The making of Clare’s saviour
Peter Duggan has been on a remarkable eight-month journey
AMIDST the hurling maelstrom of last weekend’s double bill of All-Ireland semi-finals, two moments seemed to stand still in time. The first was Nickie Quaid’s breath-taking intervention to deprive Séamus Harnedy from what looked certain to be the winning goal, the Limerick goalkeeper magicking the ball away in the manner of a conjuror’s trick, leaving the Cork player to swing at an empty space.
It was so good, the clip was picked up by Sports Illustrated as their highlight of the weekend.
The second featured Peter Duggan’s solo score, one that kickstarted a conversation about the greatest point scored in Croke Park. Here was a marriage of strength and dexterity, of direct, powerful running from a 6’4” attacker who also showed sublime skill to ship a hefty challenge from Aidan Harte, control the ball onehanded, and fire over. Not forgetting the one-handed bounce of the ball off the turf to give himself the extra touch to set up the score.
Duggan’s rise is central to the Clare summer success story.
It’s worth remembering that his mesmerising individual point wasn’t even the first time this season he produced an audacious piece of skill to score against the All-Ireland champions. The 24-year-old Clooney-Quin forward is eight full months turning himself into an overnight sensation.
On a Sunday afternoon last November, in the famed baseball surrounds of Fenway Park in Boston, he gave the first indication that he could be ready for a lead role at senior level after a five-year apprenticeship. By the end of an 11-a-side, goals-only competition, he had scored over 50 per cent of Clare’s entire total in winning the Super 11s trophy.
In the build-up to the Munster final, joint manager Gerry O’Connor talked up the impact the Stateside trip had on bringing the squad together.
‘Some of the advantages that came out of that actual trip didn’t really become noticeable until we were in the airport on the way home. I was talking to John Conlon in the queue in Logan Airport and I said to him, “What were your thoughts and reflections on the whole Fenway classic?” He said “it was absolutely brilliant Gerry”.
I thought he was going to explain about playing in the Fenway Classic, winning the tournament and all that stuff, but he said we were over here for four or five days, we as a panel had three or four meals every day. There was a huge amount of time spent together and the fantastic example was in Smith and Wollensky’s around the corner from our hotel where he was sat beside Jason McCarthy for three hours.
‘He said in the previous year he hadn’t spoken to Jason McCarthy.
He added: ‘We are so focused as a group when you come into training, you come in you do your prep, your rehab, you go out on the field, you eat and you go home.
‘He felt to spend that amount of time really strengthened the bond among the actual group. A lot of leaders developed over there in Boston and that was the start of our journey.’
The identity of the player who popped up right at the very end of the second period of extra-time in a reprise of Domhnall O’Donovan’s unlikely equaliser from the Cusack Stand side in the 2013 drawn All-Ireland final? The very Jason McCarthy. Turns out Peter Duggan’s blossoming wasn’t the only thing gained from that winter getaway to the States.
Duggan was barely 20 when called up to Davy Fitzgerald’s senior panel for the glorious All-Ireland odyssey of 2013 and has had to bide his time despite his credentials being franked by being involved in three successive Under 21 titles.
Last weekend, he was the forward Clare turned to after being wiped out on puck-outs in the first quarter. If John Conlon is the warrior-type figure that is in Hurler of the Year territory, Duggan offered a ball-winning outlet in the half-forward line that Clare have so badly lacked in recent years.
It’s Duggan’s deadball striking though that has been just as important to Clare’s emergence. The pureness of his strike has been at the heart of the county’s consistency, and has given them a sureness and confidence, even within games.
As one online article was headlined after the Super 11s in Boston: ‘Peter Duggan is the man to save Clare hurling’. And he has the full repertoire: not only does he take frees and 65s but also penalties and side-line cuts.’
He certainly played his part in saving Clare last Saturday night. And more. Going into that game he had amassed 2-56 (47 frees, one ‘65’, one penalty) in the Championship alone. An analysis of his entire contribution to Clare season, from the Super 11s last November through the Munster Hurling League in late December/January, through the National League and on to Championship amounts to a stunning opus of work in terms of pure scoring.
For the 2018 season, he has notched up a mind-boggling 17-118 (one penalty, 94 frees, 7 ‘65’s, one sideline-cut), see attached scoring panel.
Shooting 19 points in the Allianz League quarter-final at the Gaelic Grounds amounted to a tour de force. When the two frees he slotted in the free-taking shoot-out are included, that rises to 21 scores.
In the second round of the Munster Hurling League, he bagged a brace of goals from full-forward but he wasn’t even the chief designated free-taker then. David Reidy filled that role with management reserving their view as to whether Duggan was doing enough in open play to merit a starting role.
And sometimes he doesn’t do enough on that front. In rounds three and four of the League against Cork and Wexford, he failed to score from play. In the first two rounds of Munster against Cork and Waterford, he was held scoreless from play.
Yet that day against Waterford he still finished with an invaluable 1-10 (1-0 pen, 9fs, 1 65).
From the exotic surrounds of Fenway Park to the familiar environs of Semple Stadium – Peter Duggan has been on some journey with Clare this season.
Last weekend, Duggan was the forward Clare turned to when wiped out at puck-outs