Stats show that Hannon shone in training — but composure deserted him in Croker
“Statistically speaking, our best free-taker was on the field starting,” Limerick boss John Allen said as he tried to make sense of Declan Hannon’s erratic performance.
AS THE DREAM died and the post-mortem began, John Allen defended his decision to name Declan Hannon as Limerick’s free-taker.
And, Allen said, the stats back him up.
On his first Championship visit to Croke Park, Hannon missed three frees and a 65′ in the first half as Clare raced into a seven-point lead in the first of this year’s All-Ireland hurling semi-finals.
In the end that gap proved too big to bridge as they went on to win 1-22 to 0-18 and set up a meeting with Cork in the decider on 8 September.
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The closest Limerick came after the break was when Shane Dowling, on as sub for Seanie Tobin, took over free-taking duties from Hannon and pointed three in three minutes to cut the gap to four.
Though he was only on the pitch for 40 minutes Dowling finished as Limerick’s top scorer with six points — five frees and a 65′ — adding fuel to the fire of those who believed he should have played from the start.
Hannon meanwhile finished with two, both frees, and was subbed in the 50th minute.
Allen admitted that he thought about making a change earlier in a bid to offset Hannon’s erratic start but defended the 20-year-old who, he said, was red-hot in training last week.
“I do frees every night with the guys before training and Declan’s striking this week was superb. It was the best of all the year. His striking was 10/10 every time.
Shane’s striking was very good as well but in the stats over the course of the nights we were taking frees, Declan was ahead of Shane most nights. Nicky [English] said in his column in the paper that he felt that our best free-taker was on the line but statistically speaking, our best free-taker was on the field starting.
Once they fell behind Limerick were always chasing the game, Allen said, and he spent a long period in conversation with his selectors on the sideline before they finally went down to the dressing room at half-time.
“We were being beaten in lots of areas. We certainly weren’t winning in too many areas.
“It was a matter really of trying to find how to bypass the sweeper. We rejigged our six forwards, well four of them, just in the hope that maybe somebody would find some new spark in a new role.
“We were on the field for quite a while because we were seven points down and we weren’t playing too well so it was a fairly serious place to be.”
Although he didn’t notice any signs of nerves in the dressing room beforehand, Allen pointed to the five-week break since the Munster final as part of the problem Limerick failed to handle.
“I wouldn’t use it as an excuse. It’s not an excuse but it certainly isn’t ideal.
Whatever momentum you have — if you were talking about the Premiership and there were five weeks between games — form goes out the window as such. How do you keep players in that form? Whatever confidence they had coming off the Munster final is way gone.
It’s not an excuse but it certainly wasn’t ideal. It’s too long.
Stats show that Hannon shone in training — but composure deserted him in Croker
AS THE DREAM died and the post-mortem began, John Allen defended his decision to name Declan Hannon as Limerick’s free-taker.
And, Allen said, the stats back him up.
On his first Championship visit to Croke Park, Hannon missed three frees and a 65′ in the first half as Clare raced into a seven-point lead in the first of this year’s All-Ireland hurling semi-finals.
In the end that gap proved too big to bridge as they went on to win 1-22 to 0-18 and set up a meeting with Cork in the decider on 8 September.
The closest Limerick came after the break was when Shane Dowling, on as sub for Seanie Tobin, took over free-taking duties from Hannon and pointed three in three minutes to cut the gap to four.
Though he was only on the pitch for 40 minutes Dowling finished as Limerick’s top scorer with six points — five frees and a 65′ — adding fuel to the fire of those who believed he should have played from the start.
Hannon meanwhile finished with two, both frees, and was subbed in the 50th minute.
Allen admitted that he thought about making a change earlier in a bid to offset Hannon’s erratic start but defended the 20-year-old who, he said, was red-hot in training last week.
“I do frees every night with the guys before training and Declan’s striking this week was superb. It was the best of all the year. His striking was 10/10 every time.
Once they fell behind Limerick were always chasing the game, Allen said, and he spent a long period in conversation with his selectors on the sideline before they finally went down to the dressing room at half-time.
“We were being beaten in lots of areas. We certainly weren’t winning in too many areas.
“It was a matter really of trying to find how to bypass the sweeper. We rejigged our six forwards, well four of them, just in the hope that maybe somebody would find some new spark in a new role.
“We were on the field for quite a while because we were seven points down and we weren’t playing too well so it was a fairly serious place to be.”
Although he didn’t notice any signs of nerves in the dressing room beforehand, Allen pointed to the five-week break since the Munster final as part of the problem Limerick failed to handle.
“I wouldn’t use it as an excuse. It’s not an excuse but it certainly isn’t ideal.
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All-Ireland Senior HC Declan Hannon GAA GAA 2013 John Allen Reaction Shane Dowling Clare Limerick