Limerick's dressing room disco hits all the right notes too but off-key Clare in need of tuning
GRASPING FOR COMFORT: Shane O'Brien of Limerick tussles with David McInerney of Clare during the Munster GAA Senior Hurling Championship Round 3 match between Clare and Limerick at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg in Ennis, Clare. Pic: Tom Beary/Sportsfile
An hour and a half after the final whistle, the boombox continued to blast out the songs from the Limerick dressing room.
Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s “Don’t Rein Me In” featured on an extensive playlist as the visiting players wallowed in the afterglow of this emphatic victory.
Out on the field completing their session, it was rain for the Clare substitutes as they were hit with a heavy cloudburst. Inside, their starting team-mates would have been feeling just as miserable following this humbling.
“We were just sharper,” was John Kiely’s succinct take on a 15-point hammering that felt more than restorative for a Limerick side that performed but didn’t produce a result in Cork seven days earlier.
Kiely was comparing his team’s displays but his words could have easily reflected on Clare too who set themselves up for a shoot-out only to point the guns in their own direction. Porous again in defence, their attack was shorn of enough quality ball to compensate for the gaps behind them.
In the build-up, it had been mentioned more than once that the pressure was on the home team to see off a side minus suspended Cian Lynch and injured Aaron Gillane. The team seemed to feel that onus.
The difference between Division 1A and 1B hurling might not have been apparent in their opening round win over Waterford but Clare are replacing them in the topflight next year. Here, they were facing a team that finished not two but seven positions above them.
Clare were intense in the first quarter but couldn’t sustain the levels their neighbours were hitting. Had William O’Donoghue not made a couple of interventions in the first half or Nickie Quaid not denied Mark Rodgers, they would have had more than hope facing the second half, but Limerick were so far in the ascendancy.
The visitors were almost out of sight at half-time, 2-15 to 0-8, but when they answered Clare’s early second-half rally, which cut the margin to eight points, with four of their own, the game was up. That came after Quaid was called on again to deny Rodgers in the 44th minute.
By the end, Shane O’Brien scored six points from play and Aidan O’Connor landed 1-9 on a day when Limerick’s half-back ruled supreme and their forward line produced 1-18 from play. The same as Clare’s entire tally. The Banner’s starting attack mustered just five points.
Adam English’s second yellow 12 minutes from the end of normal time made life interesting but only a tad. When Tony Kelly so cutely won a ball in front of Barry Nash and compelled him to foul for a penalty and then stepped up to score a goal in the 61st minute, it raised an eyebrow. Again, only a mite.
The Clare crowd cried for a black or yellow card to be issued to Nash who had already been booked, but it was neither and Limerick resumed scoring via an O’Connor free. Limerick finished with five of the last seven scores to run out handsome victors.
What stood out for Kiely was the impressions made by his substitutes, the likes of Fintan Fitzgerald who scored with his first touch and Hugh Flanagan winning contested ball soon after his introduction.
“The impact off our bench was just really brilliant, to be honest with you," he said. "And we could see it in the warm-up. We could see it in training during the week. We could have put any of those 11 guys that we had on the bench today and put them on and they were going to make an impact. Really, really confident in that and delighted for them.
“It's the best impact we've had off the bench in probably over two years and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they can bring in the weeks ahead now.”
Limerick weren’t without their scares in the first half. Twice O’Donoghue had to step in, one of them a hook on Shane O’Donnell, and Quaid, nursing a stood-on foot at the time, kept out a Rodgers’ shot from close range.
But their offensive play was outstanding. They were helped in part by how floundering Clare were in defence. Their full-back line was exposed by the yawning space in front of them as was the case for O’Connor’s fourth minute goal.
Peter Casey was found with no Clare player close to him, Barry Nash provided the support run and the target for a pass. He then transferred the ball to his right to O’Connor for the finish.
Limerick’s network of passing was slick and causing headaches for Clare who found themselves 1-8 to 0-4 down by the 17th minute.
Clare were caught again two minutes later, Adam Hogan forced to bring down O’Brien. A penalty was awarded and, after consultation between referee Michael Kennedy and his umpires, a black card for Hogan.
Afterwards, Brian Lohan highlighted the high number of black cards Clare have received compared to the likes of Limerick and Tipperary but Hogan could have no quibble with his fate.
Byrnes dispatched his second goal from a placed ball in seven days. In the period Hogan was off the field Limerick outscored Clare 1-5 to 0-2, jumping into a 12-point lead (2-13 to 0-7). A Gearóid Hegarty point and O’Connor’s fourth free came either side of Rodgers’ fifth converted free.
Limerick were only halfway there but Clare were already living on a prayer.
M. Rodgers (0-10, 7 frees, 1 65); T. Kelly (1-2, 1-0 pen, 0-1 65); S. O’Donnell, D. Reidy, D. Ryan, N. O’Farrell, J. O’Neill, I. Galvin (0-1 each).
A. O’Connor (1-9, 0-6 frees); S. O’Brien (0-6); D. Byrnes (1-2, 1-0 pen, 0-1 free); P. Casey, C. O’Neill (0-3 each); G. Hegarty, B. Nash (0-2 each); T. Morrissey, A. English, F. Fitzgerald (0-1 each).
E. Quilligan; R. Hayes, C. Cleary, A. Hogan; C. Malone, N. O’Farrell, D. Ryan; D. Lohan, R. Taylor; S. Rynne, D. Reidy, T. Kelly (c); M. Rodgers, P. Duggan, S. O’Donnell.
D. Stritch for T. Kelly (temp 6); J. O’Neill for S. Rynne (h-t); D. McInerney for C. Cleary, D. Stritch for D. Reidy (both 42); I. Galvin for M. Rodgers (64).
N. Quaid; S. Finn, M. Casey, B. Nash; D. Byrnes, W. O’Donoghue (c), K. Hayes; A. English, D. O’Donovan, T. Morrissey, C. O’Neill, G. Hegarty; P. Casey, S. O’Brien, A. O’Connor.
D. Reidy for S. O’Brien (temp, 24-27); D. Reidy for T. Morrissey (54); D. Morrissey for S. Finn (59); E. Hurley for D. O’Donovan (63); F. Fitzgerald for P. Casey (70); H. Flanagan for C.. O’Neill (70+3).
A. English (58, second yellow).
M. Kennedy (Tipperary).
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