Galway game the test for improving Clare

Comment

The long-term currency of Clare’s stirring display in Limerick cannot be gauged until July 2, when they play Galway in Salthill. If Clare manage a repeat delivery of the many laudable aspects evident last Sunday and knock Galway out of the championship, it will be unequivocally clear that the 2011 championship was one in which the county made a significant step towards rejoining hurling’s elite counties.
Aside from reproducing the best aspects of their nine-point defeat to Tipperary, Clare must of course work on cementing over the cracks, which were equally evident.
As manfully as Conor McGrath, Conor Cooney, Cian Dillon and Diarmuid McMahon played, Clare will have to closely examine areas where they didn’t do so well. Nobody can query their aggression, physicality or indeed the excellence of their early hurling. They put over 1-5 from six scoring opportunities and their early touch was sublime. 
The concession of the three first-half goals took the wind from Clare though. Philip Brennan’s decision to leave his line to contest a dropping ball with John O’Brien and Cian Dillon cost Clare that crucial first goal. Soft goals have rattled Clare too often since Davy Fitzgerald retired. Donal Tuohy was caught out against Dublin in Croke Park last year in what was a game-defining score. Clare have long been renowned for producing top-class goalkeepers dating back to Tommy Daly, Mick Hayes, Paschal O’Brien, Seamus Durack and Fitzgerald. Presumably all of them let in the odd soft goal. Remember Offaly’s first in the 1995 All-Ireland final? Yet Davy Fitzgerald didn’t let the concession of that goal impinge upon his confidence, nor did he let it happen again.  Since 2008, preventable goals have cost Clare in Munster finals, league games and even the recent Division 2 league final against Limerick.
Solving this crux before Saturday week isn’t possible but by this time next year, Clare must have resolved their goalkeeping concerns. A factor that definitely wouldn’t have helped Philip Brennan was his lack of league game time. Expecting him to be championship sharp, having been on the bench for the league, relied more upon finger-crossing optimism than concrete certainty.
Tactically, Clare followed their men in the Gaelic Grounds when the likes of Lar Corbett vacated his corner and foraged deep. Corbett had to be picked up but this left swards of space for Tipp to run into if they picked up a break or when, as happened to Pat Vaughan and Pat O’Connor, two Clare men contested the same ball, which broke for Corbett. Perhaps Clare could have briefly dropped a half-forward in front of their full-back line, when it became clear that Tipperary’s constant movement was creating space that full or corner-backs could not defend.
Clare were also overrun several times in their half-back line while up front, Darach Honan was a frustrated figure, feeling that he should have been awarded frees at least twice. Honan didn’t look remotely as threatening as Conor McGrath and perhaps would be better utilised as an impact sub, with maybe John Conlon at full-forward, working as a target man.
As for management, it’s a good sign of the players’ belief in them when they fly into tackles and give their last drop for the 70 minutes. Whatever about Clare’s shortcomings, it cannot be said that they didn’t try. Management though, could have used their subs earlier. Colin Ryan was brought on in the 68th minute, while Caimin Morey was introduced a minute and 20 seconds into injury time.
If they were worth bringing on they should have been given at least 10 minutes, while players like Brendan Bugler, Seán Collins, Liam Markham and Eamon Glynn must have surely felt that they would be given a run. Tipperary made two changes at half-time, despite leading by three points, and a third 15 minutes into the second half. In what was their first change, Clare brought Cormac O’Donovan on 16 minutes from time, before their two very late additional changes. Fresh legs might have injected Clare with renewed energy earlier in the second half.
Referee James Owens awarded Clare a total of nine frees and just six to Tipperary. Let’s just say that when a player won a free, he had earned it.
Given that this Clare team is being rebuilt and that, for example, the starting full-forward line are all under 21, their display was manly and passionate.
Yet unless Clare reproduce the best of last Sunday in Salthill and improve markedly on their shortcomings, their commendable efforts against Tipperary will have proven futile.