So, now we know what lies ahead. June 21, the summer Solstice, will see us traipsing out the Ennis Road to another hot reception at the Gaelic Grounds. Limerick’s mission: to oust Tipperary from Munster for a third successive season, effectively going where none of their tribe has gone before.
That’s the challenging fall-out from Sunday’s incident-packed championship opener at the Stadium. Limerick’s battling spirit got them home in a game not short of talking points. For the Banner it’s another setback though the season is still young.
Thankfully the second half redeemed a dire opening period. The game stagnated for the first thirty-five minutes with all that crowding of the middle third. I hate these shapeless games where football’s disease seems to infect hurling. Normal structures are abandoned and the sole aim seems to be to suffocate the opposition rather than express your own game. An interval score line of 0-9 to 0-8 tells all you need to know about that forgettable period.
Limerick just about deserved to win despite all the cribbing and growling from Davy. The Shannonsiders led for most of the trip and were six clear at one stage after Graeme Mulcahy pillaged that goal.
Clare’s response enhanced the occasion, Arron Cunningham lighting up the Stadium with a pair of goals that will surely be among the season’s best. It all came down to a tantalising finish where John Fitzgibbon’s strike stole the show.
For Limerick it was a sweet one, banishing the winter blues of a dismal league campaign and bringing Tipp to town for a mouth-watering semi-final. As an adrenaline-driven side the lift from this win will be major.
In Cian Lynch they’ve produced what T.J. Ryan called ‘a gem’. He has all the touches but combines them with a confidence that defies his nineteen years. There’s a Youtube clip of Cian available where he does all sorts of stunts and tricks with ball and sliotar in his back garden. That showman streak was visible on Sunday too with that little flick over Domhnall O’Donovan’s head.
It was just as well for Limerick that Ciaran Carey’s nephew brought a new dimension because otherwise their attack floundered, the starting half line failing to score. Shane Dowling’s input came from frees. Nor will they be happy with their defence where both Richie McCarthy and Seamus Hickey struggled. And yet they won and therein lies the value of this game as they work on the flaws ahead of the Tipperary visit.
For Clare the challenge will be to get some of the absent players back. Conor McGrath was a massive loss on Sunday and the leadership of Bugler in defence would have been invaluable too. Should they manage to coax Colm Galvin home it would be another plus and weaning Podge Collins off football (unlikely?) would further strengthen the effort.
There’s another challenge for Clare too and it concerns discipline. Having four players sent off in three championship ties must be something of a record and apart from those red cards there’s the endless fouling. Their own Ger Loughnane slammed the indiscipline in his Monday column but he fell well short of pointing the finger of blame where it belongs – at the manager.
At this stage I find Davy’s antics tiresome. Game after game there’s a tirade against referees where every decision is challenged and everyone is against poor little Clare. For neutrals the ranting has become intolerable but for Clare there’s a more central issue. I have no doubt Davy’s attitude rubs off on his players because teams generally take their cue from the manager. His aggravation becomes the players’ aggravation and the consequences were obvious on Sunday. It would help Clare and the game generally if this conduct was properly tackled.
The pity is that Clare has huge potential. There was a view that Shane O’Donnell’s 2013 All Ireland deed was a one-hit wonder, a flash item not to be repeated. Injuries robbed him of last season and so that perception persisted. Yet his return this season has shown the real quality he possesses and no defender will relish tracking this livewire in the rest of the championship.
If they get Conor McGrath back beside O’Donnell and Tony Kelly and now Aaron Cunningham then you have a really formidable line up, one, I’d suggest, that’s tailor-made for Croke Park. We haven’t seen the last of Clare in this championship season. A final word on the red cards: Patrick Donnellan’s was deserved but Seanie Tobin’s was a travesty which may well be reversed on appeal.
Meanwhile the local club championship continues to motor away in the background with divisional campaigns now well under way and some loose ends tidied up in the county series. In the latter category Swans and Brackens played out a full-blooded collision at Boherlahan on Saturday evening last with the Mid side prevailing to top the group and qualify for the last sixteen.
This was hardy fare with the Swans throwing everything into the clash. The South side needed a break or two but they were out of luck. They put six goals past Kickhams in an earlier round but missed a few golden opportunities in the first half of this tie and ultimately it cost them dearly. At the other end Colin O’Riordan set up Shane Bourke for a first half goal and Bracken’s led by 1-8 to 0-4 at half time.
Swans disputed it vigorously in the second half but Brackens had the better hurlers and closed out the contest in the final minutes. Some of the fetching by Colin O’Riordan was a match highlight. The result means that Brackens head into the last sixteen and get promoted to the top tier for next year. Swans will most likely have to win the South to advance because it’s unlikely Brackens will take the Mid.
In group 3 of the top tier Killenaule had enough for a ‘Bonner’-less Lorrha and that result means that the South side tops the section above of Annacarty on the head-to-head rule. It means that Killenaule will play a lower tier winner in the last sixteen while Annacarty will face a divisional winner. Incidentally Loughmore finished bottom of the group so they drop to the lower tier for 2016 and will need to win the Mid to progress further in this year’s championship.
Elsewhere in the divisional campaigns it has been widely noted that Burgess and Borrisokane bowed out of this year’s championship after defeats up North at the weekend. It’s been a short season for both clubs whose campaigns finished on May 24, which is hardly ideal in any system.
In the West Cappawhite suffered a real thrashing from Clonoulty on Sunday evening at Dundrum. They won’t thank me for calling in to see this one because it was embarrassing stuff as Clonoulty did as they wished and never let up until the end of a thirty-seven point annihilation. It was sad to witness such an outcome. There’s always been something attractive about Cappawhite hurling with its profusion of O’Neills or ‘Nailers’ as you’d regularly hear at games over the decades. However, years of underage drought is now washing through to senior and the future looks bleak.
For Clonoulty it was all too easy. Timmy Hammersley made a return and John O’Neill led the scoring with 2-4. Kickhams now play-off with Cappawhite for a semi-final place against either Eire Og or Clonoulty, whichever side the winner hasn’t previously met.
Finally ‘sledging’ has become a topical term in the GAA world and more specifically the football section of that world. It got added attention last week with an accusation that a Donegal minor player was ‘sledged’ by a Tyrone opponent. The charge was that the Donegal lad was taunted over the recent cancer death of his dad, which, if true, is pretty dastardly conduct.
The normally mild-mannered Vincent Hogan lowered the cutting bar last Saturday in his response to Ryan McMenamin’s comments on the issue. The ex-Tyrone player and current minor selector claimed that ‘sledging’ is ‘definitely something we wouldn’t practice’. That’s rich indeed from ‘Ricey’.
The affair will have echoes in Tipperary following the recent U21 football final where ‘sledging’ it’s alleged was widespread. Amazing how Tyrone players seemed to be so well informed about female relatives of the Tipp lads! If even a fraction of what’s alleged did actually occur then I’m afraid ‘sledging’ seems to be culturally embedded up North.
By Jonathan Cullen Thu 28th May
