Banner flying on all fronts
Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald clearly won the tactical battle. Limerick manager John Allen spoke on these pages during the week that they were well aware of Clare’s tactics and that they had their plans in place. But they never got to grips with the Banner’s support play and movement.
From the moment Colin Ryan hit a crossfield free to ‘sweeper’ Pat Donnellan, who ran almost 70 metres up the opposite side to support his free-taker for the first point, the Banner took the game to the opposition.
Limerick didn’t help their cause with the normally accurate Declan Hannon missing a succession of placed balls which would have settled his side early on.
I wrote on Saturday that Clare would have to compete fiercely and force the pace and attempt to dismantle Limerick’s winning formula of sending in the cavalry of Shane Dowling, Kevin Downes and Niall Moran in the last 20 minutes.
This trio had driven them home in the last 15 minutes of their previous games in Munster. But Clare’s commitment, pace and skill forced Limerick’s hand early. Dowling was introduced for the out-of-sorts Seán Tobin, who was being tightly marked by Domhnall O’Donovan.
Dowling is an expert free-taker but for some reason Limerick’s management persisted with the off-form Declan Hannon on the frees, missing a crucial one before half-time. In contrast, Clare’s Colin Ryan struck a beauty from over halfway to end the first half, pushing their lead out to seven points.
Ryan, my man of the match, had a superb first half. He set up the first point, had another from play and critically struck over his three frees to give his side great confidence, in contrast to the Treaty who were missing their opportunities.
This was a vital contribution to the winning of this game. But there were other big moments for the Banner in this half.
Limerick played Graeme Mulcahy at full-forward and when he gained possession in space in a one-on-one and raced through, a goal looked likely. However, centre-back Pat Donnellan made up great ground to put Mulcahy under pressure, preventing a clean strike from the Kilmallock sharpshooter and Patrick Kelly made a great save.
If Mulcahy had goaled it would have given the huge Limerick support a chance to find their voice, but their ‘16th man’ was never allowed to enter this contest to any great degree, except for the initial stages of the second half when Limerick staged a mini recovery.
The other big play for Fitzgerald’s men was the goal they scored. There’s an old coaching adage that a full-back never allows a forward inside him under a high ball. Limerick full-back Richie McCarthy found himself in front of Podge Collins as a high ball dropped in. Nicky Quaid had no protection and Collins made such a nuisance of himself that Limerick were unable to clear and big Darach Honan, who did well on limited possession, poked the ball home with his boot.
Clare had four wides in the first half while Limerick hit 10. Limerick scored six points from 20 possessions in scorable areas while Clare scored 11 from 16.
The Clare manager employed the same tactics as he did against Galway. Centre-back Donnelan dropped back in front of the full-back, Conor Ryan, named at midfield, man-marked Munster final man of the match James Ryan and he played two forwards inside.
Tony Kelly operated in midfield on Limerick captain Donal O’Grady and Poudge Collins played as an orthodox centre-forward.
This meant that Limerick’s Tom Condon was a free defender while Donnelan and often times David McInerney were free at the back for Clare. However, whereas Clare keeper Kelly hit some short puck-outs to put them in possession, Limerick’s Nicky Quaid only hit one.
Limerick relied on long puck-outs and crucially they lost the first five, providing a good platform for the Clare attack in the early stages. Their excellent use of the ball from defence and possession gained from puck-outs gave them a foothold they never relinquished.
Tony Kelly and Colm Galvin in Clare’s midfield linked the play brilliantly from defence to attack, weaving effective patterns, picking out their men with accurate passes that had the Limerick defence constantly under pressure.
Limerick, on the other hand, were inclined to use route one from defence while the options taken by their forwards wasn’t up to their usual standard.
Quaid altered the puck-out policy in the second half and hit many short ones to Tom Condon and Gavin O’Mahony, but at that stage the cause was a hopeless one.
Clare were ultra impressive and they’ll be quite a handful for Cork in the final .
