'That comeback against Cork proved we're half good' says Clare selector Ken Ralph

Peter Duggan in action against Seán O’Donoghue, Eoin Downey and Darragh Fitzgibbon File picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Clare selector Ken Ralph is hopeful that Sunday’s Ennis comeback will prove to those who disrespected the All-Ireland champions in recent weeks that the Banner are “half-good, half decent”.

In the wake of a League campaign where Clare lost five of their six outings and were relegated from the topflight, Ralph said some of the commentary on the run-in to their championship opener was “not nice”.

It was a championship opener where Clare trailed Cork by 12 points at half-time and still trailed by as much as eight with two minutes remaining in regulation time.

Belief was one factor in their late surge, another was the indignation felt at how their All-Ireland win, in certain quarters, was put down as a fluke.

“There was an awful lot of disrespect for the last couple of weeks, we were only coming here to make up the numbers,” Ralph told Clare FM.

“We are All-Ireland champions and obviously in a lot of people's eyes it was a fluke. It wasn't a fluke. We put a lot of work into the last five years to win an All-Ireland. Some of the commentary, to say the least, was not nice.

“On League form, Cork are a serious team. They are favourites to win the All-Ireland. You could see why in the first-half. But Championship is a lot different to League, but Cork are going to be there or thereabouts. We needed to get a performance today after our League. And in the second-half, we did get a performance. We are back in the game now. Hopefully people might give us some credit for being half-good, half decent.”

David Fitzgerald holds off the challenge of Robert Downey. File picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

With six minutes of second-half injury-time having been signaled by the fourth official, Clare took the lead in the 77th minute, with Cork half-back Ciarán Joyce winning the equalising free in the 78th minute. Ralph’s view was that referee Liam Gordon should have blown for full-time when David Reidy pointed from the placed ball 40 seconds over the allotted six minutes.

“What a finish. I actually thought we had them beaten. I thought he should have blown it up there after the last free. I thought the time was well up. They got their chance, and we probably would have taken a draw at half-time.

“The talk at half-time was this game wasn't over. We knew it wasn't over. We weren't a million miles off where we needed to be. Just get a couple of things right and we did in the second-half. We were right at half-time, it wasn't over, it was still there for us. We all but won it, we have to take it now.” 

Clare are on the road this Sunday, making their first round-robin visit to Walsh Park in five years. The first-half from the Cork stalemate is the obvious work-on.

“They got two soft goals we thought could have been prevented. We were in a bit of trouble on our puckout in the first half and we tried to fix it in the second half.

“We were a little bit behind the curve compared to other teams with injuries during the League. We were just a little bit behind where we wanted to be. It needed the first half to get to the pitch of it. But we knew it was there, we knew it was in them. In the second-half, we got to the pitch of it.

“It would have been some win. A little bit disappointed we didn't get the win for a finish, but you have to be happy in the big picture.”