Does the Banner need a cynical streak?

CLARE corner-back Laurence Healy believes Clare were just too nice in the opening half. Cork ran through the middle of the defence without anybody laying a finger on them. Those runs led directly to the winners’ three first-half goals, meaning Clare never threatened to come within reachable distance of Cork.
“I don’t think we’re overly disappointed with the second half but we probably feel we could have been a bit more cynical in defence in the first half. That’s something we pointed to at half-time that we probably should have conceded more frees, rather than give away goals. When Rory (Donnelly) had a goal chance, Cork pulled him down. We need to do the same thing. We need to get cuter for the future,” he maintained.
The Ennistymon man was certain Nicholas Murphy’s goal was illegal because Paul Kerrigan’s fist pass had crossed the line before the towering Cork man got a touch.
“I know I’m biased but I did think it was in the net before he touched it but we’d probably want Hawk Eye to prove that,” Healy commented.
He felt Clare competed manfully during the second 35 minutes.
“We were disappointed at giving away the three goals in the first half. We were fighting an uphill battle in the second half but we didn’t drop our heads and I thought we matched Cork nearly point for point in the second half. I think we were unlucky with one or two goal chances. I think if we’d got a goal, it might have spurred us on a bit. I think we can learn a lot from today and we’ll definitely be positive going into the qualifiers. We’re not finished this year yet,” Healy asserted.
He noted that Cork ran directly at Clare early in the game and didn’t meet much resistance.
“They’re a very fit side and they caught us definitely in the first half with some powerful runs through the centre. We probably needed to close the space in front of them but they have a lot of experience too and that’s the level we’re trying to aim for,” Healy said.