Clare navigate way past Tipperary and into third consecutive Munster final
STAR MAN: Shane O'Donnell of Clare in action against Ronan Maher of Tipperary during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 5 match between Tipperary and Clare. Pic: Michael P Ryan, Sportsfile
Tipperary waived no third-quarter white flag on this occasion. They boxed the distance. It made no difference. The afterthought of Sunday’s Munster proceedings threw up the expected result.
For Clare, progression to a third consecutive Munster final. They have responded to that opening day final quarter slip against Limerick with three consecutive wins.
That winning run, mind, is tempered by their form here and at home to Waterford last Sunday. For the second weekend in succession, they lacked a clinical edge. They lacked a ruthless streak.
A 1-5 unanswered burst from the 39th to the 46th minute shoved them out into a 1-17 to 0-12 lead. An eight-point advantage, the exact same as the first-half gap they saw wiped out against Waterford.
Here, they held on, but they didn’t do so convincingly.
Jake Morris, who finished with 0-11, Alan Tynan, Eoghan Connolly, and subs Noel McGrath and Bryan O’Mara dragged the hosts within a score - 1-20 to 0-20 - just after the hour mark.
On three further occasions, Tipp stood within three of their opponents. The required levelling goal was never fashioned. Nor did they ever threaten to fashion one.
The very slight consolation for Tipperary is that they at least stood up and stayed throwing punches after falling eight in arrears. That is the outstanding difference between this and the double-digit humiliations against Limerick and Cork.
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What kept Clare in front and on the road to victory when Tipp refused to accept their now weekly faith was Shane O’Donnell’s genius.
In the second half alone, Clare’s form forward hit 0-2 from play, assisted for another 0-2, was fouled for 0-3, and was involved in the creation of Diarmuid Ryan's 42nd minute goal by picking out David Fitzgerald who in turn picked out the rampaging half-back.
O’Donnell’s second period was a great deal more enterprising than an opening half where his radar was off.
Clare picked up where they left off seven days earlier in Ennis. Their conversion rate once again was in the unacceptable bracket. Their final product once again betrayed them. The final product had a degree of casualness about it.
There were eight first half wides, six of which had been clocked by the 21st minute. O’Donnell was responsible for three, including a goal effort on 20 minutes flashed wide. There was a Peter Duggan goal effort closer to the half-hour that Ronan Maher blocked.
Duggan was not among the six Clare players to fire wide in the opening half. He did, however, drop one point attempt short to go with his spoiled green flag effort.
Duggan and Fitzgerald were their usual forceful selves under the Clare restart. But on a notable number of occasions, the two men turned over possession shortly after plucking it from the cloudy Thurles landscape.
The wind was behind winless Tipp for the opening 37 minutes. A four-in-a-row from the fourth to the 13th minute took them 0-5 to 0-1 in front. Seánie Kenneally’s second on 20 minutes had their lead at three, 0-8 to 0-5.
But their inability to win clean possession from either their own or Clare’s restart turned the tap off. An 11-minute barren spell ensued.
Clare packed Tipperary’s scoring vacuum with white flags from David Reidy, after a neat one-two with Mark Rodgers, Aidan McCarthy (free), Rodgers, and Fitzgerald to hit the front for the first time.
Two Jake Morris frees, and his fourth from play, pulled the hosts level at 0-11 apiece at the break. The concern was that no member of the inside line had scored from play in the opening half, even if Mark Kehoe and Gearóid O’Connor - subbed off on 28 minutes - won frees.
Turning around to face the elements, that stat needed desperate improving. It didn’t. Tipp’s inside line had all been removed by the 56th minute.
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A McCarthy (0-8, 0-6 frees); D Ryan (1-2); M Rodgers (0-2 frees), D Fitzgerald (0-3 each); T Kelly (free), S O’Donnell (0-2); P Duggan, D Reidy, D Lohan, I Galvin (0-1 each).
J Morris (0-11, 0-6 frees); S Kenneally (0-3); R Maher (0-1 free); G O’Connor (0-2 frees), E Connolly (0-2 each); B Heffernan, A Tynan, B O’Mara, N McGrath (0-1 each).
E Quilligan; A Hogan, C Cleary, C Leen; D Ryan, J Conlon, C Galvin; C Malone, D Lohan; D Fitzgerald, D Reidy, P Duggan; S O’Donnell, A McCarthy, M Rodgers.
T Kelly for Reidy (46); I Galvin for McCarthy (54); P Donnellan for Lohan (64); A Shanagher for Duggan (68)
B Hogan; J Ryan, E Connolly, C Morgan; B McGrath, R Maher, B Heffernan; P Cadell, W Connors; A Tynan, J Morris, S Kenneally; G O’Connor, M Kehoe, A Ormond.
D Stakelum for O’Connor (28); B O’Mara for B Heffernan (43); N McGrath for Cadell (44); C Stakelum for Ormond (52); P Maher for Kehoe (56).
J Murphy (Limerick).
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