Gerry: All credit to Leesiders

CLARE joint-manager Gerry O’connor admitted he had no qualms after seeing his side swamped in the second half by Cork.

Although Clare led by eight points approaching half-time, they were hit for 1-1 before the break and Cork maintained the ascendency on the restart.

O’connor (above) said: “They came out at the start of the second half and you have to give them credit, the reality is they were worthy champions last year and are worthy champions this year.

“They played really good hurling just before halftime and I think that’s where the game was won.

“We stabilised things after 15 minutes of that second half but they appeared to get on top of our half-back line. Their half-forward line stormed into the game, they seemed to get a lot of scores from there.

“That 10 or 15 minute period just after half-time, we missed a few frees, they got a few handy scores and that’s just the nature of it, we just weren’t able to get a foothold on the game.”

Full-forward John

Conlon was rampant for Clare in the first half but the supply was much more limited in the second half.

O’connor explained: “In the first half, we were using our midfielders and our wing-backs as puck-out options.

“I think Cork probably had a discussion about that at half-time and they pushed up on our halfbacks and midfielders.

“But we still got a few puck-outs to our halfbacks and midfield but we were probably turned over or the ball was dropped.

“We’ll have to refer back to the video to see where we have to improve on,” he added.