Clare survive late Cork onslaught to hold on for deserved win

Clare 0-28 Cork 2-20

Clare’s ability to get sucked into tight matches with Cork almost cost them a deserved win in FBD Semple Stadium on Sunday. They built a lead in the first half that at its zenith stretched to 11 points and they were full value for it but as soon as Cork roused themselves, the lead began to shrivel.

Things were not helped when Ian Galvin got a straight red at the start of the final quarter but manager Brian Lohan was particularly pleased afterwards that his team had negotiated the disadvantage and survived.

He referred to last year’s pivotal incident in the Munster semi-final with Tipperary when Aidan McCarthy was sin-binned and the team outscored 0-2 to 2-4 in his absence.

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“We were looking at last year and we went down a man but we didn’t react well. The Aidan McCarthy sending off – it just hit us. We didn’t have that resilience to come back from it. We spoke about that a good bit so we were happy with how we did react to being down a man. We didn’t cave in once things started going against us, which it could be argued we did last year.”

The pre-match consensus was that Cork would have to react dramatically to their drubbing by Limerick to have a chance but that if they managed to, the history of recent matches with Clare would suggest they had a chance.

As one Clare man put it during the week, “the Cork players who are criticised for being inconsistent are always fairly consistent against us”.

Cork manager Kieran Kingston attributed the poor start to that negativity.

“After the Limerick game and all that happened in the two weeks since, what was said by different people has affected players as well. People are entitled to their opinions. I thought we showed a bit of nervousness on the back of that, definitely in the first 20 minutes.”

For the opening half-hour, there was no sign of any problem for Clare, as they thoroughly dominated their opponents. Their first eight points from play were scored by different players in the opening quarter of an hour. Peter Duggan was terrorising the Cork defence and the runs of Shane O'Donnell, Ian Galvin and Tony Kelly created a forcefield of activity from which scores flowed.

David Fitzgerald had a whale of a game in the half forwards, scoring three points and rising to the challenge when his team were most threatened after the red card.

Their defence in the early stages was well on top, nowhere more so than in the corner where Rory Hayes deprived Jack O'Connor of oxygen, let alone possession, and John Conlon won the physical battle with the repositioned Darragh Fitzgibbon and Diarmuid Ryan and David McInerney on the wings kept an iron vigil.

Centrefield was also well on top with Cathal Malone again dominant.

They scored 0-17 in the first half and many of the scores were models of quick, intelligent movement and slick passing. Cork got hustled out of a line-ball and while they flailed to recover possession, Kelly nipped in and floated the ball over the bar. Shortly afterwards, he snapped up a Hayes delivery and in the same movement released Duggan for another point.

Clare were in the zone; Cork were in the horrors: all that Semple Stadium space and they couldn’t get any sort of a run on their opponents.

In the 28th minute, the puck-out after a missed free by Patrick Horgan was taken and worked over to O'Donnell. The 15th point flashed over to establish an 11-point lead.

For whatever reason, Cork cried halt. O'Connor was taken off and Alan Connolly introduced. He hit one of four successive points, as the team rallied to cut the margin to six by half-time and it could have been even more radically reduced but for a fine save by Eibhear Quilligan from Horgan, which Shane Kingston turned into the last point of the half.

Clare’s control of the middle third wasn’t unduly reversed but a couple of factors contributed to the tightening up of the match. Although Duggan had looked a serious menace during his turns at full forward, the long ball deployed in the second half didn’t pay off for Clare.

Robert Downey had a good second half and even when Aron Shanagher was introduced, the long ball was resisted. Contrast that to a rare, direct play by Cork when Robbie O'Flynn flighted a ball into the square where Connolly held off Conor Cleary and kicked to the net for 1-14 to 0-22.

O'Flynn followed up within seconds with his third point of the afternoon and a minute later, Galvin was dismissed after an altercation with Seán O'Donoghue. The critical response came from Clare. Fitzgerald had a hand in three successive points for Clare, including the pressure that resulted in a turnover for Ryan Taylor to point.

The sequence stalled Cork's momentum and steadied Clare. They were outscored 0-3 to 1-5 from then to the whistle but the goal, from Darragh Fitzgibbon, was virtually the last action of the match. They could have had another at a more opportune time but Ryan got in a crucial block on Horgan in the 63rd minute. Cork lost their man advantage when replacement Mark Keane got a straight red for striking in the 70th minute.

It may have ended up a close-run thing but Clare march on and are within touching distance of qualifying for the All-Ireland stages or perhaps, the Munster final depending on their remaining matches against favourites Limerick and Waterford.

CLARE: 1 E Quilligan; 2 R Hayes, 3 C Cleary, 4 P Flanagan; 7 D McInerney, 6 J Conlon, 5 D Ryan (0-1); 9 C Malone (0-3), 10 R Taylor (0-3); 8 D Fitzgerald (0-3), 14 P Duggan (0-3), 12 S O'Donnell (0-2); 11 T Kelly (capt; 0-10, four frees, two 65s), 13 R Mounsey (0-1), 15 I Galvin (0-2).

Subs: 25 A Shanagher for Mounsey (57 mins), 18 D McMahon for Duggan (69).

CORK: 1 P Collins; 2 N O'Leary, 3 R Downey, 4 S O'Donoghue; 5 T O'Mahony (0-1), 6 C Joyce, 9 G Millerick; 7 M Coleman (capt), 13 S Barrett; 10 S Harnedy (0-2), 8 D Fitzgibbon (1-0), 12 R O'Flynn (0-3); 15 J O'Connor, 14 P Horgan (0-10, six frees, one 65), 11 S Kingston (0-2).

Subs: 25 A Connolly (1-1) for O'Connor (26 mins), 24 C Lehane (0-1) for Barrett (h-t), 23 C Cahalane for Harnedy (56), 20 T O'Connell for Millerick (59), 25 M Keane for (Kingston (63).

Referee: P O’Dwyer (Carlow).