Clare v Cork ratings: how players fared in epic draw
STAR MAN: Peter Duggan of Clare in action against Cork players Seán O’Donoghue, Eoin Downey and Darragh Fitzgibbon. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
: Kept Clare in the game with two fine first-half saves. Further personified Clare’s unrelenting nature by making himself available for a crossfield ball to set up Clare’s go-ahead point. 8
: Wouldn’t have been helped in the first half by how little pressure would have been applied by colleagues out the field, but came out with his share of ball in the second half.
: The most dogged or irritating inside defender on view, depending on your loyalties. Outside of rattling a few Cork forwards, played a bit of ball too.
: Like almost any defender would, struggled on Brian Hayes, especially when as isolated as he was in the first half.
: Given the benefit of the doubt due to his big-match track record but clearly wasn’t fit to play and was duly called ashore just 16 minutes in.
: Looked like an old man in the first half as Darragh Fitzgibbon repeatedly put him on the back foot. Then looked like the old Conlon as he (was allowed) mopped up a world of ball.
: Had a feisty running battle with Shane Barrett all through, one he was possibly losing until Barrett lost his cool.
Although Tim O’Mahony also had a fine game operating in the same orbit as him, Malone was one of Clare’s finest performers, continuously doing the dirty work and linking the play.
: Made a couple of vital hustle plays, like stripping Ciaran Joyce to initiate Clare’s first goal and pressurising Brian Roche into hitting a wide, but also got bottled up several times himself.
: Was involved in all three Clare’s goals by tracking or dropping back to deliver the ball into the danger zone; scored two frees inside his own half, while the one-two he played from a sideline ball to draw Clare level was as good as any of the wonder points he scored against the same opposition last July.
: Brilliantly read the play and exploited Robert Downey’s questionable injury-induced mobility to ghost in for Clare’s second goal.
: Got on oceans of ball in both games against Cork last year but not so here.
: Like last July, scored the first goal to launch a Clare comeback, but was called ashore for Ian Galvin who would bring a greater dynamism to the Clare attack.
: Unlike last month’s league encounter, he wasn’t the only Clare man to bring the fight to Cork this time. But he was still the main one. A constant out-ball, the 1-1 he scored showed there’s so much finesse to go with all that physicality.
: Was in and out and up and down but it was he who provided the assist for McCarthy’s goal and forced the turnover and won the free that launched Clare’s last surge, reducing the gap from nine to eight.
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: A solid replacement for Ryan, though the ball didn’t come into his and Seamus Harnedy’s patch as often as it did into others.
: Brought a required aggression and dynamism to the Clare inside line either side of scoring a majestic over-the-shoulder point out on the touchline.
: Hasn’t maybe been the impact sub post-2018 as regularly as Clare would have liked but he was certainly that here, winning two marvellous high balls and subsequent frees late on.
: Steady again, making a fine first-half save from Peter Duggan and showing a fine variety of puckouts. Couldn’t be faulted for any of Clare’s three goals.
: Last month he personified the spikiness Cork brought to Ennis and here again early on he was the aggressor, beating Mark Rodgers to any ball played into their corner. But how his full-back line then leaked three goals coming off three clean sheets will grate.
: He may rightly be a current All Star but Peter Duggan taught and reminded him here he’s not yet the finished article. Damien Cahalane might have been the better horse for the course that’s Peter Duggan.
: Though McCarthy took him for 1-1, he was regularly out in front of his man and made a key block on Tony Kelly.
: Overdid it by getting caught in possession for the goal that initiated Clare’s comeback. But admirably kept at it to win the free that drew the game for Cork.
: A day that underlined just how key having a fit Downey is. In the first half Cork looked like they couldn’t be breached. But when he came out (clearly not fit) and came off, they were.
: A low-key performance from the Blarney man, though he saw to it the same could be said about Tony Kelly in the first half.
: Epitomises the new Cork with his athleticism and workrate to go with all his hurling. Both threw himself and the ball about, especially in the first half, on top of throwing over a magnificent long-range point in the second.
: The physicality that the triumvirate of Downey, O’Mahony and Twomey gives Cork has been critical to their regeneration but in the last quarter only O’Mahony remained; as Downey had to hobble off, Twomey faded.
: Was on course to have another typical eight-out-of-ten performance with his industry but then got distracted after being the victim of a careless stroke, to the point he became the culprit of one and was duly sent off.
: Tormented Conlon and Clare in the first half with 0-3 from play, but it suited those parties when he played as deep as he did thereafter, allowing Clare have a 6v4 at the back after Barrett’s dismissal.
: Wasn’t quite at the pitch of it having missed so much of the league but will be the better for having got the game-time and start that he did here.
: Illustrated so much of what’s promising about Cork with some of the scores he created and pointed, but played into Clare’s hands in how he got distracted by Adam Hogan’s gamesmanship.
: Terrorised Clare in the first half with his 2-1 but a late miss will grate with him.
: Might have been the last Cork forward to score from play but was their fulcrum. Was missed in the closing minutes when being the one called ashore in the reshuffle upon Barrett’s dismissal.
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: Not just Cork’s most impactful sub but one of their better performers in the time he was on the field.
: Was very close to scoring two huge long-range points but ended up without a white flag to show for any of them.
: Scored a delightful point immediately upon his introduction but Ryan Taylor interfered with his swing enough to prevent a second.
: Didn’t have the impact he has previously had off the bench in championship but it was him who intercepted David McInerney’s pop pass to force the free that saved Cork.
: Couldn’t get into the game but Cork will need him in the coming weeks.
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