McHale’s message

Clare coach Liam McHale believes too many counties are spending time bulking up and not enough on the basics of the game.

The former Mayo player has helped guide Clare to a Munster final by focusing on a catch and kick game. It dismays him to look at other counties neglecting those fundamentals for the sake of physique.

“Everyone is trying to catch up to Cork, Kerry and Dublin but a lot of them are trying to do it the wrong way. They’re trying to play these blanket defences, they have their players lifting weights and running hills, sending them emails as to what to have for breakfast.

“All that is important but it’s not as important as having 15 fundamentally-solid players on the field. You look at Bernard Brogan — he can kick off both feet. Gooch, Stephen O’Neill, now Daniel Goulding, the same.

“To me there’s a real opportunity opening up for teams. The likes of Kerry and Tyrone were among the best teams to ever play the game but they’re now on the slide, they’re beaten up, they have to be, and it’s going to take them a long time to replace the likes of Paul Galvin and Stephen O’Neill when they go. But too many teams are spending too much time in the gym bursting out of their jerseys with arms like the All Blacks, and they’re going to fall short.”