Cats fail to make the kill again

CAN you imagine the following two things happening within five days of one another — Kilkenny being ahead in a National League game by nine points and losing by four; their senior hurling club champions, O’Loughlin Gaels, being up by five points with only a few minutes to go in the first half of an All-Ireland final, and losing by 12?

I know there’s big money being made by Irish punters in Cheltenham this week, but what odds would you have received on that little double? What happened in Croke Park yesterday, how did O’Loughlin Gaels let such a lead slip, end up losing by so much? There were several factors involved. The first was the switches involving the Kerins brothers, with Mark going to the edge of the square, Alan going out around the centre of the pitch. Then there was the introduction of Enda Collins in midfield in the 29th minute along with the performance of corner-forward Eoin Forde, who got crucial scores when Clarinbridge were struggling. Finally, there was the failure of O’Loughlin’s to move Brian Hogan to full-back to follow Mark Kerins. All combined gave us the final outcome.

I couldn’t understand why the O’Loughlin Gaels sideline didn’t act; even by the end of the first half it was obvious Mark Kerins had the measure of full-back Andy Kearns, and in the second half it became obvious that Brian Hogan was having real problems with Alan at centre-back — the failure to bring him to the edge of the square cost the Kilkenny champions dearly.

Something else that cost O’Loughlin’s was the inaccuracy of Mark Bergin from frees. He was deadly accurate from play in that opening half but couldn’t find the target from placed balls, and again the Gaels sideline should have made a change here. When a Kilkenny team (or Kilkenny themselves) gets the opposition on the rack they normally stretch them out, break them — that didn’t happen (nor did it happen in the league clash at Pearse Stadium on Sunday either).

One thing common to both losses — any team is suspect to pace, and both Kilkenny and O’Loughlin Gaels were caught in that department. It was very obvious in the second half yesterday, when Clarinbridge were by far the better team and relishing the open space.

Clarinbridge had many stars. David Forde was in trouble early on but he was superb in the second half, marshalling his defence. Enda Collins and Barry Daly dominated midfield, a major factor. Captain, Paul Callanan, showed great leadership from corner-back and Conor Forde was a real tiger.

The man who led Clarinbridge to this win yesterday, however, was Alan Kerins. He took up great positions when he was brought out the field, showed some lovely touches, fed great ball inside and scored two fine points.

Even in Galway this team has had to battle, nearly failing to come out of their group before requiring a replay to claim county honours. Last month they had another huge battle before seeing off De La Salle in the semi-final. Yet there they were yesterday, still in great shape. Huge credit must go to manager Micheál Donoghue and his selectors.

You have to admire the record of Galway teams in this championship, but you also have to wonder — how much of an advantage is it that they don’t have any provincial club championship?

De La Salle had two big games in Munster, O’Loughlin’s the same in Leinster, while Clarinbridge could rest after their county final, focus completely on the All-Ireland series.

Would an open draw in the club championship be the fairest way to go, or should Galway and the Ulster champions be in Leinster as well?

Don’t let that take anything away from Clarinbridge today, that’s just a thought for the GAA powerbrokers.

Clarinbridge are worthy champions, worthy successors to the great Portumna team, but you have to ask now — will this give Galway a bit of impetus on the inter-county scene?

John McIntyre could look at the Kerins brothers again, at David Forde, Paul Callanan, Enda Collins, Barry Daly, but above all — and I spoke about him after the De La Salle win — Eoin Forde. With 1-4 from play in an All-Ireland final — he was definitely my man-of-the-match.

Another club championship season over, and we did have some great games, the semi-final between Clarinbridge and De La Salle definitely the best of the lot — I’m sure John Mullane and his teammates will have been looking on yesterday with a lot of regret. Still, Clarinbridge improved with every outing and this was probably their best performance. The oysters will taste that bit sweeter this year!

You’d wonder though, and going back to the opening paragraph — is there slippage in Kilkenny?

Is the air of invincibility gone?