NHL Division One A/Clare 2-22 Offaly 2-14: Drenching rain did its best to spoil one of the defining games of the Allianz Hurling League, but didn't quite succeed. And after Clare turned a pretty competitive game into a thoroughly convincing victory the words of John McIntyre came right on cue.
"Clare just blew us away physically," said the Offaly manager. "I mean they outmuscled us, outfought us, and bossed all the 50-50 exchanges in the second half. And without the ball you can't win matches."
McIntyre was being slightly hard on his own men, and yet there was something devastating about the way Clare pulled away in the second half.
They'll head to Cork next Sunday aiming to book a place in the quarter-finals, while Offaly now need to beat Waterford next Sunday to get that far. Still some moving and shaking to be done.
Offaly had arrived in Ennis as the only unbeaten team in Division 1A and for the first 30 minutes or so you could see why. They were the more assured and ambitious team, sweeping up the field at pace despite the wet. At times the ball was moving like a lead balloon, and that probably contributed to two of the goals, yet the general standard of hurling was surprisingly good for the last Sunday in March.
Clare raised the standard even higher in the second half, and Offaly failed to match it. The sides turned at 2-7 to 1-8 in Clare's favour, and after that Offaly were simply left behind. They salvaged a goal midway through the second half but that was only because Davy Fitzgerald totally misread the pace of Michael Cordial's dropping ball - undoubtedly slippy - and let it drop off his hurl to the net.
In fact all the talking in the second half was done by Clare. The first half had told them they needed to work hard to be sure of the win, and they were prepared to do just that. Derek Quinn came in at centre forward at half-time and hit 0-6, three from play. Declan O'Rourke came in much later and hit 0-2, but with eight scorers there was plenty to please manager Anthony Daly.
Niall Gilligan was understandably rusty after missing the earlier rounds, though Tony Griffin, Barry Nugent and especially Diarmuid McMahon looked dangerous every time they went at the Offaly defence, and by the end of the game were killing them with a fine selection of scores.
McMahon moved back to midfield in the second half and that seemed to heighten his influence.
Yet the sides were level four times during the first half. Offaly held the first true advantage, and for a brief while looked the better team. Brian Carroll's short flick to the new full forward Joe Bergin was sent crashing into the top of the Clare net despite the acute angle, which left them 1-2 to 0-2 in front. Bergin's confidence typified Offaly's mood early on, and if they can build on that the Leinster championship might yet spring a few surprises this year.
Within two minutes, however, Clare were back in front. Fergal Lynch's solo run was flicked from McMahon to Tony Carmody, who effectively volleyed the ball past Brian Mullins.
Offaly responded well by hitting the next two scores, only to endure a heartbreaking goal on 31 minutes. Mullins couldn't quite clear the heavy ball and Griffin pounced. Again Offaly equalised with a sweet point from Bergin, but late points from Nugent and McMahon helped keep Clare's noses in front.
It's hard to pinpoint Offaly's problems in the second half, but Clare certainly presented them with a challenge they just weren't ready for. Their defence totally closed up shop, especially Conor Harrison and the old guard Seánie McMahon. That left the likes of Brendan Murphy and Brian Carroll deprived of useful ball, while Clare's scoring machine rolled on unchecked.
McIntyre later added that the weather probably didn't help Offaly, and that point was on cue too: "Maybe we came down with the blinkers on," he said. "We were definitely ambitious, on a good roll, and knew coming down here that this was the big test of what we'd done so far.
"But we can't have any excuses now. Our lads tried hard. Maybe some of them didn't play as well as they could, but that's the way it goes. Not too many teams come down to the home of Clare hurling and walk away with a result.
"So it's back to the drawing board for us. We finish up with a massive game against Waterford, which is looking a lot bigger now than it was ever going to be. But we'll dust ourselves down and get on with it."
CLARE: D Fitzgerald; G O'Grady, J Coen, C Harrison; A Markham, S McMahon, F Flynn; B O'Connell, J Clancy (0-1); D McMahon (0-3), T Carmody (1-2), F Lynch; B Nugent (0-4), T Griffin (1-2), N Gilligan (0-2, one free). Subs: T Holland for Coen (29 mins), D Quinn (0-6, three frees), P Vaughan for Markham (50 mins), D O'Connell for Gilligan, D O'Rourke (0-2) for Lynch (both 58 mins).
OFFALY: B Mullins; B O'Meara, P Cleary, D Franks; D Hoctor, R Hanniffy, K Brady; G Hanniffy, A Hanrahan; D Hayden (0-1), M O'Hara, B Murphy (0-2); B Carroll (0-4, three frees), J Bergin (1-3), A Egan (0-3). Subs: B Teehan for Hoctor (31 mins), M Cordial (1-0) for Hanrahan (44 mins), J Brady for Teehan (48 mins), D Murray (0-1, a free) for Hayden (55 mins), S Brown for Carroll (62 mins).
Referee: S Roche (Tipperary).
