Players deserve more respect from supporters
Where have fans gone? Clare and Waterford always had great support in Munster, in the past few decades especially, and this was promising to be a decent game — where were those supporters yesterday? Where was the glamour, where was the atmosphere? It’s very unfair on the players that they’re not getting that support.
These guys are putting their lives on hold to play inter-county hurling, surely they’ve earned at least that bit of respect from their own fans? The same applies to the management teams, they too are putting in a huge effort. Let the supporters criticise and complain all they want, that’s their right after all, but at least they should turn up to support the team.
The game too was disappointing but maybe that was partly the reason. Thurles is a huge stadium and you need a big crowd to generate a bit of atmosphere. It wasn’t there yesterday and the game suffered. At times in the first half it was almost like a challenge game. Clare started at 100mph, got four points on the board very quickly, then Waterford got the goal and took over, but it was a tame enough affair.
For the last 28 minutes of that half Waterford dominated, and that dominance continued into the opening minutes of the second half. It was in that period though that Waterford lost this game. Wides, some terrible wides — how they must have longed for some of the forwards they’ve lost over the last few years. John Mullane, Paul Flynn, Dan Shanahan, they would have thrived yesterday. Instead Waterford shot nine wides in the first half, four more at the start of the second.
They must learn from this but it was a costly lesson. Perhaps the mostly costly mistake of all though came from one of their most experienced players, and it wasn’t a forward either. Having saved Tony Kelly’s 20m free, all Waterford had to do was get the ball out of the danger-zone and they had a major boost. Instead, a rush of blood to the head, Kevin Moran took the ball across his own square, was blocked down, and Shane O’Donnell was left with a simple task to goal from point-blank range.
Clare can be grateful for the leadership of Patrick Donnellan and Brendan Bugler but new leaders are emerging too in Tony Kelly, John Conlon and Colm Galvin. That’s what this team needs, leadership.
The most impressive thing from a Clare viewpoint yesterday though — they never panicked. Even when things were going against them they stayed cool, made the right moves, kept doing the right thing. Waterford though, I felt they did panic a little, especially in taking Maurice Shanahan and Jake Dillon away from the edge of the square, where they were doing damage.
Also very impressive from Clare? The fitness levels. They finished by far the stronger side, hammered over the last four points.
There’s a growing maturity in this Clare team, in the players and in the management. I thought they were very grounded yesterday, during and after the game, and I don’t think they’re going to get carried away with this win. They know they still have plenty of work to do but at least they’re going in the right direction.
Waterford had the best player on the pitch in Jamie Nagle but they’re going to need leaders on this team. A lack of composure cost them badly. People were saying all the pressure was on Clare to win, and to an extent that was true, but Waterford also needed to win this game. Now they face the difficult route, the back door. I think they’ll earn it now to go much further.
The vital periods for Waterford were the minutes before and after half-time. John Conlon made a hames of a great goal opportunity for Clare at the start of the second half, but other than that Waterford had them on the rack. They failed to take their chances though and at this level, you pay a heavy price for that.
Clare and Cork in Limerick now on June 23rd and that’s really one to look forward to, two sides who know each other very well.
This game will be invaluable to the Clare management, gives them plenty to work on for the next few weeks. I hope now though that the Clare fans start to get behind this team, give them the support they deserve because we know there will be a crowd there from Cork.
