Anthony Daly: Clare had a dream start on Saturday... Cork ensured the ending wasn't as special

Ryan Taylor of Clare in action against Ciaran Joyce, left, and Tim O'Mahony of Cork during the Allianz Hurling League clash at Páirc Ui Chaoimh. Picture: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

On Saturday afternoon, myself and my wife Eilís set off for Cork. It was the first time I actually went to a game since the Clare county final in November because I’ve been off the road since having a seizure in October. So, I sat back with Eilís as my chauffeur.

We’d love to have gone to the Harty final in the Gaelic Grounds on the way, but we said we wouldn’t chance getting caught in gridlock out of Limerick and then risk more delays with the weather and unpredictability of the traffic in Cork City.

We had the brilliant and riveting commentary of Derrick Lynch and Tommy Guilfoyle on the way down to keep us entertained. Tommy’s emotion was dripping through the airwaves at the final whistle, especially when he paid tribute to the late parents of St Joseph’s, Tulla’s Ronan and Oisin O’Connor, Feakle clubmates of Tommy.

As a Clareman and an ex-St Flannan’s player, who played with lads from Tipperary, Galway, and Limerick, it brought me back to the days of 1979, when Flannan’s won the Harty with an all-Clare team, with my great friend Tommy Howard from Clarecastle at full-forward.

Flannan’s won the 2020 Harty again with an all-Clare team, but it’s hard to describe the depth of meaning to Tulla’s win. There are only 300 boys in the school, with only a handful of clubs represented from east and mid-Clare. Some of those players would never have even played underage A hurling.

Apart from Saturday, I watched most of their games on livestreams and the way Tulla won this Harty was good for the soul. Beating all the big guns — St Colman’s, CBC, De la Salle, and Ardscoil Rís — was a tribute to courage and heart and absolute commitment, fuelled by a collective will and savage raw hunger to create history. They’re an incredibly impressive group of young men, superbly managed by Terrence Fahy, Tomás Kelly, and Aidan Harte.

It was a great start to the day for Clare hurling. Eilís and I were buzzing by the time we took our seats in Cork. Eilis hadn’t been back there since the glory days with Clare in the late 1990s and she was blown away by the modernity and quality of the new stadium that is Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Everything about the evening was impressive from Cork because the hurlers delivered a display to match the stadium. Even their warm-up was slick. I was taken aback by how few conditioned games they did because it was mostly first touch and shooting drills.

Maybe it was the cold and wet conditions, but the match never really took off. Clare did well in the first 20 minutes. Their goal was brilliantly engineered by Shane Meehan and finished by Mark Rodgers, but Cork went into overdrive afterwards when hitting an unanswered 1-10 without reply.

Cork were sharp and accurate in that period, but Clare were in the middle of a meltdown. Most of Clare’s difficulties stemmed from their puckout, especially short restarts. Clare couldn’t deal with Cork’s heat when in possession and Cork feasted on turnovers and unforced errors that came off those plays.

Clare were incredibly sloppy. Defenders were trying to play crossfield balls across the width of the pitch that were hanging in the air and inviting Cork players to just eat up that possession.

Clare’s standards were way off what they needed to be. Cathal Malone gave everything, Meehan did well, but the brightest sparks were the displays of the Scarriff duo, Rodgers and Patrick Crotty. After that, it was all negatives.

Clare are missing a raft of big names, but they just don’t have the depth of other squads, especially Cork. Ciaran Joyce had an excellent debut. Padraig Power also did well when introduced. Sean Twomey made a first league appearance in a couple of years. Cork don’t really have a whole lot of other new names to add to their panel, but you’d have to say they are building an impressive squad, loaded with pace, youth, and quality.

Can you imagine being a Clare defender after having had the legs run off you for 55 minutes and then you see Jack O’Connor and Robbie O’Flynn arriving in? It reminded me of the 1993 Munster final when all you wanted to hear was the final whistle.

Cork will be happy but you can’t really gauge the performance when the lack of intensity throughout the contest was compared with what Wexford, Dublin, and Waterford brought to the table yesterday. It’s no secret that you have to bring that absolute savagery and relentless intensity to the war against Limerick, which Wexford brought in spades. There may have been some questionable refereeing decisions but 14 yellow cards, two reds, and two blacks emphasised the crash-test hurling we saw in Parnell Park.

They were two completely different matches to what we saw on Saturday evening, but I’ve always said that there can be as much enjoyment in the 1-11 to 0-11 game than the 2-30 to 2-21 match. Nobody could disagree with that sentiment after the weekend.

At half-time in Wexford Park, I felt that the home side had gone so physically hard that they’d struggle to keep up that intensity after the break, even with the strong breeze. But Wexford did. They managed the game smartly too, reverting to a sweeper early on to deny Limerick the platform they were looking to build with the breeze.

John Kiely won’t be unduly worried with the defeat, but will be conscious of his side only hitting five points from play, which has probably never happened under him before. Gearóid Hegarty was the only forward that really played up to scratch. Their wide count was through the roof; by my count, Limerick had 11 clocked after 25 minutes.

They always seem to iron out those creases as the year goes on, but Peter Casey’s absence also leaves the full-forward line thinner with options than Kiely would like.

It was always going to be harder again for Limerick to dig themselves out of the first-half rut when Aaron Gillane was struggling. Kiely whipped him off at half-time and I’d say the message was loud and clear, just like it was before last year’s Munster final. ‘Aaron, that just won’t do kid.’

On the other hand, Wexford dictated the terms and conditions of the match from the word go and it’s a huge start for Darragh Egan. His big players did their stuff, especially Matthew O’Hanlon and Diarmuid O’Keeffe.

It was just as hot and heavy in Donnycarney, but you were still left frustrated with some of the refereeing decisions. Despite more cards being flashed than nearly what’s in a full deck, should more players have walked after the melee? One of the penalties was a black card but I didn’t think the other was. Cian O’Callaghan did make a risky play but was Colin Dunford about to score a goal? I don’t think so.

Mattie Kenny and Liam Cahill will be happy enough with the point. Liam is still down the Ballygunner lads, Jamie Barron, Tadgh de Burca, and Shane McNulty, but Waterford refused to let the result get away from them.

For Dublin, the old guard came up with big plays when the need was greatest. Eoghan O’Donnell was magnificent and was my man-of-the-match. Chris Crummy showed his usual leadership, Eamonn ‘Trollier’ Dillon made an impact off the bench, while Donal Burke’s freetaking was near flawless again.

Apart from Clare and Offaly, most of the teams will be happy after the opening weekend. Laois and Antrim battled gamely against Tipp and Kilkenny while Henry Shefflin got off to a good start with Galway. A 17-point hiding was hard for Michael Fennelly to stomach but the dog days in Division 1 were the making of Westmeath last year in the Joe McDonagh Cup. Mick will hope that kind of experience will stand to Offaly later in the summer.

Those eternal summer Sundays are a long way off yet but every spring Sunday ticked off is one step closer to championship. For most of the game on Saturday, I was chit-chatting to Finbarr Lehane, a St Finbarr’s diehard who I used to work with in the bank many years ago, and who I hadn’t seen in decades. It was great to catch up. And despite the paucity of the Clare performance, it was great to be back.