LET’S TAKE THE SURGEON’S scalpel out for a second, to the pivotal moments of the Munster hurling final.
On 45 minutes, a foul on Clare’s Mark Rodgers gave Tony Kelly a free from way out.
As Marty Morrissey noted in his commentary, he ‘gave it absolutely everything,’ but it went wide.
From the next play, Nickie Quaid’s puckout towards Shane O’Brien ended up dribbling over the sideline.
Old goalkeepers don’t retire, they simply keep playing the game through the exploits of those on the pitch. So it was no surprise that Morrissey’s co-commentator Brendan Cummins picked up on the difference of the two last strikes of the ball; “Clare’s puckout now is just about going to the ’65, whereas Nickie Quaid is able to land it toward O’Brien and Aaron Gillane, just inside the Clare 45.”
Clare started the play again. After exchanging hands, Conor Cleary and David McInerney worked it to goalkeeper Eibhear Quilligan who drifted out towards the right flank.
Because he didn’t gather McInerney’s flat-stick pass first time, he drifted even further out. By the time he let off his swing, he was around 10 metres from the right hand sideline, striking crossfield to a position between dead centre of the pitch and the left sideline.
It was aimed at Peter Duggan. Duggan had been a target all afternoon. It was an obvious and limited tactic.
And a diagonal ball in that breeze was always going to hang in the air too long, when the attacker wants it to fall like a comet.
By the time the ball came down, it was even numbers under the dropzone, three Clare scavengers against three Limerick defenders.
Barry Nash gathered, Kyle Hayes delivered. Aaron Gillane got a flick on while Clare defender Conor Cleary missed the flight. Gearoid Hegarty followed it in.
Quilligan left his goals but did so hesitantly. Hegarty could see he was in no-man’s land and invoked the element of surprise, a first-time pull straight out of a dog-eared copy of your grandfather’s Guide To The Skills of Hurling.
The ball rested between post and stanchion. In the 12 minutes after half-time, Limerick had compiled 1-5 to Clare’s 0-2 after they went in level at the break.
It got no better from that point. Clare simply could not gain all the ground they had lost. On the sideline, Brian Lohan looked exasperated and had gotten involved in a verbal spat with Limerick manager John Kiely.
They tried stuff. Mark Rodgers was put inside. Shane O’Donnell was brought outfield in an effort to get the Ennis man on more ball.
Tony Kelly was put over the sideline by Will O’Donoghue. A fair engagement, given as a Clare free. Aidan McCarthy sent it wide. A puckout from Quaid way down the line, O’Brien gathered, handpassed to Tom Morrissey and it was over.
In the next sequence, Darragh Lohan made a bad job of a simple move and gave the ball away. Gearoid Hegarty snapped over a shot from the sideline. The type that puts one on the shortlist for Hurler of the Year.
From that point, the teams matched each other. Limerick back in control.
The game might have taken a different complexion in a two-minute period straight after, if either of the two efforts from Rodgers at goal had have found the net.
“That was the moment,” said Cummins ruefully after the second attempt cannoned off the butt of the post.
The difficulty now is in determining what damage the defeat inflicts on Clare’s psyche as they head into a quarter-final against Wexford. Do they dwell on it or move on quickly?
Of the trilogy of Munster finals between these two, this has been the biggest margin of victory.
Does that matter? Maybe not. But losing gets pretty old, pretty fast.
In 2022, Clare could convince themselves they were the coming force. Last year, they could rightly claim they were robbed with the lack of a last-gasp free for a series of fouls committed on Tony Kelly.
What they will do instead, is to break this Munster final down into manageable pieces.
Six missed frees. Two goal chances saved by Quaid. Smacking the post.
In the war of little wins ahead, Clare are already one up in on scheduling. Despite the county lobbying for the game to be moved to Sunday, when it came to it, they then voted to keep it on a Saturday.
With a large portion of Wexford’s hurling public engaged in hosting the National Feile, it clearly affects the levels of support for Keith Rossiter’s side.
Where it goes for Clare after the probable win, is the big one. Another All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Kilkenny and there are some that might feel Brian Lohan has had his time with this team, this being his fifth season.
His very first battles were from within the county itself. It couldn’t have been pleasant to establish a firewall between himself and the team, and the wider world of administration within the county.
The passage of time, and some uncompromising backroom figures has smoothed that over, though it reared its’ head in recent times after the Waterford game.
There is no shame attached to losing against this Limerick team.
But what happens when your tactics don’t always give you the best chance of victory? What happens when it takes until after an hour to make the first substitution?
Clare cannot point to a single day where they threw something at Limerick that they weren’t ready for, or didn’t find the remedy within 15 minutes.
This is a fine Clare team. One of the best they have had. And managers are notoriously thin on the ground. Lohan has done an honourable job.
It would seem an All Ireland final is their bottom line now. If not, Clare could be engaged in a recruitment process in the autumn.
