Clare learn a lot despite narrow defeat by Cork

Cork 1-13, Clare 0-15

“We learnt a lot from it,” said Kennedy. “Obviously, the fact that we only scored six of our points from play would be of concern to us, but we have a few problems in attack which we hope to remedy before the Limerick semi-final.”

For Cork, it was crucial to get their championship campaign back on track with a win. Coach Larry Tompkins said: “We needed to produce a decent performance and I knew from the mood in the camp the lads were up for this game. It gave them the chance to prove themselves against a team still in the Munster Championship. Losing to Limerick in the manner in which we did was a kick in the backside for all of us and, hopefully, we can go on from here tonight.”

Clare were without regulars Odran O’Dwyer and Conor Whelan, while Cork were missing five of the team which failed to Limerick. It afforded the selectors the chance to try out their full panel and for Niall Geary, in particular, it was a very pleasing performance at corner-back. Sean Levis was another defender to do very well.

Bernie Collins partnered Nicholas Murphy at midfield, but Cork lost that battle. Their attack, superbly led by Colin Corkery, was in sparkling form.

Colin Crowley chipped in with a goal and three points from play, while Maurice McCarthy showed his prowess, winning great aerial possession. In defence, Clare were stretched, but Donal O’Sullivan, Dara Blake and Noel Griffin can be pleased.

Ger Quinlan and Brian Considine dominated the midfield with the latter thundering forward to score three excellent points. In attack, Clare were over-reliant on the free-taking of Michael O’Dwyer who scored nine points from placed balls.

Cork led 1-5 to 0-7 at the break, thanks to a goal by Colin Crowley in the 20th minute. In that opening half, Cork were grateful for some great defending by Niall Geary and Anthony Lynch. On the changeover, the introduction of John Miskella strengthened the Cork defence further and the Ballincollig man must be a serious contender for a first-team place in Cork’s next championship outing.

Colin Corkery stretched the Cork lead to three points by the end of the third quarter but Clare finished strongly with Michael O’Dwyer kicking four points from frees to reduce the deficit to the minimum before the time ran out on the Bannermen.

Scorers for Cork: C. Corkery 0-6, C. Crowley 1-3, B.G. O’Sullivan, M. Ó Cróinín, J. O’Shea, M. McCarthy 0-1 each.

Clare - M. O’Dwyer 0-9 (frees), B. Considine 0-3, M. O’Connell, R. Donnelly, D. Hedigan 0-1 each.

CORK: K. O’Dwyer; N. Geary, A. O’Connor; A. Lynch, S. Levis, M. Cronin, O. Sexton; N. Murphy, B. Collins, M. McCarthy, B.G. O’Sullivan, J. O’Donoghue; C. Crowley, M. Ó Cróinín, C. Corkery. Subs: J. Miskella for O’Connor, J. O’Shea for O’Sullivan, C. Brosnan for Ó Cróinín, K. Murphy for Collins.

CLARE: D. O’Brien; P. Gallagher, D. O’Sullivan, D. Blake, N. Griffin, A. Malone, P. Smyth, G. Quinlan, B. Considine, D. O’Driscoll, M. O’Connell, D. Russell, M. O’Dwyer, D. Hedigan, R. Donnelly.

Referee: J. Geaney (Cork).