Anthony Daly: Clare now blessed with riches up front
CLASS ACT: Mark Rodgers of Clare shoots past Westmeath goalkeeper Noel Conaty to score a goal during the Allianz Hurling League Division 1 Group A match. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
During an enjoyable couple of days this week at the National coursing meeting in Clonmel, it’s inevitable that the chat around Powerstown Park often focussed more on hurling than dogs and hares. It just has to when coming so soon after the opening round of the Allianz League.
I hadn’t much to go on when asked about how Clare were going because I was in Montrose for RTÉ while Clare were playing Westmeath in Ennis. But I was able to provide plenty of background info on some of the new players that I was being quizzed about, especially Mark Rodgers.
A lot of the lads down there knew very little about him, which was understandable considering Mark is so young and that he missed so much of last year through injury. Most of them wouldn’t have seen him play Fitzgibbon with UL, last year or this year.
Rodgers only scored 0-1 against UCD on Thursday night in the Fitzgibbon quarter-final but he didn’t need to cut loose with UL strolling to such a comfortable victory. In any case, I don’t think the lads in Clonmel would have been that tuned in to the Fitzgibbon after a few long days in South Tipp.
I wasn’t trying to give too much away, especially to the Limerick lads I was chatting to in Powerstown Park, but I whetted their appetite. "He’s class lads, wait til ye see him." Shane Meehan is carrying an injury but when you add in Rodgers along with Aidan McCarthy’s return, and Davy Conroy getting 0-5 from play last weekend, it underlines just how many options Clare have up front now. Tony Kelly is Tony Kelly but Clare won three All-Stars from front-eight players last year in TK, David Fitzgerald and Shane O’Donnell.
Diarmuid Ryan is another player like Fitzgerald, a big strong guy with an eye for a score. We’ve seen that for Mary I in the Fitzgibbon Cup but Clare need Diarmuid far more at the other end. One of Brian Lohan’s priorities in this league will be to see if the Clare defence can become better than it was last year – because it will need to be.
Another one of the names that I keep getting asked about is John Conlon. His loss against Kilkenny for the semi-final in July was a colossal blow to Clare’s chances. I couldn’t tell lads for sure how much we’ll see of John during this spring. But one thing is for sure, despite the mileage he has clocked up at this stage – Clare still need him.
Both teams are still finding their feet but, with the rivalry, I expect to see a massive crowd in the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday evening. There was close to 20,000 in Cork last Saturday so I wouldn’t be surprised if that attendance was exceeded.
The early throw-in time of 2:15 for the Ireland-France game is perfect too, but even if it was later, I don’t think it would have impacted that much on the crowd. It certainly would have in the past but, while rugby has always had a dominant presence in Limerick, hurling is absolute king now.
Limerick were unlucky not to come away with something from the Cork game. A draw would have been more reflective of the contest but Limerick have clearly signalled their intent, and desire to get two points on the board, with the team they have picked.
Even making Cian Lynch captain is, to me, a deep-seated statement that Limerick want to keep on getting the better of Clare. I honestly can’t say if they will but I saw enough from Limerick last week to think that they are in a position to have a way stronger run at this season’s league.
After such a good start last week, Pat Ryan will be keen for Cork to keep the momentum and feelgood factor going in Galway. One of the main things I took from last weekend was that any team that’s going to beat Limerick in 2023 will have to out-goal them. And there’s no doubt that Cork would not have beaten Limerick without raising those two green flags.
Both were top-class strikes, especially Robbie O’Flynn’s goal. He is a loss but from I can gather, the ankle injury O’Flynn sustained is not as serious as initially feared. In one way, it might work out okay for Robbie and Pat Ryan because if Cork were thinking of playing him as a target-man type corner-forward for the championship, they could nearly leave that trick up their sleeve for the championship.
This will be a big test now for Cork against a Galway team which impressed last week. On the other hand, it’s hard to tell just how good Galway are because Wexford‘s finishing was so bad on the day. So this will be a big test for Galway now too against a side loaded with freshness and confidence under a new manager.
I’d fancy Galway purely on the basis that they are far more comfortable with the tricky weather in Salthill. I remember Cork going up there to Pearse Stadium in 2020 and being in a great position at half-time after having played against the breeze. But Galway found a way to beat them in the second half.
The weather, especially the breeze, is always a challenge in Salthill. When I was Clare manager, we were 11 points up at half-time one year and we only got out of the place by the skin of our teeth with a draw. The unpredictability is a huge advantage to Galway at this stage because they just know how to handle it better.
Tipperary-Kilkenny is always intriguing but it is nearly more interesting now with two new managers and with someone other than Brian Cody patrolling the line for the first time in two and a half decades. The Tipp crowd were so used to spewing venom at Cody that they won’t know where to look for Derek Lyng.
Both sides won games they were expected to last weekend against Antrim and Laois but Liam Cahill and Tipp seem to have generated more momentum than Kilkenny did in Belfast. Still, both Cahill and Derek will have a much better idea of some of their new players after this clash because it always asks so much of those players, especially in this kind of cauldron.
Billy Drennan may have got 1-8, 1-1 from play, against Antrim, but the Kilkenny crowd will only start judging and rating Billy for real at this level if he can do it against Tipp. I’d fancy Tipp to shade this.
Dublin-Antrim may not have the profile of some of the other games but the fact that TG4 are showing it Sunday, with Cork-Galway deferred on the main station, underlines its importance. Antrim will certainly be targeting this match but Dublin will have been thrilled with what they got out of the Waterford game. I’d fancy Dublin but Antrim will be looking at that team sheet and know they have nothing to fear.
Elsewhere, I’d expect wins for Waterford and Wexford but I’d also expect better displays from Laois and Westmeath than what they produced last weekend. That may mean both sides having to play extra men back but you can’t keep taking tankings.
One of the biggest criticisms of this format is that the top teams have no threat of relegation. But that can still mean a lot of hammerings for teams at the bottom. And, after opening day whippings, Laois and Westmeath already need to focus on making sure an early bleed doesn’t develop into a haemorrhage.
