Patrick Horgan: Nobody but Limerick can hit that level without two of the game's greats
The supply Limerick’s Shane O'Brien received was perfect, but that was down to Clare's lack of pressure on the supply. Pic: ©INPHO/James Crombie
I thought Limerick were still favourites on Sunday, despite losing to Cork and having to go to Ennis without Cian Lynch and Aaron Gillane.
I still expected Clare to put up a good fight and to be in touch coming down the stretch at least, but Limerick dominated them from start to finish.
Starting without Cian and Aaron was a challenge for Limerick - any team would miss two players like that - but I don’t think people appreciate that the only team who could accommodate those losses and still reach the level of last Sunday is Limerick. They were missing two of their greatest players ever but they stuck to their plans and their patterns and gave a fantastic performance.
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Cian is an unbelievable player, obviously, but Limerick could bring Darragh O’Donovan in to replace him. I’m amazed he isn’t starting for Limerick anyway because he’s the ultimate midfielder. People talk about work rate in a vague way much of the time, but what Darragh brings isn’t vague at all.
He gets in the hits and fights for the ball, he shows for the ball from his backs when they’re under pressure and is always giving them a good out ball, he’s on his teammates’ shoulders when they need support, and he always plays the ball on to someone who’s in a better position than him.
Limerick have players who’ll catch your eye all over the field, but it’s the work he’s putting in that keeps everything ticking over for them.
Tom Morrissey started instead of Aaron Gillane and that didn’t weaken the team either: he has huge experience and played his part until he went off.
I was surprised Clare were so far off the pace on Sunday, because on paper they looked like they’d had the ideal preparation. Going through the second tier in the league gave them a chance to build nicely for the championship, and to peak right when they needed to.
At a couple of minutes to two I thought Clare were in with a great chance of getting out of Munster, that they had the players and the experience to give the All-Ireland itself a fair rattle.
After Sunday, though, it looks like it’ll come down to Clare versus Tipp to try to get through, but I’ll come back to that.
Waterford hit 4-21 against Clare in the previous game, but the difference that day was Clare’s forwards were good. Their backs couldn’t be happy with their display against Waterford but the team still got the win.
On Sunday they were outplayed everywhere - there wasn’t a single position you could say they were winning the battle. At half-time they had eight points scored; on 50 minutes they had 12 points scored. That shows the way Limerick dominated them all over the field.
Teams target their home games, and this is a major blow for Clare. After the match I heard Brian Lohan complaining about black cards and how Clare have had so many black cards issued against them since the rule was introduced, which surprised me. No-one’s out to get Clare. I was surprised he wasn’t more focused on the issues with their performance.
There’s been a lot of chat about the refereeing and discipline and so on. On one hand it’s the Munster Championship: there’s always drama, always discussion.
On the other hand you have the incidents in the game. Early on Shane O’Donnell won a good ball and was facing goal but moving backwards from the goal, so he was running towards Diarmaid Byrnes rather than the other way around. Even if it wasn’t absolutely 100 per cent shoulder-to-shoulder I don’t think there’s much Byrnes could have done differently. He was entitled to put the challenge in.
After that Shane O’Donnell caught Shane O’Brien with a high enough challenge; I thought he was lucky not to get a red card for that.
David McInerney came on for Clare in the second half and got tangled up with Shane O’Brien as soon as he landed.
I know this is the usual welcome-to-the-game that a back gives a forward, but it was silly enough on Sunday. Clare were already under ferocious pressure and when the referee booked McInerney, from then on he had to be careful in case he got a second yellow card. Shane O’Brien was having a great day for Limerick as it was - he ended the game with six points from play - and the last thing Clare needed was a defender marking him who had to be careful not to get sent off himself.
The big question out of last weekend centres on whether Clare can get out of Munster. Based on Sunday Cork will fancy their chances of turning them over at home in the last round of games, so for Clare the season may turn on their next game - against Tipperary in Thurles.
Even though Tipp have just one point, and won’t be happy with their performances against Cork and Waterford, they’ll be encouraged by what they saw in Ennis. They’ll have had three weeks to get themselves right for that game, which means they should be sharper than they were in their first two outings.
For Clare it might be too late to carry out major surgery on the team, in terms of dropping some players and bringing in others. Up to Sunday I thought they might have too much for Tipp, but coming back after that loss is going to be a huge challenge for them.
Clare may have felt hard done by with some decisions - Barry Nash could have gotten a second yellow for giving away the penalty - but that’s not why they lost. One big change they need to make is to put more pressure on the ball, because defences get destroyed if you don’t put that pressure on opponents out the field.
Shane O’Brien showed that on Sunday - the quality of ball he was getting from his teammates was top class, but the delivery was top class because Clare weren’t pressurising his teammates. At that level if a half-back or midfielder has time to look out and angle the ball to his full-forward line it’s all over, no matter how good the defenders are.
I mentioned Darragh O’Donovan’s work rate earlier, and Clare must try to match that, particularly when they’re not in possession. Every team does.
Limerick are set up nicely with two home games to come, so you’d have to fancy they’ll get through.
Will they make changes? The word about Aaron Gillane early on was that he’d miss two games, and if he’s fit they’ll bring him back in, even though they got 2-30 without him. He’s that good. They’ll want him on the field as quickly as possible, and as sharp as possible.
He and Cian Lynch coming back means a couple of lads drop to the bench, ready to come in. Ominous news for the teams facing them next.
