NATIONAL HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION ONE: Tipperary 0-23 Clare 0-16:THERE ARE days of winter when you come out of a league game beating your hands together for warmth and find yourself defending the veracity of what you have just seen.
“Only the league” some cardcarrying cynic will mutter, “only the league”, but you‘ll shake your head and argue it’s never “only the league” with those two teams.
Yesterday in Semple Stadium wasn’t such an occasison. From the languid pre-match warm-up to the welcome relief of the final whistle this was only the league, hurling-lite, like a game but not a game.
It had been six years and three meetings since Tipp had beaten Clare in league play, but yesterday’s tame business at Semple Stadium didn’t have the feel of a tide in the affairs of hurling men.
The old stadium echoed to the odd roar from a small crowd, but there was little which truly stirred the blood. Tipp scored 23 points without breaking a sweat or breaking too many tackles. Clare responded inadequately and for the most part politely. It made us long for the high summer to come and yearn for the days when this rivalry had a little edge to it.
As it was, the overall feel of ennui gave the league a bad name.
Mike Mac will worry a little about the pallor of the Clare full-back line as it faces into it’s first season in an age without a Lohan to buttress it. Yesterday the sector was manned exclusively by players from Crusheen, a place with a reputation as a breakers yard for Clare hurlers. Tipp hadn’t the appetite for destruction that summer will demand.
Twice in the early stages Tipp breezed goalward incurring minimal bruising and the thought of goals beguiled them brielfy until they realised the pickings were as plentiful outfield. They harvested points with impunity, but we ended up wondering if without Eoin Kelly the Tipp inside line had sufficient killer instinct.
A return of a point apiece for John O’Brien and Paul Kelly was disappointing given the amount of possession Tipperary enjoyed, while, in the half forwards, James Woodlock failed to score at all.
As it was, Willie Ryan had banked seven points before the 25th minute, three of them from play before Tipp suffered one of the little bouts of narcolepsy which beset them during the game. Their scores tended to come in little sequences of heightened activity which if prolonged would have killed Clare off earlier.
Ryan had three points between the fourth and the seventh minutes, but Clare had the next two scores to level again.
Next, a series of fine scores from Callinan (twice) Thomas Stapleton and Paul Kelly came in the space of five minutes and we were sure Tipp were about to cut loose but again they withdrew into themselves.
In the end, Tipp got to the break two points clear and with a lot of hurling done for such a modest margin. Clare hurling directly and simply kept in touch with a couple of points from Barry Nugent who was giving Declan Fanning a few worries on the edge of the square.
The Clare half-forward line had the beating of their men for most of the second half and it was a little unfortunate that the first two yellow cards of the match deprived them of Tony Griffin and Diarmuid McMahon who by then had four points from play between them.
Griffin went for a clumsy chop in the 44th minute with four points between the sides and McMahon followed five minutes later after some argy-bargy in the corner.
For Tipp, Willie Ryan had been withdrawn at half-time, apparently with a hand injury, and Callinan took a turn on freetaking for the second half with no deterioration in the quality of service.
Tipp, still looking for a little more bite up front, replaced half the starting forwards in the second half without any visible increase in aggression.
Lar Corbett, who came in for Ryan after the break, scored one memorable point, but all in all Tipp frustrated the diehards in the attendance of 3,095 with their demure refusal to push on just that little bit more.
Clare brought Camin Morey in after Griffin’s yellow card, but the NUIG star had a modest impact.
The sole glint of light at the end of the tunnel was a Colin Ryan penalty three minutes from the end which was turned around the post for a 65 which Clare also missed.
TIPPERARY: B Cummins: P Stapleton, D Fanning, P Curran, B Dunne, C O' Mahony, D Fitzgerald, T Stapleton (0-2), S McGrath, N McGrath (0-2), S Callinan (0-9, 7 frees), J Woodlock, W Ryan (0-7, 4 frees) , J O'Brien (0-1), P Kelly (0-1). Subs: L Corbett (0-1)for Ryan (h-t), P Kerwick for Woodlock (56 mins), J Devane for N McGrath (60 mins), G Ryan for S McGrath (64 mins), S Maher for B Dunne (51 mins, yellow).
CLARE: P Brennan, P Vaughan, C Dillon, G O Grady, B Bugler, G Quinn (0-1, free), P Donnellan, J Clancy (0-3), E Barrett, T Griffin (0-2), D McMahon (0-2), C Ryan (0-2, frees), N Gilligan (0-1), A Markham, B Nugent (0-4). Subs: C McMahon for P Vaughan (17 mins), J McInerney for E Barrett (28 mins), M Flaherty for Markham (65 mins), C Morey (0-1)for T Griffin (44mins, yellow), B O'Connell for D McMahon (49 mins, yellow).
Referee: J Kelly(Cork).
