Clare GAA Discussion - 2024 All Ireland Hurling Champions

windy shepard henderson · 12-02-2023 11:38pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120233890#Comment_120233890

i dont like the way you call meehan and rodgers as fringe players , if we dont start them every game come championship we will go nowhere , mounsey , reidy crotty conroy and ian galvin are to be the fringe forwards in my opinion

i feel morey can bit he has never played back there , move david mc back if you have to , we have nolan , hayes and young hogan as options , the 65 is the problem

PeggyShippen · 12-02-2023 11:58pm

Yeah its the backs that are the issue. Starting at the goalie, Quilligan isn't up to it at this level. The terrible tactic of the pass to Cleary and then the goalie getting the return pass only to lamp it down onto of Sean Finn. Forget about that. Quaid doesn't do it.

Rory Hayes wasn't good..He needs to either get out in front or side to side. The halfbacks are only ok. Diarmuid Ryan is as slow as a wet week and is probably a wing forward. David McInerney can be good or ludicrous, depending on his mood. Conlon is essential back there.

The biggest thing is teamwork. Limerick have a team of guys who enjoy linking up. The are the supreme teamworkers. They all pass brilliantly. Clare have never ever been able to say that. Not the great 90s team and not now. Kelly and McCarthy our two best scorers...neither is a passer . Only O Donnell and Reidy really. But its a general thing..We have no Donal O Donovan type..the 15 yard stick pass.. we don't do it well. Its not in our psyche.. dunno will it change

..

windy shepard henderson · 13-02-2023 12:18am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120234036#Comment_120234036

re team work , thats kinnerek all day , the best hurling coach in the country is stamped all over limerick it used to be stamped all over us until mr fitz taught he was a better coach and let him off , kiely is a fantastic man manager too , look at what he has had to deal with off the field

in relation to goalkeeper i fancy foudy to start come championship , hes injured at the moment and probably would be starting these games

bit harsh on ryan , when the alarm bells were ringing in last years championship he was the only man standing up ,david mc is the most unpredictable player on the team , up to the wexford game last year i would have said rory hayes , but any man that gets called ashore after 7 minutes is no longer unpredictable and most likely a liability

adam hogan and john coneeley i have huge hopes for going forward

keeponhurling · 13-02-2023 10:56am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120233965#Comment_120233965

I don't put Meehan or Rodgers in the same category as the likes of Tony Kelly, Shane O' Donnell or others because they are not tried and tested in the championship.

(If for example Kelly or O'Donnell missed the entire league you'd still probably start them come championship based on previous performances)

I agree that Meehan and Rodgers should be given every chance and start every game in the league, clearly they both have huge potential.

But at this point it's still potential. When it comes to championship, Reidy, Galvin or even Mounsey has probably done more than them, so Rodgers and Meehan need to show that they demand a starting place.

PeggyShippen · 13-02-2023 11:59am

Yeah Meehan and Rodgers don't have any body of work to compare to O Donnell and Kelly. No comparison. Mounsey seems to have gone back a little bit and I'd have Meehan ahead of him . Ian Galvin has had many many chances . Very technically good, good eye for the posts but doesn't affect the game anywhere near enough.

It's the backs combinations where the issues lie. Whatever forward unit they put out will be hard beat.

keeponhurling · 13-02-2023 2:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120235165#Comment_120235165

That semi-final v Kilkenny last year was pretty damaging for Galvin.

Where is Ryan Taylor by the way - is he injured or just given some extra time off by Lohan ?

supernova5 · 13-02-2023 10:25pm

anyone know what the story is with Patrick Crotty,? this time last year he looked promising but seems to be completely out of favour now. Is Meehan injured and I am also curious about Ryan Taylor?

keeponhurling · 13-02-2023 11:09pm

Crotty is a serious prospect and still active with UL in the Fitzgibbon Cup (alongside Rodgers, Mike Gough and Cian Galvin), also he started v Tipp in the Munster League. So still very much a part of the panel.

