Anthony Daly: Galway rode their luck while Clare hammered out their own

Clare's John Conlon and manager Brian Lohan after the game. ©INPHO/James Crombie

For the first time in over two decades, I found myself on the pitch after a Clare victory. Like everyone else, I got caught up in the euphoria and couldn’t contain my delight. I was hoping I might meet Brian Lohan but I ran into a handful of old comrades on the field; Niall Gilligan, Eamonn Taaffe, Stephen McNamara. It felt like the old days again.

Gilly was with his young fella, who I had never met before. The place was thronged with young kids in Clare jerseys, many of whom would have been too young to remember 2013, or even the All-Ireland semi-finals in 2018, but who are now being exposed to this glorious carnival of Clare delight and ecstasy.

It’s just fantastic. These kids are beginning to realise now the heroes and giants that we have on this team are some of the best players in the country. It was all the more glorious and satisfying again because the match looked to have gone away from us, especially after Ian Galvin hit the crossbar and Lee Chin rifled the ball into the net at the other end within seconds. But the last quarter was unreal as Clare bagged 1-6 without reply.

Players that were having poor enough games suddenly found their mojo, especially Shane O’Donnell. The dirty ball he won was immense. Tony Kelly was struggling to shake off Damien Reck. It looked like the three missed frees got to Tony at the start and he never really hit his stride until the finishing line was in sight. Yet once TK sensed that Clare needed to sprint for the line, he took off.

Peter Duggan was savage too in that last quarter.

The bench was massive too with Aron Shanagher and Shane Meehan contributing 1-4. Mark Rodgers showed up well too. It was just a brilliant way to win it.

This was always going to be a tricky and dangerous match for Clare. Despite the massive physical and mental toll the Munster final exacted, it was an even tougher lead in after the players were listening to how they’d played in probably one of the greatest Munster finals ever. It took Clare an age to shake that from their system.

Clare conceded two soft goals, which felt like an even bigger slap in the face with how they came against the run of play, especially Chin’s strike. Wexford had all the momentum but when Clare finally got a grip on the match, Wexford couldn’t withstand that surge. They emptied their bench but they just hadn’t the quality to deal with Clare players who were now operating at a totally different level from which they had for most of the match.

Colm Lyons could have given the black card and the penalty when Cian Nolan hauled down Lee Chin late on ( is that rule gone ?) A goal at that stage would have left the sides level with the game gone into injury time but there was no way back for Wexford after that incident.

I met Niall Corcoran the Wexford coach in the tunnel. He had been a huge warrior for me with the Dubs and Kilmacud Crokes. He was devastated, especially when they were in such a commanding position late on and having gotten so many match ups right but Wexford just couldn’t halt that surge when it got moving.

Wexford will have huge regrets but Cork will have far more, especially after blowing so many chances in the first half. Seven scores was hard to believe. Galway will wonder how they were five points ahead at half-time but the only reason they were was because Cork just couldn’t hit the target, no matter how hard they tried.

I met a few Cork people on the way out afterwards who were giving out about refereeing decisions , especially the decision not to award a free late on to Seamie Harnedy when Daithi Burke levelled him with a shoulder. I was on co-commentary and I honestly found it hard to call but it seemed shoulder-to-shoulder. It just looked worse with the ferocity of Daithi’s power in the challenge.

Henry Shefflin and the Galway lads will know that this performance will get them nowhere near Limerick. They’ll need to increase their performance by another 25 or 30% but Galway are the type of team that may be able to find those margins because they have the power and physique to be able to stand up to Limerick.

Galway are there now and that’s all that matters. The response to the Cork goal was impressive because they finally got a foothold in the match when Cork looked like they’d drive on and finally take control.

Conor Whelan wasn’t on the ball as often as Galway needed him to be but that was down to Galway’s long range shooting and Ciaran Joyce sitting back deeper after Whelan got his point in the second half.

Seán O’Donoghue is one of the best corner-backs in the country but Whelan showed all his class and brilliance to pounce on the one chink Seán showed in the first half when he lifted his head and hesitated on that high ball, which allowed Whelan the opportunity to get inside him. Whelan still had loads to do but he got off the shot and beat Patrick Collins at the near post.

Collins will be unhappy with his day, especially after the first goal too. That can happen anyone but, apart from Eanna Murphy, it wasn’t a good afternoon for the other three goalkeepers. Murphy’s performance was central to the win, which further underlines how Galway rode their luck and how Cork failed to raise green flags when they created so many clear cut chances.

I feel sorry for Kieran Kingston who has put everything into this group over the last three years. They’ll wonder if they should have started Patrick Horgan while Alan Cadogan was immense when he came on. Cork will have huge regrets but ultimately, they weren’t consistent enough across the summer and have shown nothing like the quality and resilience that the top teams like Limerick and Clare are showing every day they go out.

It was a strange kind of an afternoon. Both games finished in a crescendo of chaos and excitement but the first halves of the two matches were really poor. I’m not sure if the double-header for these fixtures works. The atmosphere can be muted at times. It feels even more surreal again when loads of supporters from the first match don’t hang around for the second game. I know cost is a factor, especially on supporters, but just think it might be better served if one game had been played Saturday and one yesterday. That would have also facilitated the All-Ireland minor semi-finals as curtain-raisers as opposed to playing those games on Friday night and yesterday afternoon.

The drama was incredible though, at the death. I thought I’d get a heart attack late on. my old neighbour John Roughan came over to me in the old stand , he seemed almost half concerned about me. ‘Are you ok? I was watching you there for the last ten minutes and you were nearly pucking every ball.’ It felt like I was. Out on the field, as we basked in the warm afterglow, Gilly was over the moon. ‘We’re going back to Dublin Dalo,’ he said.

We are. For sure.