Sublime Tubridy gives a scoring masterclass

Clare 1-13
Carlow 0-15

A THIRD one-point win, from their five league games to date, kept Clare on top of Division 4 with three games left.
While Michael O’Shea kicked the winning point three minutes into injury time, having linked with Brian Carrig, Doonbeg’s David Tubridy was the man of the hour.
A couple of months ago, Clare coach Liam McHale likened Tubridy to Maurice Fitzgerald. Last Sunday. anybody who doubted the comparison had to think again.
Playing at corner-forward, in a revamped full-forward line with Gary Brennan and O’ Shea, Tubridy scored Clare’s entire 1-8 first half total.
His first four points from open play underlined his class, with three of them kicked off the left foot.
Tubridy netted the goal after six minutes when Paul Reidy and Brennan combined to put him one-on-one with Carlow goalkeeper James Clarke.
His opening three points were from frees won by Michael O’Shea and Chris Dunning. 1-3 to 0-1 up after eight minutes, Tubridy didn’t score again until the 28th minute.
In the interim, Carlow fought back and in fact led 0-7 to 1-3 before Tubridy equalised.
Wides from Graham Kelly, who was sent off in the second half, David Russell and O’Shea in that period, could have proven expensive.
Central to Carlow’s dominance during this spell was Clare’s inability to win their own kick-outs. They lost eight of their 12 first half kick-outs, which partially explains how Carlow came back into the game. Incidentally, Clare won eight of Carlow’s 14 first half kick-outs.
Five Tubridy points inside the last eight minutes of the first half put Clare 1-8 to 0-7 ahead at half time.
Brian Carrig was brought on at half-time at wing-back and while he played well, Chris Dunning was very unlucky to be substituted. Graham Kelly’s man, Alan Curran, scored two first-half points from play and added a third four minutes into the second period.
Seven minutes later, Kelly, who played at wing-forward, was shown a second yellow card after fouling Brendan Murphy. Unquestionably the wrong player was taken off at half-time. Dunning could have been shifted to wing-forward instead of Kelly.
Barry Toner was introduced for Paul Reidy early in the second-half and immediately combined with Gary Brennan to kick Clare 1-9 to 0-8 up.
Fifteen minutes into the second half, Carlow midfielder Brendan Murphy was shown a straight red after David Tubridy had tracked his run and dispossessed him. Murphy lashed out and had to walk. Nine minutes from time, Willie Minchin was yellow carded for the second time, thereby reducing Carlow to 13 men, although by then they were only 1-11 to 0-12 behind.
Points from Simon Rea and Marc Carpenter levelled the game with four minutes remaining before Toner found Tubridy who fired Clare 1-12 to 0-14 ahead. JJ Smith equalised from a free, conceded by Mark Tubridy a minute from full time. It looked as if Clare’s 100% league record was about to pick up a blemish before O’Shea fired over the winning score, shortly after a Mark Tubridy point effort was caught by James Clarke.
Carlow still had time to press for another equaliser but Gordon Kelly executed an excellently timed tackle on Marc Carpenter.
Although Clare have some realignment work ahead on their kick-outs, Joe Hayes was again very solid in goals, while Shane McNeilis was calm and forceful at full-back. He kept it simple, as did Laurence Healy who did well at corner-back. Dean Ryan struggled though in the other corner, while Mark Tubridy and Gordon Kelly held their own in the half-back line. As indicated earlier, Chris Dunning could have been left on, although Brian Carrig has now put himself in with a great chance of starting against Longford on Sunday.
Clare did ok at midfield but the half-forward division was their weakest line, with Graham Kelly and Paul Reidy not winning enough breaking ball, while Alan Clohessy looks more comfortable at corner-forward. Clare will have to look at restructuring this line in time for this weekend.
The inside line will be left alone however as they badly exposed the Carlow full-back line.
David Tubridy imparted the best performance from a Clare footballer for a generation, while Gary Brennan gives Clare a mobile target at full-forward. There would be no harm in sending him to midfield for the odd kick-out either. Michael O’Shea won nearly every ball directed towards him and was part of a very impressive inside line.  Brian Carrig and Barry Toner were the best of the four substitutes brought on.
Result aside though, this game will be remembered for Tubridy’s masterclass in shooting, intelligent movement and equally significantly, his desire to track runners.

Clare: Joe Hayes (Lissycasey), Dean Ryan (Éire Óg), Shane McNeilis (Kildysart), Laurence Healy (Ennistymon); Chris Dunning (Wolfe Tones), Gordon Kelly (St Joseph’s, Miltown – captain), Mark Tubridy (Cooraclare); Ger Quinlan (O’Curry’s) and David Russell (Kilkee); Graham Kelly (St Joseph’s, Miltown), Paul Reidy (Kilmihil), Alan Clohessy (Liscannor); David Tubridy (Doonbeg), Gary Brennan (Clondegad), Michael O’Shea (Kilkee). 
Subs: Brian Carrig (Clondegad) for Chris Dunning (half time); Barry Toner (Shannon Gaels) for Paul Reidy (39); Dessie Molohan (St Joseph’s, Miltown) for David Russell (63); Scott Kinnevan (Ballina) for Alan Clohessy (67). 
Scorers: David Tubridy (1-11, 0-4f), Barry Toner and Michael O’Shea (0-1) each.
Wides: 7; Frees won: 21; 45’s: 1
Yellow cards: Graham Kelly and Gordon Kelly.
Red card: Graham Kelly

Carlow: James Clarke, Kieran Nolan, Shane Redmond, Tony Bolger; Paul Cashin, John Hayden, Alan Curran; Brendan Murphy and John Murphy; John Doyle, Seán Gannon, Willie Minchin; JJ Smith, Marc Carpenter, Johnny Kavanagh.
Subs: Padraig Murphy for Kieran Nolan, Simon Rea for John Doyle, Ken Doyle for Paul Cashin, Benny Kavanagh for Shane Redmond and David Dowling for Johnny Kavanagh.
Scorers: Johnny Kavanagh (0-4f), Alan Curran (0-3), Simon Rea (0-3f), Marc Carpenter and Willie Minchin (0-2) each and JJ Smith (0-1f).
Wides: 8; Frees won: 33; 45’s: 1
Yellow cards: Willie Minchin and JJ Smith.
Red cards: Brendan Murphy and Willie Minchin.
Referee: Brian Tyrell, Tipperary.