Rebels’ handy opening battle

THE usual cliché after a game like yesterday’s Munster SFC tie in Páirc Uí Chaoimh is tougher tests ahead, so we’ll take it off the leash here for a run around.

Cork were far too strong for Clare in this game, pulling away in the second-half to win by 15 and never looking troubled by their opponents.

The game ended on a sour note, when Clare’s Graham Kelly got involved with Cork’s John Miskella. Both were yellow-carded and as it was Kelly’s second, he saw red — literally, as it turned out, because once referee Eddie Kinsella pointed to the sideline Kelly felled Miskella in front of the official.

Kelly endeared himself to the home support even more with a farewell wave as he went down the tunnel, but Miskella had the last laugh with a late point which was cheered to the echo by the Cork followers.

It wasn’t in keeping with the rest of the game, which saw Clare start well in front of 4,186 spectators before Cork eventually found their feet.

The game was over as a contest well before half-time when Donncha O’Connor got the only goal of the game, and though Clare rallied briefly early in the second-half, Cork pulled further away as the game wore on.

Cork got into their formidable stride around the middle of the field early on and kept the Clare defence under pressure. It was one-way traffic as the Leesiders’ much-vaunted middle eight players exerted control.

Aidan Walsh and Alan O’Connor dominated midfield proper whileGraham Canty and Noel O’Leary drove forward.

The key man was Ciarán Sheehan however — named at corner-forward but lining out at right-half forward, he caused havoc in the Clare half,carrying the ball well. Ahead of him Donncha O’Connor was a focal point for attack and the full-forward involved his colleagues with some clever lay-offs.

The sides swapped points early on, but Cork took over with the score 0-2 to 0-2 on eight minutes: Sheehan (two), Daniel Goulding (free) and Donncha O’Connor gave the home side some breathing space. At 0-6 to 0-2 Cork were comfortable and then came the goal on 22 minutes which meant they were cruising. Patrick Kelly made the incision, gliding through the middle of the Clare defence, and he placed O’Connor unselfishly to flick home from near the small square.

It might have been worse for Clare – Cork could have had five goals in the first-half: a Sheehan run ended with Donncha O’Connor punching just over, rather than under, the bar, Donncha Goulding put a shot six inches past the upright, O’Connor hit the bar with another punch and Sheehan put the ball down Clare ‘keeper Joe Hayes’ throat when clean through on goal.

As it was, by the break Cork were ahead 1-9 to 0-4, thanks to further points from Goulding (two) and Aidan Walsh.

After the break Clare threw the kitchen sink at Cork, aided by the wind, and rattled off three points from Alan Clohessy, Rory Donnelly – their best forward all through – and David Tubridy but Donncha O’Connor steadied the ship for Cork.

The full-forward had two points (one free) and it deflated the Clare challenge entirely. From there until the end it was a procession of scores for the home side, with several players chipping in.

Fittingly man of the match Ciarán Sheehan popped over the final score, giving Cork a final tally of 1-23.

There were plenty of positives for Cork to take from the game – Graham Canty, out injured for so long, came through the 70 minutes unharmed, and moved from half-back to full-back at the break.

Michael Shields showed up well when he swapped with Canty andexcelled at centre-back, scoring a point. Debutant Denis O’Sullivan was a calm presence on the wing, while 24 scores over 70 minutes was a fine return for manager Conor Counihan.

However, as the Cork boss acknowledged after the game, his side had those first-half goal chances that they didn’t put away. “We’re doing that with a while,” said Counihan.

He’s right — a conversion rate of one in five or six chances will have to be improved as Cork progress deeper into the summer.

Then again, the accompanying cliche to ‘tougher tests ahead’ is‘plenty there to work on’.

Counihan didn’t really need to say that out loud yesterday, but he obliged. Cliché or not, he’ll know it was true all the same.

Subs for Cork: P Kerrigan for Goold (47), P Kissane for Shields (63), F Lynch for Kelly (63), N Murphy for A Walsh (65), J Miskella for D O’Sullivan (66).

Subs for Clare: Ger Quinlan for Browne (28), S Brennan for C O’Connor (ht), S McNeiles for John Hayes (ht).

Scorers for Cork: D Goulding 0-8 (6f), D O’Connor 1-4 (2f), C Sheehan 0-4, P O’Neill 0-2, M Shields, A O’Connor, P Kerrigan, D Goold and J Miskella 0-1 each.

Scorers for Clare: R Donnelly 0-5, D Tubridy 0-3 (1f), G Brennan 0-2, A. Clohessy 0-1.

Referee: Eddie Kinsella (Laois).