All about covering the angles for Allen

The first All-Ireland SHC semi-final of 2013, Cork versus Dublin on Sunday, began in orthodox fashion with both sides happy to play a traditional 3/3/2/3/3 formation.

The second semi-final, Clare v Limerick on Sunday is unlikely to follow suit with Limerick manager John Allen anticipating a tactical battle from the outset.

“I suppose you factor in that it will be fairly full-on tactics. I won’t say a game of chess but we will both need to be very tactically aware of what the other is doing. We have discussed that with the players before the last two games. Things happen in games, a corner-forward comes out to midfield or a centre-forward comes out a bit. You saw the last day when Clare played a sweeper and Galway never seemed to use their spare man in the half-back line properly. You had Podge Collins dictating the play with a Galway back loose and it didn’t make sense to me. I think we have discussed that often enough with the players now that they know what to do if a corner-forward comes out to midfield, or if they are trying to isolate players, which Clare have tried to do in the last two games. They like to leave Darach Honan inside and give him plenty of space, pumping the ball into him.”