Clare 4-19  Westmeath 3-15

IT was more comfortable that their victories of the previous two weeks but Clare’s latest win in Division 2 of the National Hurling League was achieved with a display that is still a long way off what will be required in Division 1.

A tally of 4-19 is certainly impressive against any opposition but the concession of 3-15, particularly against a county not considered to be amongst the stronger teams in hurling, is a serious worry.
To be fair, there was never really a doubt about the outcome at Cusack Park on Saturday but there is still an awful lot of work to be done if Clare are to win promotion to the top division.
The foundations for this latest victory were laid in the opening half when Clare raced into a commanding lead. However, they failed to maintain this in the second half and the concession of a number of ‘soft’ frees allowed the visitors to close the gap.
The team showed four changes in personnel from the side that scraped home against Carlow six days earlier. Pat Vaughan, Domhnaill O’Donovan, Jonathon Clancy and Mark Flaherty were in the starting line-up in place of Conor Cooney, Eamonn Glynn, Alan Markham and Barry Nugent.
From the moment John Conlon gave them the lead after just 20 seconds, they were never headed and they struck for their first goal as early as the fifth minute when Cormac O’Donovan’s effort ended up in the corner of the net. By the midpoint of the first half it was 1-7 to 0-3.
Hitting 1-5 without reply in an eight minute spell saw Clare go 2-11 to 0-4 ahead with five minutes still to play in the opening half. The second goal came from Jonathon Clancy and a third followed a few minutes later from Colin Ryan, who burst past a few defenders before shooting low to the corner of the net.
A powerful strike by centre-back Andrew Mitchell from a 20m free resulted in the visitors’ opening goal and it came in the final minute of the opening half.
Twelve points ahead at half-time, Clare returned for the second period with David Barrett in the attack in place of a disappointing Mark Flaherty, while Cratloe’s David Ryan made his national league debut when he came in at corner-back for Gerry O’Grady.
As was the case in the opening half, Clare scored first, this time through Diarmuid McMahon, who pointed inside a minute of the resumption but four unanswered points followed for the visitors and suggested that they were not going to make things easy for the home side.
It was 3-15 to 1-12 at the three-quarter stage and Westmeath then struck for their second goal. It came from corner-back Paul Greville, who was now operating at full-forward and it came after a high delivery from Mitchell caused problems in the Clare goalmouth.
While the margin was down to six points, the visitors never looked like winning the tie but there was concern in the Clare camp at the fact that some chances were not being availed of. Diarmuid McMahon should have goaled with five minutes remaining, while substitute David Barrett was also guilty of a few misses.
Clare’s fourth goal came with a minute of normal time remaining and it was scored by Martin ‘Ogie’ Murphy, who was put through by McMahon.
The final score of the game went to the visitors and to their centre-back Andrew Mitchell. With the last puck of the game. he blasted a 20m free to the net to bring his tally for the day to 2-5, all coming from frees.
Cian Dillon again got through a lot of good work at full-back, while Jonathon Clancy followed up on last week’s display in Carlow with another impressive performance. The O’Donovan twins got through some good work, while Colin Ryan will be pleased with his contribution of 1-9.

Clare: Donal Tuohy; Pat Vaughan, Cian Dillon, Gerry O’Grady; Domhnaill O’Donovan, James McInerney, Pat Donnellan; Seán Collins, Brendan Bugler; John Conlon, Jonathon Clancy, Cormac O’Donovan; Diarmuid McMahon, Mark Flaherty, Colin Ryan.
Subs: David Barrett for Flaherty (half-time), David Ryan for O’Grady (half-time), Martin ‘Ogie’ Murphy for Bugler (44 minutes), John Cusack for Collins (60 minutes) and Conor Cooney for Vaughan (64 minutes).
Scorers: Colin Ryan (1-9, 0-7f), Jonathon Clancy (1-3), Cormac O’Donovan, Martin ‘Ogie’ Murphy (1-0 each), John Conlon (0-3), Diarmuid McMahon (0-2), Pat Donnellan and David Barrett (0-1 each).
Frees for: 16. Wides: 9.
Bookings: John Conlon (70 minutes).

Westmeath: Brendan McLoughlin; Conor Jordan, Adam Price, Paul Greville; John Shaw, Andrew Mitchell, Darren McCormack; Eoin Price, Leo Smyth; Alan Dowdall, Derek McNicholas, Joe Clarke; Ciaran Curley, Brendan Murtagh, Dan Carthy.
Subs: Paddy Dowdall for A Dowdall (30 minutes), Niall Flannagan for Clarke (half-time), Greg Gavin for Curley (45 minutes) and Robbie Jackson for Shaw (65 minutes).
Scorers: Andrew Mitchell (2-5, all frees), Brendan Murtagh (0-5, 0-1f), Dan Carthy (0-3, 0-1f), Paul Greville (1-0), Derek McNicholas and Paddy Dowdall (0-1 each).
Frees for: 19. Wides: 10. 65s: 2.
Bookings: Derek McNicholas (58 minutes).

Referee: Tommy Ryan, Tipperary.

More work required

While Clare manager Ger O’Loughlin was pleased that his charges ran up a tally of 4-19 in their win over Westmeath on Saturday, he acknowledged that there is still a lot of work to be done ahead of the stiffer tests that lie ahead.
“We need to work hard on the concession of silly scores.  In general play we are conceding awful soft scores and we must work on that. We have a bit of time on our side but this is something we must cut out,” he said after the team’s latest outing. “We are more encouraged this week,” he added.
Getting to the league final was the target set by the management team at the beginning of this campaign. “We set out with the aim of getting to the final and winning it to get back to Division 1. Every week we go out we can see that we have loads of work to do and it’s a case of trying to eliminate the silly mistakes and bring the quality up.”
“People have to realise that week in week out we are trying out, through no choice of our own, eight or nine players who are new to this level of hurling. They are going to be awful important to Clare hurling in the months and years ahead and somebody is going to have to introduce them to this level. It’s a great stepping stone for them,” O’Loughlin said.
“We are doing a lot of good things but we have a huge amount to do in defence and in general play and everyone realises that,” he added.
The team boss is confident that he and fellow selectors Liam Doyle and Danny Chaplin will have a stronger panel from which to select in the coming weeks. “I would hope that we would be back to full strength shortly. The injuries are clearing up,” he said, having had to select Sunday’s team from a squad that was without team captain Brian O’Connell, Darach Honan and Nicky O’Connell due to injury.
“The next five weeks are busy and important for us. We want to get to the league final and play a brand of hurling that will have us coming away with our chests out and ready for the big game in June,” he added.