All on the day as Clare geared to crack Cork's tactical game
A week before he leads his side into an All-Ireland SHC semi-final against Cork, Clare captain Seanie McMahon discusses the challenge facing him, personally, in Allstar centre-forward Niall McCarthy and the challenge facing his team mates against the All-Ireland champions.
First of all, on his personal battle.
"I would rate him (McCarthy) as the best centre-forward in the country over the last two or three years, but he hasn't got the credit he deserves. He's good in the air, good to take it on, he can run, he can score and he has pace. I don't see any weaknesses in the man's game. It's an All-Ireland semi-final, you can't expect anything to be easy."
On Cork, and their new style.
"It suits them and it doesn't matter what anyone else says about it, and I don't think they care what anyone else thinks about it. It suits the type of player they have, the style of game they want to play and they've been successful with it. It's grand to be knocking it, but they've won with it.
"Cork are the All-Ireland champions, they're the Munster champions as well. Everyone thought they were going to face a sticky battle against Waterford, but they showed their ability the way they came out of it. They're a very good side and we'll be the underdogs, but we're there."
Everyone is aware of the Cork game, how they retain possession, wait for the runner, create time, space and look to play intelligent ball.
It's a far more tactical game than hurling is used to, it often starts at the back, with the puck out or the clearance from Cork keeper Donal Óg Cusack. So how will Clare combat that?
McMahon says: "It's a hard to know, but ultimately we'll be concentrating on our own game, hoping that will be good enough. We're going to have to take on their game. We'll know on Sunday whether we've cracked it or not."
Much of the responsibility for breaking the Cork game will rest with the Clare midfield and half-forwards.
Much will also rest on the shoulders of McMahon and his two wing men.
It used to be (for the most part) that all a half-back had to do on the opposition puck out was claim his position under high ball after high ball. Not against this Cork outfit. Now, there is far more variation in the trajectory, the angle and the speed of delivery, making it more difficult for the half-back.
"The game has moved on a lot in the last few years, it's no longer a case of just belting the ball down the field as hard as you can. Cork have changed that, Cusack seems to have every type of puck out, it goes to the 21, to the 45, wherever, but it's suiting their game. In 10 years' time the game will have moved on again, you have to keep improving, keep going with it or you'll be left behind."
New style or old style, Clare have been winning in style lately.
They crushed Waterford with a four-goal barrage in the final round of the qualifying series, to avoid a clash with Kilkenny. They followed that up with a one-sided win over Wexford in the All-Ireland quarter-final, despite being the underdogs.
Both wins were played down in the media, ascribed as much to Waterford and Wexford underperforming as to Clare's play.
McMahon says: "I suppose the team that loses will always feel they could have played better, but we can't do anything about that.
"There's so little between teams, the team that plays just a little bit better on the day will win it.
"Against Waterford and Wexford, that's what happened, but in fairness to them, they are capable of playing better than they did on the days we played them. But there's nothing we can do about that, if they're off form that's not our fault, we just play our own game.
"We had played poorly in the League final, again against Tipperary in the championship, we felt there was more in us than we showed. It was nice to get an improved performance, but that won't be enough to beat Cork.
"There's a great challenge in playing Cork, they're fine hurlers, you're assured of getting a tough battle with them and it's always been like that, we're not expecting anything else.
"It's always a hurling game with Cork, never anything else, and that's the way we play it as well. You can talk about all the games that went before, but it will all come down to what happens on the day."
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