Clare won’t lie down and die
On the basis of Kilkenny’s awesome display against Galway in the last round, it would appear intimidating. But, taking account of the fickle nature of sport - and the fact the Banner should be more comfortable competing at the same pace - there’s no guarantee the reigning champions will be able to reproduce that type of form.
If Kilkenny repeat that type of display and Clare were to under-achieve as they did big-time in their Munster championship game with Waterford, there would be only one outcome. And, it mightn’t be pretty.
On the evidence so far, Clare have managed to rehabilitate themselves. And, Daly and his players are long enough involved in the game to know, on a given day, anything can happen.
Clare selector Alan Cunningham says, for team and selectors, coming to terms with Waterford defeat has been a “very slow” process. And, it was painful. He has no hesitation in conceding that their own performance stunned them.
“Since then, we have improved, but our League form would have been as good as you’d want to, in that we had beaten nearly everyone we needed to. And we could very well have qualified for the final.
“Getting the players to re-focus after the Waterford game wasn’t difficult, to be fair to them. But, we were left with no alternative. Basically it was a question of run away and hide or take it on the chin.’’
Something else the management may have to take on the chin is the probable loss of Brian Lohan, who was forced off in last week-end’s game against Offaly by a recurrence of the hamstring problem which has bothered him all year. He was in Dublin yesterday to see a specialist, but, says Cunningham, he is “not looking great”.
“It goes without saying that he would be a huge loss. His performances over the years have been second to none. He has been inspirational on the field and off it.’’
Over the same period, Lohan has been a similar inspiration to Wolfe Tones, the team Cunningham took to an All-Ireland club final but lost narrowly.
While the management have been heartened by the progress made, Cunningham feels they have yet to completely “turn around” their form against Waterford.
“It has been reasonable. We haven’t set the world alight by any means. But, we’re getting there, slowly but surely we would hope.
“We felt very good going into the game against Offaly. We felt all the preparation had been done - just like we felt before the Waterford game.
“It went reasonably well for us, but, in fairness to Offaly, they hadn’t got over their defeat in the Leinster final. They didn’t offer the type of challenge we were expecting.’’
One obvious area of improvement is in attack, with Niall Gilligan one of the stars last week-end. However, Cunningham credits him with showing outstanding form all the way through the League.
“He has kept that going. In fairness, at a personal level he’s working extremely hard and a part of it.’’
Clare last played Kilkenny in the 2002 All-Ireland final, when a third minute goal from DJ Carey proved crucial in deciding the outcome.
Asked to analyse their display against Galway a fortnight ago, Cunningham said: “It’s easy to rate them. They’ve been the best team in Ireland for the last three years. They are the standard that we set ourselves to.
“But, Wexford proved that they were not unbeatable. And, where we’re coming from, we haven’t much to lose.’’
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