Not sure on the status of the other 2.

evolvingtipperary101 · 13-02-2023 11:30pm

I heard of the sad passing of Conor Loughnane. The famous waterboy of the 90s. What happened to him?

windy shepard henderson · 14-02-2023 9:25am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120238289#Comment_120238289

sadly it was after a long battle with depression i believe , the family have had it fairly tough over the last number of years too , not good

windy shepard henderson · 14-02-2023 9:30am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120235750#Comment_120235750

not sure , looked ok last week ,himself meehan and shanagher in a puck around at half time certain i saw crotty there too , hard to know if any of them were carrying knocks ,

PeggyShippen · 14-02-2023 11:48am

Is Mike Gough off the panel? For me he looked good, he's better than Nolan who is just too player focused and doesn't play any ball.

Clareman · 14-02-2023 3:22pm

Forwards aren't the problem, get the proper ball into them and they are amongst the best forward line in the country, this isn't just the starters but also the subs.

The problem is from 5 to 9, we have a clear problem here, we have a clear tactic to keep the full back line as close to goal as possible to protect against goals, this leaves a load of space at half back to half forward, if you had a solid 6, 8 and 9 you could get away with it somewhat but we don't, we have tried to bring a corner forward back as a third mid-fielder but we don't have a clear style of play.

evolvingtipperary101 · 15-02-2023 12:05am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120238862#Comment_120238862

Very sorry to hear that.

evolvingtipperary101 · 15-02-2023 12:08am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120239907#Comment_120239907

That's the absolute truth of it.

It's a problem a lot of teams have. Maybe some teams are finding a 6. But a really strong defensive midfield partnership is a huge problem for a lot of sides.

evolvingtipperary101 · 15-02-2023 12:08am

Ye might find this interesing if ye haven't seen it already:

'During my time in UL, being a Clare footballer was almost a negative' (msn.com)

keeponhurling · 15-02-2023 9:44am

Interesting, and best of luck tonight to the 6 Clare lads playing for UL in the Sigerson final

Treble double · 16-02-2023 10:36am

No joy for Clare boys in Sigerson final, UCC deserved it, stronger around the middle third, harder edge to them and had a decent kicking game. UL played that boring possession game probing and poking around the defensive cover looking for openings.

Fair play to Billy Morgan 78 years of age and still winning in an era where Gaa sidelines are full of bluffers and spoofers.

McMahon and Downes kicked some lovely points, Walsh handled alot of ball. I presume Ikem was taken off because of an injury. He is some man to break a tackle and should be given licence to do more of it.

Sigerson must be a pain for county managers at least it is out of the way now.

windy shepard henderson · 16-02-2023 9:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120247387#Comment_120247387

billy is some man in fairness , ikem is what the county is missing in terms of a line braker , have a man run off his shoulder and it opens a huge threat for our inside men ,

dylan geaney was the difference for me hes an excellent prospect for kerry ,

windy shepard henderson · 16-02-2023 10:04pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dpFnArQizI

the 4 meath goals killed us last time out , goal 1 , lanigan needs to foul his man on the 13 and conceded the free , also ciaran downs is too far of donel lenihan, goals 2 and 3 inexperience from a very young keeper , his long range kickouts have been excellent , i wont judge him on 60 secconds of madness he also pulled off 2 excellent saves , goal 4 needs to be a foul between the 45 and 13 , most of these errors can be rectified , the team out last week was fairly young and inexperienced without several experienced heads like russell ,cleary ,sexton , even darren o'neill , 2 fouls in them 2 goals its a 2-10 to 0-16 game

if we learn from these mistakes sunday we beat kildare

PeggyShippen · 17-02-2023 10:30am

That hurling loss to Limerick seems to have deflated alot of people within the County. I think its all abit premature. Now I have to agree that it was an awful no show similar to last year's All Ireland semi. There was no onfield leadership ,zero.

Probably better that this happened now rather than the first round of the round Robin in Ennis. That's a must win game against Tipperary. No doubt about that. Duggan needs to be on the wing or not in at all. He's a poor enough target man and the full forward position diminishes his talent. He's got no room to breath in there. Shane O Donnell will probably come back om the wing but for me we need him in full forward.

