O’Neill credits Crokes subs for turning tide in Clonmel

DR Crokes selector Harry O’Neill credited the depth of the panel, and the contributions of substitutes Jordan Kiely and Paul Clarke, in helping the Munster champions rescue their provincial quarter-final away to Clonmel Commercials.

Crokes trailed the Tipperary champions by a point when Alan O’Sullivan was sent off in the 36th minute but Kiely and Clarke helped kickstart a much improved final quarter to see the Kerry champions set up a semi-final with Kilmurry-Ibrickane from Clare.

“We tried to prepare for this thing as best we could. We thought we had our prep done but you could see there in the first half we were stuck to the ground. We just couldn’t get going,” O’Neill said.

“Thankfully they showed great character and after Socky [Alan O’Sullivan] was sent off. It was backs to the wall but they showed great charatcer to come through. We knew we were going to get a great battle from Clonmel. It’s only two years ago since they played Ballyboden [All-Ireland semi-final] and they were outstanding. You’re up against a serious team. It wasn’t pretty by us but at least we got the job done.

“We were just very laboured in everything we did in the first half, but once we got guys stepping into spaces a bit more in the second half, and putting them under more pressure, things started to open up a bit more. The first half was probably one of the worst performances we’ve put in in the last eighteen months.”

O’Neill felt Crokes dealt with O’Sullivan’s dismissal very well.

“Because Clonmel play so naturally with a sweeper, you’re still playing with thirteen against thirteen in the rest of the field. To me, playing the sweeper back there it doesn’t really affect you if you keep pushing up and that’s what we did.

“We kind of stood back a bit in the first half but once we pushed out and pushed Gavin White a bit more forward that worked better for us. [Clonmel] put such an effort into that first half, they really were flying, to keep that intensity going for sixty minutes [was hard].

“We really were lucky we had the panel that we were able to throw lads in and do a job for us. That’s part of what we’re trying to do with this group. We grind out and we stay with teams, but if you have guys like Jordan [Kiely] and Paul [Clarke] and a few more who can go in and affect the game, as they have done, that’ll be fantastic for us.”