McGrath’s thunderbolt strike was a real game-breaker
Although Shane O’Donnell’s three goals provided Clare with the platform for victory, Cork made a stirring second-half comeback. This ensured an exciting and enthralling contest. With the game level, a long Cork puck-out was snapped up by Clare full-back Cian Dillon as it fell on his side with ten minutes remaining. He drove forward confidently and knocked the ball in over the top. Two Cork defenders failed to cut out the danger and Clare’s Conor McGrath fastened onto the loose ball 40 yards out. He drove for goal and finished expertly with a thunderbolt into the top corner . It was the game-breaker and Clare never looked back. Cork goalkeeper Anthony Nash, a certainty for an All Star and my Hurler of the Year, will be disappointed with his positioning for this one. He got caught behind full-back Shane O’Neill who was giving him cover on the left side of the goal. Moving a step or two to his right would have given him a better chance of saving McGrath’s effort.
It’s of no relevance now but would a sweeper have made a difference to Cork yesterday? Clare scored three first-half goals and hit two more in the second-half. The first goal saw Clare captain Pat Donnellan race through the middle unopposed before off-loading. If Cork had an extra defender, could he have halted Donnellan’s progress before he reached the red zone? The second goal came from a diagonal ball Cork’s corner-back Conor O’Sullivan uncharacteristically failed to control. Conor McGrath took a pass and set up Shane O’Donnell for a carbon copy of the opening goal.
A sweeper might have helped O’Sullivan in the first place or impeded McGrath’s progress while also covering back to intercept the breaking ball for goal number three.
Clare’s fourth saw Conor McGrath run through unimpeded from 40 metres to score as no defender occupied the space in front of full-back Shane O’Neill. Of course a seventh defender might have upset Cork’s balance and taken from their display up front. It might have been a dour, low scoring game, but could it have ensured a different result?
There were gasps around Croke Park when Davy Fitzgerald signalled to his team to head back and line the goal with 13 players for Anthony Nash’s first half 20m free.
The goal line defenders were furnished with goalkeeping hurleys of similar dimensions and obviously instructed to raise them in the air.
It was a comical sight and went against convention. Many years ago, seven players lined the goal — this was reduced to six and subsequently to five as it was found that lining the goal with too many players caused too much chaos, often resulting in a goal being conceded. Clare could point to the fact they stopped Nash’s second attempt using the same tactic but that was perhaps due to a poor connection by the Kanturk man. I can’t seen this tactic becoming the norm but it was a major talking point after the game.
For the last decade the hurling landscape has been dominated by Kilkenny. They were skilful but they had physical, quick players who prided themselves on independent ball winning aerial skills, strong ground tussling and tough uncompromising defence.
Clare now have a team where the emphasis is on pace, skill but above all on team work. They thrilled their fans in this final with their touch, intelligence and do or die efforts.
Davy Fitzgerald now has a group of young fast forwards who look capable of adding a number of All-Ireland titles to Saturday’s crown over the next decade. They’ll certainly be back.
But will Cork? Jimmy Barry-Murphy and his management team excelled in getting the best out of their panel this year. Seamus Harnedy was a great addition but they need one or two extra finds.
Are they there? The concluding stages of the county championship will tell all.
