Gary Brennan: Limerick relentless workrate forced Clare’s hand too often
Killian Ryan of Limerick, 24, celebrates with teammates after their victory over Clare in the penalty shoot-out of the Munster SFC quarter-final at Cusack Park
Thank you to the players and management of both Limerick and Clare for an incredible evening’s entertainment. The quality might not always have reached the heights we may see at the latter end of the championship, but this was a long way from some of the previous dour contests between the counties. It’s only a pity more people didn’t get to see it.
Limerick eventually got over the line thanks to sublime penalty taking. As word filtered around that the action would take place at the old scoreboard end of Cusack Park, the race for position began, but the efforts of the Clare supporters behind that goal did little to distract Iain Corbett, Robbie Bourke, Brian Donovan and James Naughton who each slammed home with conviction. I don’t know how much either team practiced this, but Limerick looked as though they had done it a thousand times.
As Clare’s kickers lined up, Limerick goalkeeper Donal O’ Sullivan seemed to be filling the goals. What will frustrate Cian O’Dea and Conor Jordan, who went first for Clare, is that they didn’t hit the target and at least test the keeper. There will be discussion about the merit of finishing the game in such a way. Perhaps an extra 10 mins of play, or ‘golden-score’ might be worth examining, but everyone knew the rules before throw-in on Saturday. How we got to this point might be more worthy of examination.
After 15 minutes, Colm Collins would have been relatively pleased. Clare led 0-5 to 0-3 playing against a stiff breeze. Jamie Malone was finding gaps with hard runs from midfield and they were mixing their play nicely between good angled runs to break Limerick’s defensive line and more direct delivery to Gavin Cooney and especially Aaron Griffin, who looked very lively. The home side chose to concede the kickout, which worked up to this point.
However, after Eoin Cleary kicked Clare’s fifth point, almost 13 minutes passed before they raised their next white flag and, in that time, Limerick had rattled off 1-4. What changed? Clare’s intensity around the middle dropped. Where they had previously been meeting the Limerick runners around halfway, some of the defending in this area became more passive. At the same time Limerick upped the pace and were getting the ball from full-back line to the attacking zone in 5 to 6 seconds, sometimes without a Clare man laying a hand on them.
Sean O’Dea and Michael Donovan were very comfortable taking those short kickouts and creating an overlap. The key score in this time was Brian Fanning’s goal. He carried the ball 50 metres along the sideline before cutting in along the endline and coolly rolling to the net. It was a superb individual effort by him, but Clare will wonder how he only had to beat one man to create the opportunity. But Clare, and Gavin Cooney, recovered from that to win a penalty before half-time - David Tubridy made no mistake, meaning Clare were back to three by half-time.
Limerick sustained this margin for 15 minutes of the second half but gradually Clare upped the pressure. With the breeze, they went man-to-man on Limerick’s kickout. Limerick’s defenders were having to work far harder to get the ball out and as the half wore on, this led to more mistakes on their part. After Cillian Fahy’s half goal chance flew over, their scoring dried up.
This was due also to some heroic defending from Clare. Cillian Brennan and Cian O’Dea had a couple of big turnovers and Ciarán Russell was everywhere, stripping ball off players and launching attacks. But Limerick were resolute - despite Clare drawing level in the 29th minute, it wasn’t until injury time that they finally got ahead, Jamie Malone kicking the point that his incisive running all day deserved. Limerick had to go to the well.
They showed great calmness and stayed patient when it seemed as though time was against them. Hugh Bourke found a gap and earned a free and his brother Robbie stroked it over as coolly as if in the back garden.
And so, extra time. Clare pretty much owned the first half following a similar pattern of pressure. Eoin Cleary led the way superbly and Clare were two to the good after his third point, entering injury time. Iain Corbett won the kickout and as Limerick built, Clare’s defence were drawn to the ball leaving Brian Donovan unmarked. As Clare scrambled, he stayed calm and slipped in Robbie Bourke.
Things got worse for Clare when Aaron Griffin suffered an injury in the second half. With no substitutes left, they were essentially playing with 14 and needed two points. This was where their character was displayed because after a lengthy spell of Limerick possession, they forced two turnovers which led to two frees which Brendan Rouine and then Eoin Cleary converted to bring us to penalty drama.
Clare supporters around me were aggrieved with some of the decisions of referee Conor Lane. Refereeing is a ridiculously tough job for one person, and I admire anyone who is willing to take up the whistle. And anything I say about decisions will be biased whether conscious or not. The timing of the free which brought Limerick level at the end of normal time was contentious.
Four minutes of additional time had been indicated, during which Conor spoke with a Clare player after a foul, which took a maximum of 30 seconds. As Limerick went back and forth across the field, the stadium clock had ticked to 40:00 when Hugh Bourke tried to drive forward. Cillian Brennan’s tackle laid a hand on Bourke’s shoulder and Conor applied the rules correctly in awarding the free. The frustration stemmed from the sense that it seemed inconsistent to how the game had been called prior. In fairness, Limerick themselves could argue that the foul for the Clare penalty occurred outside the square so these things balance out.
For Clare, they will be sickened by this defeat, but they should be very proud. Regular starters Alan Sweeney, Cathal O’ Connor, Darragh Bohannon, Keelan Sexton were absent, as well as regular goalkeeper Stephen Ryan, meaning that Tristan O’ Callaghan came in for only his second ever start, and a championship debut. Clare conceded two points directly off their own short kickouts in the first half – one for the ball being returned to the goalkeeper.
But to his enormous credit, Tristan settled superbly and saved Clare’s bacon in extra-time when he left his goal to mark Peter Nash and win the ball ahead of him. The narrative may be that Limerick were more efficient in front of goal over the 70 minutes (4 wides) compared to Clare – 9 wides, struck the upright, dropped 3 short and Gavin Cooney had a goal chance outstandingly saved by Donal O’ Sullivan.
But to put this win down solely to poor shooting efficiency from Clare would be unfair on Limerick, whose workrate forced Clare’s hand often. Donal O’ Sullivan was tidy from the tee, even under pressure and made a crucial intervention with his save late in normal time. Their defence looked very comfortable on the ball, very happy to take on Clare’s forwards and burst past them.
The half-forward line of Adrian Enright and James Naughton in tandem with Darragh Treacy and Cillian Fahy at midfield were very effective in linking back to front, and Donovan, Nash, Ryan and Bourke all offered different threats, while their substitutes all contributed.
I wouldn’t say they had any individual superstars, but they seemed very well connected as a team, with a great understanding of one another and what they want to do. They are a team full of pace, full of confidence and, based on this evidence, full of character. They were worthy of their win and will fancy their chances of going a step further next day out.