Wheres Ryan Taylor? Midfield is a shambles without him . We are a team of individuals. That is the unfortunate truth. Unsympathetic passes are symptomatic of this. The forwards really don't link up with each other. There's lots of talent there but no one to stitch it all together.

callaway92 · 17-02-2023 10:44am

I think you're spot on with the word deflated. That's the exact feeling I get off almost everybody who is into their hurling here after that performance. It might be an overreaction from them alright though.

windy shepard henderson · 17-02-2023 11:08am

Now's the time to be trying out new players though, a few years ago Fitz used to be hell bent on putting out the same players league and championship, with little game time for fringe players

Paddy donnellan deserved his shot he had a good Munster league, I would rather him in there now then Ryan Taylor who we know what he can do ,

I still think our full forward line should consist of Meehan and Rodgers and McCarthy, with Duggan Kelly and O'Donnell in the half forward line , it definitely needs to be tried out before the end of the league

In the extra time last year against Limerick both young lads did well up front and the ball started to stick when it Landed in

Compared that to the first half against Kilkenny in the semi final where nothing stuck inside

Clareman · 17-02-2023 11:30am

I don't know if I'd say delated or realistic. Lohan is starting year 4 and it's hard to see any progress being made, we're still reliant on the same players (TK, SoD, Taylor, Conlon), we haven't brought through many players, we are exposed at half back/midfield. Last year was great because the team were doing what we all know they can do, the semi-final was a disaster but it was a semi-final, it's where we should be and I think everyone knows that the loss of Conlon was huge, the lack of backup was terrible, we aren't doing anything to fix that, it's similar to when TK got injured against Waterford.

For me, we don't have any style of play, we don't have any spine, we are reliant on a few players and we aren't doing anything to back them up/replace them, if anything I think we're making it worst, what does Cleary have to do to get a break?

windy shepard henderson · 17-02-2023 11:48am

To be fair lohan is doing his best with what he has available, he has nothing like the ammunition available to Fitz 10 years ago , the county board took their foot off the pedal big time in terms of under age development from 2015 onwards , only recently has it improved

He's trying to get the best out of players like David Conroy, Aaron fitz and Cian Nolan who are all around the same time as the likes of Kelly

Lohan is in trouble if we don't get out of the Munster group this year, the semi final last year is a minus on his card so he has to make sure everything is ready for Tipperary

However you can change the management but are the players there ? It's not 2013 anymore

Clareman · 17-02-2023 11:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120252055#Comment_120252055

My fear is that we've stagnated, Lohan hasn't brought up many players that weren't good under 21s and he's 4 years into his tenure now, at least there should be a style of play associated, ffs just look at last years semi final with his selection at 6 as a lack of backup.

Also, it's 7 years since Davy was in charge, if you want to compare "players available" look to Gerry and Donal's tenure as a fault.

windy shepard henderson · 17-02-2023 1:05pm

How many more players is there left to call up , once you are calling up Conor lean , Cian Galvin and Brandon O'Connell who is left after that , them 3 for example are a long way off what we need

7 years ago we had a far better squad to pick from and we got hockied in an all Ireland 1/4 final

While say 2019 under Gerry and Donal the squad is pretty much the same, because there are not any better options out there

keeponhurling · 17-02-2023 1:14pm

Lohan is getting blamed above for both not bringing through players, but also for the experimental line-up v Limerick not playing as a team.

You can’t have it both ways.

Clareman · 17-02-2023 1:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120252501#Comment_120252501

I don't know about playing like a team, but there doesn't appear to be a gameplan, for example the puckout strategy, what is it? Short to Cleary to give it back to the goalie to lamp it up the field. We don't have any kind of playing identiy, do we play it short? Do we play it long? Do we mix it? For me the strategy is to keep the full back line as close to goal as possible to avoid giving goals and lamp it up to the forwards who are to do their best to win the ball regardless of how it's played into them.

Clareman · 17-02-2023 1:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120252457#Comment_120252457

1 of the big things for any manager is to bring through players, ideally you'd have 1 or 2 new players every year, maybe even put players in different positions but it's too easy for us to trust who's already there. We did it before with the team of the 90s and we're doing it again now.

Clare GAA Discussion - 2024 All Ireland Hurling Champions

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