Grounds for Clare complaint but tactical ploys pay off for Limerick
LATE DRAMA: Adam Hogan of Clare is tackled by William O'Donoghue and Gearoid Hegarty of Limerick in the last seconds of the Munster SHC final at TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
Through phalanxes of yellow and blue followers on the Ennis Road, Limerick’s team bus arrived at their coliseum on Sunday afternoon, made to believe they weren’t going to have any of their usual comforts.
True enough, Clare made nothing easy for them, this the fourth consecutive time one score or less separated the sides.
They – and many watching – would argue this should have been the third time in the last four championship games they finished level at the end of normal time. Both Tony Kelly and Adam Hogan had major shouts for frees within a few seconds of one another. Free converted, the Munster final, while not a patch on last year’s stone-cold classic decider, would have been going to extra-time for the second time in 12 months.
Instead, referee Liam Gordon called time shortly after several Limerick supporters in the 43,756 TUS Gaelic Grounds crowd believed he had done so and invaded the field after a William O’Donoghue shot trickled wide. A deserving result? The home team were the better side, never anything but ahead from Aaron Gillane’s 44th-minute point and going five up in the 54th minute, but an injustice had been done.
Yet, as much as they can kick out, Clare can kick themselves for putting themselves in a chasing position when having been so clinical in the first half they lost their composure. Inexplicably, Tony Kelly saw two airborne shots blocked down. Another half a dozen shots fell shy of their intended target.
Why Cian Nolan spent so much time on Gillane was a slight on the Clare sideline. Struggling from early doors, he picked up a yellow in the 30th minute and had fouled again before Gillane turned him in the 44th minute after a David Reidy delivery. Goalkeeper Eibhear Quilligan managed to touch the ball but it was too hot to stop.
Nolan made way in the 50th minute, receiving an embrace from manager Brian Lohan. Gillane didn’t score from play for the remainder of the game but the damage was done. Powering into the third quarter as they did in the one-point win over Cork, Limerick won the period by eight points, 1-8 to 0-3.
“It was a big third quarter,” agreed John Kiely. “It's something we go after. Each season brings its own narrative and one of the things that's been noticeable this year is that our third quarter has been tremendous in terms of energy and in terms of scoring. It's a great trait in a team to come out in what they call the moving quarter and actually move."
To Clare’s credit, they eroded Limerick’s advantage to a single point in the 66th minute in between some wayward strikes. After Adam English scored in a brief cameo as a temporary substitute, Clare sent over the next three points.
From the 70th minute, Limerick thrice went two points up only for Clare to respond each time, twice through Galvin. Kelly set up another tense finish but one that might have been too much for referee Gordon.
There weren’t many indicators of it in the first half but Limerick’s tactical decisions to start Reidy — who scored three second-half points and assisted the goal — and Graeme Mulcahy worked. “The boys were hopping off the sod in training for the last two weeks and they were coming into a great vein of form,” Kiely said.
“You have to recognise form. What's the point of having A v Bs or what's the point of having training if you're not going to react in the right way when a player puts his hand up and says 'I'm ready to be started'?”Â
Three points from his tyros English and a grieving Cathal O’Neill from the bench also endorsed the selections. “Adam and Cathal, particularly given the circumstances around the death of his uncle yesterday, having to come and participate today and do what he did – for a young player, I thought that was an incredible achievement for a Munster final and an occasion like today. That just shows you the calibre of the individual that he is.”Â
Clare could have been much further than three points ahead at the break (1-11 to 0-11). Playing a more efficient, sharper brand of hurling, they were the better team and opened up Limerick on a few occasions.
For his goal, Mark Rodgers reacted best to Kelly’s point effort striking the post in the 31st minute and his strike foiled Dan Morrissey and Nickie Quaid. That green flag sent Clare into a three-point lead that they could have more than doubled in the following three minutes. However, Ryan Taylor struck a poor wide when a goal looked on and seconds later Quaid stretched well to deny Rodgers a second goal.
At the other end, Nolan, a late replacement for Conor Cleary, was having a torrid time against Gillane who had seven points to his name by the interval, two from play, and he won two of the five frees he converted.
While Kyle Hayes was impressing on David Fitzgerald and there was plenty of space for Gillane and Seamus Flanagan to run into, Limerick’s loss of shape towards the end of the half was concerning. Aerially, Clare were dominant too and enjoyed a lot of purchase on both puck-outs.
But on the resumption Limerick were renewed and put their names into the history books as the first five-in-a-row Munster SHC winning county outside Cork.
A. Gillane (1-11, 0-8 frees); T. Morrissey, D. Reidy (0-3 each); C. O’Neill (0-2); D. O’Donovan, G. Hegarty, K. Hayes, A. English (0-1 each).
T. Kelly (0-6, 2 frees); M. Rodgers (1-2); A. McCarthy (0-4, 3 frees); S. O’Donnell, D. Fitzgerald, I. Galvin (0-2 each); R. Taylor, D. Ryan, C. Malone, A. Shanagher (0-1 each).
N. Quaid; M. Casey, D. Morrissey, B. Nash; D. Byrnes, D. Hannon (c), K. Hayes; D. O’Donovan, W. O’Donoghue, T. Morrissey, G. Hegarty, D. Reidy; A. Gillane, S. Flanagan, G. Mulcahy.
P. Casey for G. Mulcahy (47); C. Coughlan for D. Hannon (inj 55); R. English for M. Casey (inj 57); C. O’Neill for T. Morrissey (57); A. English for D. O’Donovan (temp 62-64); A. English for S. Flanagan (65).
E. Quilligan; A. Hogan, R. Hayes, C. Nolan; D. Ryan, J. Conlon, D. McInerney; R. Taylor, C. Malone; D. Fitzgerald, A. McCarthy, T. Kelly (c); S. O’Donnell, P. Duggan, M. Rodgers.
S. Meehan for A. McCarthy (45); S. Morey for C. Nolan (50); A. Shanagher for P. Duggan (57); I. Galvin for S. Meehan (65); P. Flanagan for R. Hayes (68).
L. Gordon (Galway).
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