If this were a telegram, the message would be easy to convey: Clare were terrific, and Cork were abject

Cork’s season on the brink, Clare’s only just begun

Sun, 01 May, 2022 - 19:26

Michael Moynihan, Thurles

The obvious question to ask in Thurles before yesterday’s game was how Clare would fare just one week after beating Tipperary, given that that championship opener had been their sole focus for months.

The question was all the sharper given Cork had had two weeks since losing to Limerick in their first game - and had had a chance to see Clare’s alignment the previous weekend.

When the match broke out and we were able to divest ourselves of supposition, there was only one question: how did Clare only win by two points?

If this were a telegram, the message would be easy to convey: Clare were terrific, and Cork were abject. When they went a man down, Clare played like they had a spare player rather than the reverse.

The expected reaction to a hugely disappointing defeat to Limerick didn’t materialise from Cork, but that was largely because Clare didn’t allow it to materialise. The Banner were not just at the pitch of the game from the very start; they dictated the pitch of the game from the very start, snapping into a brisk resumption of the purpose and verve that served them so well the week before.

For your representative sample of the first half in particular there are plenty of possibilities.

On 14 minutes Cork’s Shane Barrett was turned over in the middle of the field, with Peter Duggan of Clare pointing when the ball was recycled to him. Or perhaps it was a couple of minutes later, when the same Duggan was able to pick the pocket of Cork keeper Patrick Collins not once, but twice.

The archetypal play of the half took place on 25 minutes. Cork had just hit a poor wide when Clare keeper Eibhear Quilligan was able to look out, on his own puck-out, and pick out Shane O’Donnell in complete isolation - at exactly the left-half-forward position without a defender within 40 metres of him. O’Donnell fielded the ball and pointed.

At a time when there was never more work done on puck-outs it was an extraordinary lapse, but even that description is unfair. It doesn’t do justice to Clare’s excellence and commitment, which was consistent throughout the field.

Their brisk dismissal of Cork’s restarts a case in point.

Cork puck-outs were a subject furrowing brows from North Main Street to Youghal Bridge all week, and the men in red began well - Patrick Collins found Robbie O’Flynn in space for Cork’s first point.

Then Clare simply asserted themselves. Their half-backs not only clamped down on Cork’s attack but were able to field ball cleanly and launch attacks through their midfielders - Cathal Malone was particularly prominent - while Ryan Taylor and Shane O’Donnell were looking for work in the middle third.

Clare’s ability to find a free man will give Cork sleepless nights. Time and again Clare players hit points untroubled by a challenge of any kind, a fair reflection of their superiority around the field.

For instance, while Peter Duggan was expected to take on Robert Downey in a battle of skyscrapers on the edge of the square, the Clooney-Quin man began on the 40 alongside Ciaran Joyce, asking Cork’s new centre-back plenty of questions before eventually trooping in to full-forward. Tony Kelly rotated through all the forward positions and thrived in each of them. John Conlon cleared - to use the approved metric - an ocean of ball from centre-back.

A late Cork spurt cut the deficit to six at the half - 0-17 to 0-11 - but Clare resumed with two quick points to underline their superiority. As long as they kept Cork from eating into their lead with a goal Clare weren’t going to lose.

Even when Cork did get a goal - Alan Connolly’s solo effort on 47 minutes, and an additional boost to the Rebel cause when Ian Galvin was red carded soon after - Clare didn’t panic.

Even with fourteen men they were still able to work a free player to hit points three times in the minutes after Galvin’s dismissal. At the final whistle Clare were just two clear thanks to Darragh Fitzgibbon’s late goal, but it should have been much more.

“We had a bad start,” said Cork boss Kieran Kingston afterwards.

“We were playing into a breeze in the first half, had a very poor start. We were really nervous in the first 20 minutes and we made some simple, elementary mistakes.

“That was disappointing because you give a team the calibre of Clare, you saw it last week, that lead and try and work it back, you’re always struggling.”

In the Clare corner, Brian Lohan was making a point about what his side had learned from 2021: “We were looking at last year and we went down a man last year (against Tipperary) but we didn’t react well when we did go down a man - obviously the Aidan McCarthy sending off, it just hit us. We didn’t have that resilience. ..

“It just hit us. We didn’t have that resilience to come back from it. We spoke about that a good bit so we were happy with how we did react to being down a man. We didn’t cave in once things started going against us, which it could be argued we did last year.” Lohan’s point was a telling one about Clare’s development. They’re quantifiably better than last year having absorbed vital lessons from past defeats, though team management will be glad of the chance to restore their energy levels - and perhaps to address some of the needless frees conceded.

To progress they’ll have to be more clinical with goal chances also - one or two late opportunities should have been availed of, and will need to be converted against Waterford and Limerick.

For Cork the comparison with Clare, a team absorbing lessons and improving as they learn, is not a kind one. Waterford in Walsh Park will be even less accommodating low in confidence than Thurles was yesterday.

At this point the men in red look set to decide the wooden spoon in this year’s Munster championship against Tipperary in the last round-robin game.

For both of those teams the chances to rescue the season are running out rapidly.

For Clare it’s only just begun