Clare bounce back to set up Thurles replay
WHERE to start after such an extraordinary, exhilarating evening of hurling? Maybe Peter Duggan’s sublime equalising point in the 63rd minute, when he shrugged off three Galway defenders and skilfully batted the ball over the bar one-handed, a score that typified his superb performance.
Or there was the sweetest subplot in the entire drama; Aaron Shanagher back on the field, just eight months after injuring his cruciate, scoring a beautiful goal in the second minute of the second period of extra-time. That was the first time Clare had led during the whole game. That’s how mad this match was.
There was Joe Canning’s majestic sideline cut four minutes into the second half, his second of the game, from near the half-way line that by the end had been overshadowed by everything else. Pádraic Mannion further burnishing his Hurler of the Year credentials with a marvellous defensive display and his brother Cathal blocking down Ian Galvin as he was setting up to nail the winning point at the end of normal time.
And then, there was Jason McCarthy replicating Domhnall O’Donovan’s role in 2013 by equalising in the fourth minute of injury time in extra-time. Even in a hurling summer that keeps on giving, this was a game gift-wrapped by the gods. There was almost 55,000 people in Croke Park and by the end, every single one of them was exhausted. Drained by the remarkable drama that had transpired.
John Conlon’s clash with Daithí Burke lived up to what was expected of a battle between two Hurler of the Year contenders. Burke was on top in the first-half but the powerful Clare full-forward roared into the game after half-time, scoring four points from play and inspiring all around him.
‘Daithí is a fantastic hurler and a fantastic full-back, and I relish that sort of battle because I want to test myself against the best,’ Conlon said afterwards.
The Banner talisman had a wide smile on his face as he reflected on the game. ‘It was fantastic stuff, it was exhilarating stuff for all the players who were on that field,’ Conlon remarked.
‘I spoke to James Skehill before the end and he said nobody deserved to lose the game. Neither side gave up. And Jason got that great score at the end, it was similar to Domhnall’s score in 2013, the way the lads worked it throughout the field.’
Much was made of this being Clare’s first visit back to headquarters since 2013. But rather than being liberated by the experience, in the early stages, they seemed stricken by stage fright. By the 16th minute, they were 1-7 to 0-1 down with Conor Cooney’s goal typifying their sloppiness as four Clare defenders were around the ball broken by Johnny Glynn and yet Cooney reacted quickest to it.
And it could have been worse. Clare’s puck-out strategy was malfunctioning — Galway claimed four of them in the first 10 minutes — and Glynn and Cathal Mannion had both spurned decent goal-scoring opportunities. Indeed, the All-Ireland champions would have been out of sight in the first half if they had been more accurate, but they fired 12 wides in the opening period.
‘Our efficiency is normally very good,’ Micheál Donoghue pointed out. ‘It let us down today, but the encouraging thing for us is that we were still taking the shots. We will take learnings from it and go on next weekend.’
The Clare management team of Donal Maloney and Gerry O’Connor altered the complexion of the game in the 17th minute by deploying Colm Galvin as a deep-lying sweeper and moving Tony Kelly back to midfield. Galvin, who performed brilliantly in the sweeping role, became an outlet for Donal Tuohy’s puckouts while Kelly was a more pronounced presence around centrefield.
‘Colm got on a lot of ball, he is a very intelligent hurler,’ Maloney agreed. ‘He used the ball very well and showed great leadership. But so did many other players from both sides. I thought both sides were magnificent.’ Kelly helped ensured Clare only trailed by four points at the break, 1-10 to 0-9, and the Banner spent four minutes more in the dressing-room at half-time than they should have. Maloney insists they had a lot of things to sort out and simply lost track of time. But they certainly fixed many issues. They were the better side in the second half. Resilient and defiant. Whenever Canning or David Burke edged Galway ahead, Clare — through either Duggan, Conlon or Kelly — found a way back. And had Cathal Mannion not appeared from nowhere to block Ian Galvin, they could have won in normal time. Gearóid McInerney left the fray with a knee injury in the 55th minute and was seen leaving Croke Park on crutches, so is a doubt for next week. Canning and David Burke had also left the fray before the end, three of Galway’s main men and the AllIreland champions still found a way to remain in the match. And they could have even won it. After Shanagher’s goal, Galway responded in the manner of champions. Behind for the first time in the game, Jason Flynn and Johnny Coen, who had dropped a chance near the end of normal time short, both stepped up to take the leadership roles in the absence of the missing trio.
Coen thought he had won it with his second point of the game. But Clare’s resilience and defiance were the recurring themes of this extraordinary evening. They had one last chance. They had the calmness and composure to work the ball up to Jason McCarthy, who seized the opportunity to be a hero.
The sequel is next Sunday in Semple Stadium. It is not to be missed.