Davy Fitzgerald unhappy as player hospitalised

Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald was unhappy over the two “missed” tackles that removed John Conlon and Darach Honan from this Division 1B opener, the latter taken to hospital with a suspected cracked rib.

Honan was withdrawn injured entering first-half stoppages, while Conlon was taken off three minutes into the second-half. Fitzgerald admitted afterwards that Conlon should not have started the second period.

“Darach went to hospital straightaway. He could hardly breathe,” said the Clare manager.

“I saw the tackle. I wasn’t happy with it. It was missed. There were two or three tackles missed. It wasn’t right. He could have a cracked rib, we are not sure. It was disappointing.

“John Conlon, you could see here, the ball was no place in sight. It is going to cost us two players. We shouldn’t have put him out in the second-half. He was probably gone four or five minutes before half-time. We said we would try run it off, but he was in trouble.”

Fitzgerald has requested footage of the incident which led to Peter Duggan and Offaly’s Conor Doughan receiving straight red cards on 50 minutes.

“I didn’t see it. I want to see it. I have asked them inside for the shots. Peter said his helmet was pulled completely off his head which I think we see. If it is a sending off, it is a sending off.

He continued: “I thought the 13 or 14 minutes coming into half-time was the Clare I know. We only saw it for 15 minutes today, but fair play. They played really well in that patch. It is early yet so we won’t dwell on the victory.”

Offaly manager Eamonn Kelly, meanwhile, was disappointed how his team allowed Clare move out of sight during this period. “They got 1-9 coming up to half-time. We got a point. That was the difference right up to the finish.

”We were 0-6 all and then they just took off. You can’t let a team of that quality do that. We have to learn from that. Other than that 15 minute spell, we were competitive for the rest of the game.

“Their second goal at the finish might have flattered the scoreline. If we had scored our penalty, there mightn’t have been much in it. This is a learning curve. We have a lot of work to do to get back and be competitive at this top level.”