Éibhear Quilligan stars as Banner light up Thurles in comprehensive Dublin win
Ronan Hayes of Dublin in action against David McInerney. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
The thanks went to Éibhear Quilligan. The Clare goalkeeper ensured his county’s season did not end at Thurles. The Clare goalkeeper ensured a couple of individual careers did not also end at Thurles.
Clare’s form continues to fluctuate, fascinate, and frustrate. More pertinent is their season continuing on to Croker. The first weekend of July will be their fourth All-Ireland semi-final involvement in five years.
Dublin entered this All-Ireland quarter-final as a damaged outfit. The Leinster final capitulation saw to that. They also entered this All-Ireland quarter-final as the championship’s most prolific goalscorers with 15 green flags.
That goal count somehow did not move a jot on Saturday evening. Seven times Éibhear Quilligan denied Dublin players. Donal Burke was three times unsuccessful when seeking green. A pair of Ronan Hayes shots were thwarted. Conal Ó Riain’s attempt failed to find a road past the inspired Banner No.1.
An outstanding display of shot-stopping peaked in second-half injury-time. John Hetherton tried with his boot to finally best Quilligan. The latter continued on impenetrable.
Second-half injury-time ran for 13 minutes. A Brendan Kenny shoulder-to-the-head challenge on David Reidy, on 68 minutes, sparked immediate alarm. Medical personnel from both camps rushed to assist the stricken Reidy. The stretcher was quickly called for, with Reidy’s head secured in a brace. The play was halted for eight minutes while he was attended to.
Kenny, for his part, was shown red and dismissed to the stand by referee James Owens.
The second part to the Quilligan tome of saves was their timing. Saves two and three arrived during a closing to the first half where Dublin strung five consecutive points to cut an eight-point deficit to three at the break (0-14 to 0-11). The deficit would have been wiped altogether had either of those goal opportunities, from Ronan Hayes, found the stitching of the net.
The gap was still three early in the second period when Quilligan again showed himself unbreachable.
His teammates, having disappeared for most of the second quarter and beginning of the third, arrived back into proceedings from the 42nd minute.
A Mark Rodgers free, for a foul on Shane O’Donnell, represented their first score in 19 minutes. The move of Peter Duggan out to the half-forward line was necessary and notably impactful. So troublesome inside early on, Duggan drifted to irrelevance as the supply dried to a trickle.
He, Niall O’Farrell, and Seán Rynne were to the fore in Clare outgunning the Dubs by 0-8 to 0-1 between the 42nd and 53rd minute.
Having reeled off seven without reply to reach Clare’s doorstep and separation of a single point on 40 minutes, this Banner recharge ended the comeback and the contest.
John Hetherton’s introduction saw him accompany Ronan Hayes inside. Darragh Lohan was switched onto Hetherton, Adam Hogan picking up Hayes. Not even the presence of a second tower close to goal could deliver the desperately craved green outcome.
Clare’s perfect All-Ireland quarter-final record against Leinster opposition since 2018 remains intact. Five wins from five meetings.
Dublin, while not again a letdown, continued their terrible Thurles record. Since 2009, they’ve lost eight of 10 championship outings at Semple Stadium.
The Clare line-up was much changed from Páirc Uí Chaoimh four weeks earlier. As expected.
Ryan Taylor and Mark Rodgers returned from injury and were restored to the starting team. Shane Meehan was rewarded for his busy cameo in the defeat to Cork, while there was a first start for Conor Cleary since the hammering at home to Limerick.
In front of Cleary, David McInerney was preferred to the benched John Conlon at centre-back. McInerney’s company was a much-advanced Chris Crummey.
With no John Hetherton to stand beside, Cleary initially followed Ronan Hayes. But with Dublin seeking to employ Hayes in isolated one-on-one contests inside, and exploit Cleary in the process, the Banner sideline switched Darragh Lohan onto him. Lohan struggled in the switch.
The Clare forward line was a great deal more purposeful and locked in than Páirc Uí Chaoimh four weeks earlier. As expected.
Against Cork, the starting front six managed one point from open play in the opening half. When Peter Duggan won possession over Paddy Smyth’s head and proceeded to raise white 12 minutes in, he was the fifth Clare forward to write his name on the scoresheet from play. The outlier was Rodgers, who sniped four first-half frees.
Duggan’s point pushed Clare’s early lead out to six-strong. 0-9 to 0-3. The same as the Leinster final, Dublin’s puckouts found very little retention.
Duggan’s point came part of a four-in-a-row sequence, a later three-in-a-row burst swelled their advantage to eight. 0-13 to 0-5.
This three-in-a-row captured the many sources of Clare’s dominance and the many root causes of Dublin’s inability to imprint themselves on this quarter-final.
Two of the three points were Mark Rodgers converted frees for fouls on Shane O’Donnell and Duggan. Dublin’s last line consistently proved themselves incapable of getting a handle on either.
The remaining score in the three-in-a-row stemmed from a Dublin puckout fetched by Conor Cleary. Rodgers worked the ball to Rynne, who fired over from halfway for his third.
Brian Lohan's charges wobbled for a period thereafter. Quilligan made sure they did not fatally fall.
T Kelly (0-7, 3f); M Rodgers (0-5, 5f), S Rynne (0-5 each); P Duggan (0-3, 0-1 sc); C Malone, S Meehan, S O’Donnell (0-2 each); N O’Farrell, D Stritch, D Fitzgerald (0-1 each).
D Burke (0-12, 9f); S Currie, R Hayes, C Ó Riain, C Groarke (0-1 each).
E Quilligan; A Hogan, C Cleary, D Lohan; D Ryan, D McInerney, N O’Farrell; R Taylor, T Kelly; C Malone, M Rodgers, S Rynne; S O’Donnell, P Duggan, S Meehan.
C Leen for Cleary (35, inj); D Reidy for Meehan (46-49 temporary); I Galvin for Rodgers (53); D Stritch for Malone (55); C Galvin for O’Farrell (60); D Reidy for Taylor (65); J Conlon for McInerney (65, inj); D Fitzgerald for Reidy (77, inj).
E Gibbons; J Bellew, P Smyth, C McHugh; E O’Donnell, P Doyle, C Burke; B Hayes, C Groarke; F Whitely, C Crummey, D Burke; C Ó Riain, R Hayes, S Currie.
Hetherton for O’Donnell (44); C Donohoe for Groarke (54); C O’Sullivan for Currie (59); B Kenny for Whitely (62); D Ó Dúlaing for R Hayes (65).
J Owens (Wexford).
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