David Reidy’s rally bags the points for resilient Clare
Clare will appreciate the two points, considering they are on the road for three of their remaining four round games and Tipperary might rue not pressing harder when their largely experimental side had levelled the game for the eighth time in the 57th minute.
Then again, few would quibble with the game finishing in the home team’s favour. With the wind advantage, Clare should have been further ahead than 0-13 to 0-10 at half-time and had held a five-point advantage by the 46th minute. Even after Tipperary equalised for a final time, the Banner found something more in themselves to create a cushion and, when David Reidy shot 1-1 in injury-time there were nods across the 6,277 that justice had been served.
“We’ve only two home games, so it was really important to us to get off to a good start today, but it was nip and tuck,” said Clare co-manager Donal Moloney. “It could have gone either way. We won a few vital balls there at the end, but considering it was January 28, it was quite a game.”
Had Tipperary taken something from the game, it would have been cheeky more than cunning. Noel McGrath was their only fully-functioning forward and his creativity kept his side in the game, along with Jason Forde’s free-taking.
Frees had been an issue for Clare in the first half, when Peter Duggan was relieved of duties after some misses. Reidy stepped in and performed dutifully.
“We notched up eight [wides] in the first half from some very good positions,” said Moloney. “We got a lot of good scores, as well. Peter is normally very good with the free-taking and he probably just needs to get back and knuckle down. Today, the radar was slightly off for him, but he’ll be okay again.”
Tipperary’s Michael Ryan wasn’t cribbing about his team’s lot, even if Reidy’s goal with the last puck of the game put a slightly unfair complexion on the scoreboard.
“It (the result) puts us under a little bit of pressure, but we thrive on that. We won’t be pressing any panic buttons. There will be a lot of hurling to be played before who will be in the quarter- finals. We’ve just got to be measured in what we’re looking for, this year.
“We got our full complement of 20 on, we had our debutants on the pitch. It’s a baptism of fire out there. That was a really good Clare side – I don’t think they had any debutants on. It’s a twin-track approach, trying to gather up points here or wherever else we go and expand our panel.”
Tipperary led for brief occasions twice in the first half and were dependent on Clare indiscipline to keep in touch. Between the halves, they were scoreless for 21 minutes due to some careless shooting, as Clare stretched the gap to six points in the 46th minute.
Again, largely through a series of frees, Tipperary leveled matters 11 minutes later, only for Clare to find another gear as Tony Kelly and Reidy split the posts from play. Two Forde frees brought the visitors close once more, but Reidy was on the mark to secure the points and a win that, based on team selections, at least meant more to Clare than the defeat to Tipperary.
The change to the provincial championship is defining Ryan’s approach to the league. “It certainly makes us think long and hard about it. None of us will really know how it’s going to pan out or the comfort we had knowing this year would look very much like last year. That’s gone for 2018. We have a different Munster championship, which dictates everything.
“It really does take careful planning. The fundamentals are that we have to build a strong panel to compete week after week after week. The Munster championship is like the league [in nature], only more important.”
Clare too know their priorities. After two Kilkenny defeats on the bounce, they might think of a better time to be travelling to Nowlan Park, but spring is a learning experience for Moloney and Gerry O’Connor. A Division 1 quarter-final is a short-term objective.
“That would be the focus, but broader than that is to get us ready for the summer and really test ourselves for the summer,” said Moloney. “Last year, we were very flat for a lot of the league and it probably didn’t give us the bounce going into the championship. We’re hoping this year, we’ll be better served by the league.”
Ryan said Seamus Callanan had surgery on Monday on his back, while Niall O’Meara last week returned to full training.
D. Reidy (1-8, 0-5 frees); P. Duggan (2 frees), C. Malone (0-4 each); J. Conlon, T. Kelly (0-2 each); C. Galvin (0-1).
J. Forde (0-10, frees); N. McGrath (0-5, 1 free); C. Barrett, Pádraic Maher, R. Maher, S. Curran (0-1 each).
D. Tuohy; P. O’Connor (c); C. Cleary, J. Browne; S. Morey, D. McInerney, D. Fitzgerald; C. Galvin, T. Kelly; C. Malone, J. Conlon, S. O’Donnell; D. Reidy, P. Duggan, C. McGrath.
P. Collins for C. McGrath (h-t); I. Galvin for P. Duggan (65); N. Deasy for C. Malone (67); G. O’Connell for C. Galvin (69).
Paul Maher (Moyne-Templetuohy); A. Flynn, T. Hamill, D. Maher; S. Kennedy, Pádraic Maher (c), T. Fox; C. Barrett, R. Maher; C. Kenny, N. McGrath, S. Curran; Patrick Maher, J. Forde, G. Browne.
Joe O’Dwyer for T. Fox (35); M. Breen for C. Kenny (46); J. McGrath for G. Browne (51); B. Maher for S. Kennedy (60); D. McCormack for Patrick Maher (66).
A. Kelly (Galway).
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