Rebels lose the numbers game... again
Clare 3-26 Cork 3-24 MUNSTER SHC
FOR the second Sunday running, Cork were left counting the cost of a red card in a tight finish.
And having squandered a nine-point lead themselves seven days earlier, Clare turned a seven-point deficit around this time in an exhilarating second half to get their campaign right back on track.
Including Ciaran Joyce’s black card against Waterford, which was followed by Damien Cahalane’s red, Cork have played more than 40 minutes of their opening two games at a numerical disadvantage, with captain Sean O’Donoghue’s dismissal in the 51st minute on a second yellow this time a critical moment in the match.
Admittedly, the momentum had already swung Clare’s way by then but Cork’s ability to wrestle it back had been severely undermined.
And when you lose by just two points in the finish, you’ll certainly feel it was decisive if you’re the Cork manager, Pat Ryan.
Flashed
By the end, referee James Owens had flashed 15 cards, 10 of them at Cork players.
“To be honest I don’t think it was a dirty game,” said Ryan. “I think Sean made a very good challenge on the first thing.
“I don’t know did he do a third man tackle then on the way out, that’s what the lads said to me, I don’t think it was for the first thing.
“To be honest with you we’ve been down to 13 and 14 and I don’t think we’re the dirtiest team in the world.
“It wasn’t a dirty game today. I just thought there was too many yellow cards.”
“I hate to see hurlers sent off anyway, regardless of who they are, so it was tough luck on Seán,” said Clare boss Brian Lohan. “These things happen in the game. Sometimes they work for you and more times they work against you.”
The reality is that, having already been on a yellow,
O’Donoghue’s needless body check on Shane O’Donnell with Cork about to clear the ball in their own full-back line was kamikaze stuff from the Rebels skipper. Aidan McCarthy tapped over the resultant free to bring Clare level when barely 10 minutes earlier they had trailed by seven.
They had put themselves in a strong position at half-time as, having played against a stuff breeze, they were only two points adrift, notwithstanding the fact that Cork had finished the half well to lead 0-14 to 0-12.
Their lead might have been greater but for an Alan Connolly effort grazing the crossbar, while Darragh Fitzgibbon had a weak strike saved by Eibhear Quilligan, who also pushed away a batted
Patrick Horgan effort.
But a sublime finish from Horgan, who scooped the ball over Quilligan, in the first minute of the second half established daylight and three further points from Seamus Harnedy, Declan Dalton (free) and Horgan (65) put them firmly in control.
Flank
Mark Rodgers’s 43rd minute strike, after a move down Clare’s left flank involving David McInerney, John Conlon and then the superb Shane O’Donnell, brought Clare within three before David Reidy hit his first two points of the day.
Cork’s response was good but once O’Donoghue walked they went eight minutes without scoring and found themselves three behind after O’Donnell’s