NERVES APLENTY AS CLARE PUSHED ALL THE WAY BY CORK
Nervy finish for Moloney
DONAL MOLONEY was left sweating as his Clare brigade just about avoided a collapse, and preserved their 100 per cent record in the League.
The Banner led by 11 points at half-time as Cork went 20 minutes without scoring, but visitors were still able to claw their way back into the game.
Three points for David Reidy, two apiece from John Conlon, Seadna Morey, Mikey O’Malley, Tony Kelly and Colm Galvin, along with eight placed balls courtesy of Peter Duggan, allowed Clare keep their heads above water.
‘I wouldn’t have called it comfortable,’ admitted Moloney. ‘The first half was really good, played some great hurling. But second half our conversion rate dropped a lot and it is something we will have to work on. But it is the middle of February.
‘We wanted to set out our stall and do well. This time last year we were probably playing catch up and on the back foot. Cork have a lot of quality players,’ Moloney added. ‘They were going to come at you.
‘There is no way we were going to continue whatever the score was at half time: 0-16. We weren’t going to score 32 against them.’
Cork boss John Meyler accepted that the first half was decisive, giving themselves too much to do.
‘That 20 minutes of the first half killed us, really. Clare got seven or eight points up and then it was always going to be a case of picking off points and trying to get a goal, which we didn’t get.
‘If Hoggie (Patrick Horgan) had got that goal when we were five or six down, I think we might have got back in the game.’
The first half looked a contest for some time, but ended up a procession. Duggan landed six scores from placed balls and might well have been disappointed with a couple more that went wide.
He needn’t have been bothered, though, because eight others scored from play, most notably Galvin and Conlon with two apiece. Podge Collins, roving from the corner, missed a good goal chance on 16 minutes but was involved in most of the Banner’s strong attacking play.
The Rebels were living — if you could call it that — off frees throughout the opening period, and went a full 20 minutes without troubling the scorekeeper.
Harnedy did break through on Tuohy on 26 minutes, after beautifully controlling a low stick-pass from Robbie O’Flynn, but the keeper smothered his shot.
With 11 of the final 12 scores of the half, and Horgan starved of possession on the edge of the square, Clare were dominating the middle eight and well worth their huge lead.
‘We didn’t play at all for the last 20 minutes of the first half, that was really it,’ Meyler said. ‘Clare hit a purple patch and they got some really good scores, their support play was better, their touch was better, they were sharper.’
The Cork boss must have issued a rocket at half-time because the Leesiders found a fire that had been missing. Having lost the first half by 11, they won this 35 minutes by seven.
Lorcán McLoughlin came in at midfield while Harnedy’s influence at centre-forward grew. The visitors reeled off eight of ten points to stage a revival, but Clare steadied the ship through Reidy and Duggan.
Still, the Rebels went on a gallop once more as Horgan (from placed balls) and Harnedy drove at the Banner. With five minutes to go, Horgan went for goal with a ’21, and Brian Lawton did the same when the ball was recycled back
out. At that stage, they might have been better off taking the point and making the hosts sweat. Duggan nailed one more free to take Clare to 0-23, just their seventh point of the half, and Horgan once more went for goal from a free — but Tuohy flicked it over.
‘Seán O’Donoghue at cornerback, Tim O’Mahony at centreback, (Eoin) Cadogan,’ said Meyler of the Cork positives.
‘The forwards were poor today, their lack of appetite in the first half, we need to drive on more. Hopefully we’ll have a few more fellas back next Sunday,’ he added, while opposite number Moloney turned attention to Clare’s next out on Sunday.
‘I am sure we will get a great welcome in Wexford. Always a daunting challenge. They are playing really well. I know Tipp won [on Saturday] but they put them under ferocious pressure. They were very much in that game and Davy (Fitzgerald) has done some job with them.’
CLARE: D Tuohy; J Browne, C Cleary, P O’Connor; M O’Malley (D Fitzgerald 65), D McInerney, S Morey; C Galvin (J McCarthy 65), T Kelly; N Deasy (D Corry 59), J Conlon (C Malone 51), D Reidy; S O’Donnell, P Duggan, P Collins (C McGrath 56).
Scorers: P Duggan 0-8 (6fs, 2’65), D Reidy 0-3, J Conlon 0-2, S Morey 0-2, M O’Malley 0-2, T Kelly 0-2, C Galvin 0-2, P Collins 0-1, N Deasy 0-1.
CORK: A Nash; S O’Donoghue, E Cadogan, C Spillane; D Browne, T O’Mahony, C Joyce; M Ellis, D Kearney (L McLoughlin h-t); R O’Flynn (B Lawton 61), S Harnedy, B Cooper; L Meade (J O’Connor 51), P Horgan, S Kingston (R O’Shea 45).
Scorers: P Horgan 0-12 (9fs, 2’65), L Meade 0-1, T O’Mahony 0-1, R O’Flynn 01, M Ellis 0-1, D Browne 0-1, B Cooper 0-1, S Harnedy 0-1.
Referee: Paud O’Dwyer (Carlow).