Patrick Horgan: 'He’s such a good fielder he can give Cork another outlet if they want to go more direct'
LEINSTER'S LAST HOPE: Galway's Darren Morrissey pictured as he lifts the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship title. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom O’Hanlon.
Then there were four. Clare will face Limerick and Cork will take on Galway the weekend after next in the All-Ireland semi-finals, and hopefully the games will be better than last weekend’s.
Clare were comfortable winners on Saturday night against Dublin in a game that never took off. Dublin put a run of sorts together in the second quarter of the game and narrowed the gap, but Clare always looked like they had an extra gear if they needed it.
Dublin were very disappointing in that they didn’t seem to know what they were doing; it wasn’t clear what the plan was with their puck-outs, for instance.
Ironically, their full-forward line looked on form and were very dangerous - Dublin created quite a few good goal chances - but they just didn’t get the supply. Dublin went for long, speculative shots from out the field when to me the obvious ball was in to Ronan Hayes, who was causing havoc every time he was in possession; they certainly should have tried to work that option more.
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In fairness, Clare did what was necessary and got through. It’s only twelve months since Dublin turned Limerick over at the same stage of the championship, so Clare had a job to do and they did it. Their big players, the lads who have that x-factor, stood up when needed and got them over the line.
The concern in Clare will centre on the injuries they picked up. Conor Cleary left the field looking wobbly enough, while David McInerney limped off with a leg injury: depending on how serious those knocks are Clare could be without their full-back and centre-back against Limerick, which obviously isn’t ideal.
The big talking point from Saturday evening was the injury to David Reidy late in the second half.
First off, it was great to hear since that he’s recovering, because there was huge concern in the stadium for him when it happened. I wish him the very best as he recuperates.
There are calls now for the GAA to crack down on head-high tackles, but how is that going to be done? In real time the Reidy injury looked to me to come from a mistimed challenge, which is something that can happen in any game given how fast intercounty hurling is.
By the way, the following day in the first half of the Cork-Offaly game a Cork forward had his helmet pulled off but there was no notice taken of the incident. Is that cracking down on head-high tackles?
As for Sunday as a whole, from the Cork point of view there were a few positives from the game. Darragh Fitzgibbon got some valuable game time after being out with appendicitis, while Brian Roche came back in and covered an unbelievable amount of ground in midfield. His partner there, Hugh O’Connor, also put in a great shift.
Whether they start the next day or not that was good experience for them - championship weather, a big stadium, more or less a capacity crowd. It gives Ben O’Connor more options in terms of selection - and in terms of the style of play. Alan Walsh also caught the eye with those two goals from play, and he’s surely in pole position now to start in the All-Ireland semi-final. He’s such a good fielder that he can give Cork another outlet if they want to go more direct.
The downside for Cork - like Clare - is injuries. Rob Downey and Mark Coleman picked up knocks during the game, with Rob getting posted to full-forward towards the end (I keep telling him it’s not that easy up there, but . . . ) This is a time of year when most players are feeling sore, with the games coming thick and fast, and neither Rob nor Mark looked to be in as much trouble as Conor Cleary or David McInerney the previous night. Ben will be hoping they’ll be over those early this week so they can start getting ready for Galway and the All-Ireland semi-final.
That brings me to Leinster hurling, which is getting a bit of criticism this week, but the most immediate issue for me is the question of Galway’s preparation for the Cork game.
Offaly and Dublin were annihilated over the weekend, and if that’s the standard of the opposition Galway have been playing up to now in the championship how good is that preparation? They look like a good team but the quality of the sides they’ve played is really being questioned. Both of those teams - Offaly and Dublin - put it up to Galway in the Leinster championship but they were both pushed aside in Thurles.
In fairness, I think Galway are a good bit ahead of Offaly and Dublin, and the semi-final with Cork will be a very competitive game, but the Leinster championship doesn’t appear to have served them well in terms of being match-ready for the All-Ireland series.
A word, too, about the Cork support, which was absolutely fantastic again last Sunday in Thurles.
I suppose we’ll be hearing soon about the ‘hype’ around Cork again, as though it was bad that stadiums were being filled for games, with great colour and atmosphere. If you ask any player they’d far prefer to play in front of a big, noisy crowd than in a deserted stadium, and even though Offaly found the going tough on Sunday that part of the big match experience will also stand to them going forward.
Rather than talking about hype - whatever that is - some credit should be given to the Cork supporters. There was a bigger crowd in Semple Stadium on Sunday than there was in either Killarney for Kerry-Armagh or Croke Park for Dublin v Donegal. The reason I pick those games is that in both cases the winners were playing at home, while the Cork support had to travel to another county but still did so in huge numbers.
One of the big debates which has come out of last weekend is one we’ve heard plenty of times before: where is hurling going, and what can be done to improve and spread the game?
That’s something to be discussed in detail at a later date, but one point worth making is that I think the huge numbers following the Cork hurlers are papering over the cracks when it comes to hurling.
In the Munster championship and now the All-Ireland series the colour and noise brought by the Cork supporters are sparing the GAA’s blushes by selling out stadiums and generating huge interest. And that at least should be acknowledged.
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