Clare GAA Discussion - 2024 All Ireland Hurling Champions

any one know if there is relegation from the top divisions of the hurling league this year?

so it will most likely be Laois versus Clare/Offaly

Brian Lohan after the Offaly match thinks the Mark Rodgers injury may not be as bad as initially feared, or that it was a cruciate injury.

Would be brilliant news if true, though I’m not sure why we still don’t know exactly what knee injury he has.

https://www.clare.fm/featured-2/hopes-rodgers-injury-not-bad-first-feared/

was wondering if Ian Galvin and David Reidy are also on the long term injury list? haven't seen either one in League so far

Dissappointing not to come away with the win, but I suppose so would Limerick be as both team missed a ton of chances towards the end of the game. I taught Clare played a very strong 3rd quarter, it was dissappointing we couldn't maintain that momentum.

I taught it was good to see Clare carry a physical challenge to Limerick. Lohan got his set up right, going with a very morkmanlike 8-12 of McCarthy, Golden, Malone, Taylor and Fitzgerald making for a competitive fight between the 40s. The half forward line in particular of Malone Talyor and Fitzgerald got up and down the field all day and I'm thinking that they could well be our half forward line come championship. Sometimes though if we could get a bit more end product from Taylor and Malone it would help even more, I taught going into the last 15 mintues, Taylor missed 1-1, Malone had a wide of 1 or 2 wayward passes. But both are guaranteed starters and very important players for Clare.

The backs were very good, all 6 of them did well. I taught Conlon really excelled at 6 today, brought that physical presence, leadership and came out with some cruical balls there in the second half. I love seeing him win a hard ball, carry it out and winning a free, it really lifts the crowd. He won't be going back to 14 anyway.

I think whats biting us right now is the injuries, particuarly in the full forward line. Meehan again posed a threat, but he needs more support. Mounsey tried well beside him and Crotty and Duggan found themselves in the full forward line too, but they aren't natural inside forwards. Realistically, we cant afford to lose Mark Rodgers, Aidan McCarthy, Aron Shanagher, Shane O'Donnell and Ian Galvin all at the one time. I think if we had one of them today, we could have won.

I think while we've only won one game, it hasn't been all bad for Clare. The main thing is trying to get these injuries sorted. Add to the guys mentioned, Diarmuid Ryan is supposedly in a race to be fit for championship and David Reidy is also injured. That's 7 either starters or top 20 players, which is alot, also factoring Peter Duggan is just returning. But if we can get alot of these guys back, we can give the championship a fair shot imo.

Much better from Clare. I liked the backs today,very tight and the midfield battled hard. Clare should have won. I dunno what Limerick are at but they are nowhere near last years form,yet anyway.

The goal Clare had disallowed was a legitimate goal. That would have been big. TK missed a good bit aswell and Taylors goal bound effort was poor. Conlon was good..he was aggressive ,overly so at times. Malone was good, took Coughlan for pace once or twice. Byrnes missed a shed load of scores for them..

Clare seem to be getting it together for Championship. They've every chance of coming out of the group. Tipperary are bottom of the group so far in my opinion and Limerick need all the usual suspects starting to get out. At the moment Cork ,Waterford ,Limerick are favs but we aren't far off. It could come down to Clare v Limerick In Ennis.

Thats certainly not beyond us. Limerick will probably regain form and blast a team or two but Waterford look the form team and Cork. We've a dire record against Tipperary in comparison to our neighbours Limerick. If we can't beat Tipp this year then we never will.

yeah, the Limerick backs got a real grip on our forwards in the last quarter. We do need some sort of aerial option in the FF line, whether it is Shanagher, Domhnall MacMahon, Duggan, SOD(!) or whoever.

From 1-12 we were pretty good, maybe we gave away a few too many soft frees as usual.

TK was a bit off his usual standards, which is understandable given he's only back from injury.

Conlon was outstanding. Davy Fitz and McInerney were good and should get better with games after their injuries. Jason McCarthy was good, especially when you consider how we were overrun in the middle third in previous games, even v Offaly.

On the Limerick side, Diarmuid Byrnes was outstanding, but at times it felt like we kept landing the ball down on him.

I wonder how we will approach the Galway game, as we now cannot now reach the semi finals or be relegated. Same for Galway, so it's almost like a challenge game.

Yeah I agree, I think our distribution to the inside line is a work in progress. As you said, Golden and McCarthy put in good shifts. I taugh they had a good battle with O'Donoghue, and O'Donovan, and possibly winning it even, certanly on the possession count. I think we need that target man in the inside line, Meehan and Mounsey are good young lads but are very light. Anything that breaks, its very hard for them to hod their ground on say a Dan Morrissey or Barry Nash. I think losing players like Mark Rodgers and Aidan McCarthy is tough too, because they'd be our next best scoring forwards after Kelly. We played an excellent 3Q, but just couldn't keep the scoreboard ticking over down the straight. It was a pity, because the game was there for the taking.

If we can get players like those back, Ryan and Shanagher too, there is no reason why we can't be competitive in Munster. I think the backline is quiet settled, just probably the no.7 is up for grabs, I'd have Browne the frontrunner right now. After a terrible start to the league, I think alot of players are starting to find form and we have earthed a couple of new players which is always important. If we beat Galway, finish 3rd from 6 teams, 2 wins/losses and draw, that would be grand league considering the injuries, all in all.

You're right on Cooney, but to be fair we have injuries to 3/4 forwards who would be ahead of him in the pecking order. Come championship, hopefully some of those will be back.

As I reflect on it, really happy that the middle third did well. That was our biggest worry ahead of championship and it gives us hope. Our FF struggled but we do have options there.

In a way it is also very positive that we seem to have settled on numbers 1,3 and 6, the defensive spine. (btw I thought Quilligan did much better on puck-outs yesterday). But are we just one injury away from trouble? Or is David McInerney our back up for both numbers 3 and 6 ? We know that Jack Browne will probably struggle at 6, and it's a crucial position in modern hurling.