Clare left hanging on as Tipp kick-start their championship

The champions need an unlikely scenario for their season to stretch into the summer.

YELLOW WALL: Jake Morris of Tipperary is tackled by Cian Galvin and David McInerney of Clare. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Tipperary 4-18 Clare 2-21 

Sixteen climbers got Clare to the summit last July. Seventeen, at a push.

Clare got a tickle from Cork’s ‘we have two for every position’ assertion. Clare had the bare minimum and the bare minimum were majestic. Efficiency of the few won out over excessivity.

That’s all fine and dandy so long as each of the 16 climbers stay on the mountain. Clare’s bare minimum has been massively eroded in recent weeks. The consequent lifting of the bonnet has been revealing, both for this championship and championships to follow. They don’t have two for every position. Not even close. Beyond their 16, 17 climbers, the quality is wanting, particularly at the back.

John Conlon was a late withdrawal. Daithí Lohan was drafted in, Cian Galvin moving from right half-back to the centre. Conlon’s absence meant Clare took to the field for the defining fixture of their Liam MacCarthy defence without half the defence that won them Liam.

Of the half still standing, it was clear to anyone in the 20,685-sellout paying attention that Conor Leen wasn’t moving freely in the warm-up. After John McGrath left him for dust on 17 minutes, Brian Lohan removed a fourth starter from his All-Ireland winning defence. Few counties are equipped to cope with such losses. Clare are not among them.

You’d have to question why Leen was put out there in the first instance. You’d have to question what corrective action was taken by the sideline to stem the never-ending flow of goal openings and green flags in the opening 25 minutes. If management knew the answers weren’t sitting behind them, a seventh body should surely have been plonked in front of a full-back line flailing helplessly.

While enterprising in their approach play, Tipp’s forward movement and passing wasn’t anything particularly extraordinary. Clare, quite simply, were a shambles at the back. The injured Conor Cleary was never so lamented.

For goal one, Alan Tynan breezed around Cian Galvin before offloading to John McGrath. For goal two, Jason Forde got around and got goal-side of Leen before offloading to Andrew Ormond. Goal three, as mentioned, saw McGrath burn off Leen with ease before evading Peter Duggan. And goal four was David McInerney losing possession, followed by Robert Doyle’s groundstroke to create a three-on-two overlap that ended with Ormond’s second.

4-4 to 0-6 after 23 minutes. Almost a mirror image of Tipp’s 3-7 to 0-7 lead 22 minutes into the 2023 Munster championship meeting at the same venue.

The plaudits and praise are shortly coming for Tipp. There’s a need, though, to thoroughly dissect Clare’s almost extinguished title defence. Theirs is the worst defence of Liam MacCarthy since the Clare class of 2014 also went for two defeats and one draw in their opening three games the summer after scaling the summit.

Shane O’Donnell’s return on 44 minutes could not save them. Tony Kelly’s return and 1-1 from the placed-ball could not save them. Forward teammate Aidan McCarthy was not present to join the rescue effort. As snapped by the Clare Champion, he lined out for Inagh-Kilnamona in a League fixture earlier in the day. Injury-enforced absences were sufficient without other factors reducing available personnel.

What’s left of the All-Ireland champions lies in intensive care. Their machine could be turned off by this Sunday evening. There are few permutations that will keep them alive and elevate them from the foot of the Munster table to third. One is Cork overturning Limerick in the latter’s backyard and then Clare doing the same when they travel to the Gaelic Grounds on the closing Sunday of action. They also need their conquerors here to beat Waterford and for Waterford to lose again to Cork.

All that gets Clare to three points, level with Limerick, but progressing on a superior head-to-head. A long shot. A very, very long shot. In the five-year history of the Munster round-robin, three points has never been sufficient to advance.

To Tipp. A first Munster championship win in 748 days. A first Munster triumph in 10 outings. Four goals in 23 minutes. A 12-point lead after 27 minutes. The concession of only two points from play in the same period.

The eradication of that 12-point lead. Only five points hit in the 29 minutes after half-time. Systemic fouling to try and stem flags of greater colour. And then, against the wind, a closing 12 minutes of character and creativity and colossal rearguard action.

An Eoghan Connolly intercept. A John McGrath lead point. Peter Duggan stopped and swallowed. Darragh Stakelum fouled. John McGrath fouled. A Jason Forde free. Ian Galvin leaving the sliotar behind him as the goal came into view. Oisín O’Donoghue fouled. Eoghan Connolly converted. A Seán Kenneally point in the blinding sun. A winning four-in-a-row. Jake Morris, standing on his own endline, with the relieving clearance as Clare chased an equalising goal on 74 minutes.

Better Waterford this weekend and Tipp’s rebuild will not again be packed away in mid-May. They came to the home of the champions and gave their own championship a pulse.

Scorers for Tipperary: J McGrath (2-3); J Forde (0-8, 0-6 frees, 0-1 ‘65); A Ormond (2-1); E Connolly (0-3, 0-2 frees); J Morris (0-2); S Kenneally (0-1).

Scorers for Clare: M Rodgers (1-13, 0-13 frees); T Kelly (1-1, 1-0 pen, 0-1 free); S Rynne (0-3); R Taylor (0-2); C Malone, P Duggan (0-1 each).

TIPPERARY: R Shelly; M Breen, B O’Mara, E Connolly; R Maher, C Morgan, R Doyle; S O’Farrell, A Tynan; C Stakelum, A Ormond, N McGrath; J Forde, J McGrath, J Morris.

SUBS: O O’Donoghue for C Stakelum (47); S Kennedy for Maher (55-59, temporary); W Connors for N McGrath (58); S Kennedy for O’Farrell (62); D Stakelum for Tynan (63); S Kenneally for Forde (66).

CLARE: E Quilligan; Darragh Lohan, A Hogan, C Leen; Daithí Lohan, C Galvin, D McInerney; R Taylor, C Malone; T Kelly, D Reidy, P Duggan; S Rynne, M Rodgers, S Meehan.

SUBS: Rory Hayes for Leen (20); S O’Donnell for Mehan (44); D Fitzgerald for Rynne (59); I Galvin for Reidy (63); J Conlon for Daithí Lohan (68).

REFEREE: J Owens (Wexford).