Anthony Daly: Unexpected Clare last four carries bonuses for Lohan
V Cusack Park Ward During Sixmilebridge's And Final Ennis Jason Action The At Eamon Hurling Sixmilebridge Quarter Sunday Conlon Loughnane John Clonlara Clonlara's In : Picture Senior On
I didn’t go to any match yesterday, not that I didn’t want to, but because I couldn’t; I just didn’t have the heart to face anyone in Cusack Park. I was in Corofin on Saturday evening to see my own club Clarecastle lose an intermediate quarter-final to Tubber. We were beaten by a better team but it was all the more disheartening again when we only scored 1-12.
I was as low as a snake’s belly afterwards. When we were relegated from senior last year, the easy assumption to make was that a club with our tradition and culture would bounce straight back up. But it doesn’t work that way. Not in Clare anyway.
I didn’t take to the bed or the bottle — I took to the stream — as in I streamed the two Clare quarter-finals yesterday, along with watching the Kilmallock-Patrickswell game on TG4. On top of all that, I was trying to keep up to date with the other two quarter-finals in Cork played yesterday.
It was hard to know what to make of the match in Limerick, because there was no jeopardy involved, with both teams already qualified for the quarter-finals. And the match played out to that kind of a backdrop, with Patrickswell not even togging out Aaron Gillane, and leaving Cian Lynch on the bench as an unused sub. Kilmallock’s Shane O’Brien stole the show, as you’d expect him to in any circumstances, but certainly in those circumstances.
With the Limerick championship, it always feels like a whole host of matches that doesn’t really sort out anything only which two teams will make the semi-finals, and which four will make the quarter-finals, with the same six-seven teams involved every year.
In Clare though, it’s nearly the exact opposite. There may not be a Na Piarsaigh in Clare (even though they may not win Limerick) with the potential to dominate the championship, but it is a far more competitive and intriguing championship.
After the quarter-final draws were made, everybody expected Clonlara and Eire Óg to make the final — if they avoided each other. And now, in a blink, both are gone.
Suddenly, we have semi-finals nobody would have predicted. Inagh-Kilnamona, the coming team for years, were fully deserving of their win against Eire Óg; Feakle were outstanding when whacking Crusheen, last year’s beaten finalists. After winning last year’s senior football title, and failing to come out of their hurling group, Cratloe have again managed to effectively combine the two codes, and mix in a raft of talented young players with their older crew, when squeezing out Scariff on Saturday. Sixmilebridge were just typical Sixmilebridge.
Clonlara just didn’t seem as up for it as you’d expect, which seemed strange considering how dangerous the Bridge are in knockout hurling. They had plenty of good performers around the field, especially some of their younger lads, David Kennedy and Matthew O’Halloran (an All-Ireland minor winner from last year), while the older crew — especially Jamie Shanahan — showed all their nous and craft and guile.
Clonlara never seemed fully at the pitch of it. John Conlon went back to centre-back when Dylan suffered a rough looking injury but I was surprised late on that Clonlara didn’t shove him back up front, especially when they had the option of shoving Colm Galvin in at number 6.
Inagh-Kilnamona had three Clare minors from last year; James and Fred Hegarty and Conor Rynne, while Gearóid Barry got game-time in their previous match. Aidan McCarthy being back, though, was a massive boost, while his brother Jason is hurling well at centre-back. The combo got a great start with an early goal but the biggest plus for Inagh-Kilnamona was keeping Shane O’Donnell quiet.
It was a similar pattern for Cratloe, who showed all their experience from Podge Collins, Conor McGrath, Diarmuid and Conor Ryan and Cathal McInerney to come with a late surge to beat Scariff. McGrath was outstanding again, nailing 0-6 from play, but — again — keeping Rodgers to 0-1 from play was pivotal to Cratloe’s victory.
Patrick Crotty stepped up instead with 0-7, which again proved his potential. I’m sure Brian Lohan who was at the match will have taken note. Crotty, still U21, has massive potential so can he make that step up with Clare?
One of the big positives for Clare is that some of their main men are getting a proper rest now, especially lads carrying injuries before or after the All-Ireland final. Ballyea, with Tony Kelly, didn’t get out of the group, neither did Conor Cleary’s Kilmaley, while John Conlon, Shane O’Donnell and Mark Rodgers saw their season come to an end over the weekend.
Elsewhere, there are two tasty semi-finals to look forward to in Cork, with Imokilly facing Blackrock and Sarsfields v Midleton. Midleton were the better team against a Newtown side too reliant on Tim O’Mahony, who played in three different positions, and Jamie Coughlan at full-forward.
Conor Lehane, Luke O’Farrell and Tommy O’Connell were impressive for the Magpies and they have a nicely balanced squad. They’ll certainly put it up to Sars.
Imokilly looked seriously impressive when beating Fr O’Neill’s and they’ll get better again with another game under their belts and more of their players available (but not Seamie Harnedy’s St Ita’s).
They’ll fancy their chances against Blackrock but one of the standout trends of the Rockies' season is the goals they have been scoring — bagging another three against Kanturk on Saturday. Any team with Alan Connolly and his capacity to raise green flags is always a threat.
This was another compelling weekend but the real stuff is heating up by the week, simmering nicely, coming perfectly to the boil.