just play an easy pass to a free man, instead they take on the harder option and get no reward.. Some of our wides today we're terrible.

Should he pass to Shanagher more often you think?

Yeah I think the return we got from our inside forwards was very poor. Shanagher ultimately this year was more woeful that effective. The fact we only took him off on the 65th minute when he was so poor kind of shows how over-reliant we are on him to be the direct outlet for us. But Lohan really needs a plan B for next year as while Shanagher has some good days, he equally has woefully ineffective days and you can’t afford to carry passengers at this level (which is what he was today). It was costly.

Absolutely not unless he's goal bound, he was terrible today!! What I'm saying is Tony had to pass to the man in a better position. Don't get me wrong, he can put them over from anywhere but when he runs down a dead end, recycling the ball is better than a 50/50 chance of it going over.. Some of McCarthy's misses today were inexcusable.. Have to agree with letowski above, our puckouts have always been an issue.. it's a real pity SOD wasn't go to go, glad to hear he's back pucking a ball at least..

Cork got one goal from a bad clare sideline and Cork got the last goal 30 seconds after clare goal chance from cooney. Just didn't have the bit of luck today.

Conlon had a mixed game, some poor distribution but also some good inceptions.

Cleary and malone good game and season. Hard to believe there was a time when supporters didn't rate them.

Rodgers will have learned alot from today, in his defence the ball into him wasnt great.

I think now that the dust has settled, these next couple of months are of huge importance to Clare GAA.

Look, there has been a huge amount of negativity off the field, but with the committee's strategic development plan due to be released in September, there is an opportunity there rebuild and start moving forward. It's vital that the county board now, heed the findings and objectives of the 5 year plan and put in place the structures required for Clare GAA to succeed in the future. There will be likely criticisms in their findings, but I hope the county board take them on board and implement the objectives as required.

The other thing I feel must be a major priority is extending Brian Lohan's term as Clare Senior Hurling Manager. I know there will be a review of the senior hurling campaign (I assume so anyway), but I really don't see any scenario where replacing the incumbent manager is the finding. I think Lohan has done a very good job with the current Clare team. Under Lohan, most players on the panel have taken strong steps forward in their performance levels while Lohan has also brought through players from the underage structures and other players from the club scene. I think he is maximizing the talent available to him and also improving it. As an aside, from going to games this year, it was great to see the team get great support from the Clare public (albeit with limited crowd sizes). Even when we were losing going into the dressing room against Cork at half time and full time, the Clare support were getting on their feet to cheer and support the lads. I think the public are strongly behind this Clare group, because they have carried themselves very well and give it their all on the field. Not extending Lohan would be a hugely unpopular decision imo.

Hopefully next year will be a better year for Clare at all levels.

It's 11 teams in the Liam McCarthy isn't it?. Not making the quarters would equate to not making the top 6 out of 11 and when you consider that Laois and Antrim are in that 11 it's not great by any means.

Piss poor from Wexford too for all the colum inches they generate they weren't even in the top 8.

If results go in a certain way you could have Limerick winning this All Ireland by beating Cork and Tipp and Cork and Tipp again. That would be one for the table quizzes.

I wouldn't think downward just yet. Window is tightening for sure with this group though, most will be hitting 30 in about 2 years. However, the minor classes of 2018-2019 have some good players there that can inject our senior team with talent, the likes of Rodgers, Meehan, Galvin, Donnellan already senior panelists, and some others too have good potential.

The team, aside from John Conlon, has still a decent age profile and is improving. Of the 9 top teams, obviously Limerick are a level above, but I think Lohan has brought us firmly into the middle of the chasing 8 team pack. I think results show were better that Wexford, Dublin and probably on form Galway, about as good as Waterford, with Tipp, Kilkenny and Cork sightly ahead of us. Galway and Tipp have very experienced panels at this stage, it's hard to know if they'll be better next year, but I suppose for Galway, they couldn't be much worse and may look to transition new players onto their team next year. Kilkenny, Waterford and especially Cork have good age profiles no doubt, but I taught with the games we played against them this year, we showed that we can (and did 2/3) beat them.

As you said, just finding those 2/3 players again next year will be crucial, the same way this year Lohan was able to supplement his team from last year with Conlon, Galvin and Flanagan. Someone like Peter Duggan returning from Oz would be an enormous boost to this team, we saw the effect having a great aerial player like Harnedy last Saturday can have on a team. We just don't have someone in the county that can do that for us in the half forward line. I think also, there is plenty more in the likes of Colm Galvin, David McInerney and possibly Aron Shanager, of course Galvin and McInerney had those injuries early on and never really hit top form. Conlon hopefully more settled at centre back, maybe Rodgers finding his feet, smarter shot selection from McCarthy, etc. I think we can take a step forward next year and make the latter stages of the championship with some better luck than we got this year.

Yeah in fairness, I wouldn't ever begrudge a guy putting himself and his life above the demands of hurling. It may not be likely, he might not even know himself. We don't know in reality,

I think he could return and play at a high level. Maybe not the 2018 version, but still a good player. I think with Corcoran, he was 32(?) when he returned to the IC scene, Duggan would be 28 next year so he still could get in good shape after a winter's training I'd imagine. I can't think of many other examples of top players leaving during their prime, maybe Johnny Glynn but it was like a temporary thing with him.

I taught for the early stages of Duggan's career, under Davy's management, he was completely under-utilised. Most people following the club game in Clare, would know he had been one of the more dominant forwards in the county for a while. I don't think Davy valued him, as he wanted to play that running game, while Duggan is never really that sort of player. He just never had good pace. Under Donal & Gerry's management though, he blossomed and Lohan's brand of hurling would suit him too. We'd be hopeful he can return, but we can't rely on it either, and have to unearth players like him that can win ball on the half forward line. Last weekend, we had Kelly, Galvin and Reidy on the 40.. there is very little aerial ability there.

Can't help you there, what kind of numbers will be allowed into the games and will tickets of some sort be required?