DJ CAREY Clare have edge now, but Treaty All-ireland favourites
WHAT an astonishing weekend of hurling we’ve just had.
The game just seems to go from strength to strength this summer and is something that everyone associated with the GAA can be proud of.
Perhaps you would slightly edge towards the Clare-galway game in terms of overall quality. It was absolutely phenomenal.
It was a brilliant spectacle, littered with superb individual performances. You’d run out of superlatives trying to describe it.
They have to go at it again next Sunday and I can’t wait.
If I was to nitpick about the two games, however, it would be the high rate of scoring, even allowing for extra time.
I certainly wouldn’t like to be a defender playing the game today. The ball is travelling so and so far. Players can strike the ball 100 yards and quite often it’s sailing over defenders’ heads.
The days of 2-15 or so being enough to win a big game are gone. You have the half-back lines and midfield contributing five to seven points a game.
Of course, the athleticism and quality of striking is better than ever before, but the ball is a factor.
There’s a new one introduced for virtually every play and if we decide to keep the same ball that we currently have, there is going to continue be an advantage to forwards and more scorelines like what we saw last weekend.
The question is, is that what we want? Maybe it is.
From a spectator viewpoint, I love seeing good scores. Peter Duggan’s was the best of the weekend, though it wasn’t from distance.
All things considered, I’d be in favour of putting a bit more weight back into the ball.
As it is, a line of the team is being taken out of the game, which is why there’s so much more movement of players and space being created nowadays.
There was too much space in front of the Clare full-back line in the opening 15 minutes on Saturday and they adapted very well with Colm Galvin dropping back.
It worked well but that can only happen if the other stakefast holders do their bit and the Clare half-back line and midfield certainly did, while John Conlon and Duggan stood up in attack.
Tactics played a big part in Saturday’s game and Clare certainly had the better of that battle after the first quarter.
It may be trite to say that a draw was a fair result but I would have been very disappointed if we didn’t have another day out. Replays don’t always live up to standards set in drawn games but I fully expect another savage battle.
I think Galway are under pressure. To be missing Gearoid Mcinerney or Joe Canning would be bad enough. To be missing both would be fatal, I feel.
Their replacements, if they don’t make it, would be no slouches but these two bring so much to the team in so many ways.
Mcinerney is so big and strong and mans the centre well, ensuring that little gets through to the full-back line. Can anybody else bring that presence?
Canning, as we know, is exceptional and Galway’s go-to player. Like Henry Shefflin, he takes two opposition players out of the game and you don’t know where he’s going to pop up.
Clare have a great chance this Sunday whatever Galway’s circumstances. If even one of Mcinerney or Canning aren’t playing, they’re firm favourites for me.