1. Absentees make Tipperary & Galway runs more impressive
THE STORY OF Tipperary and Galway’s remarkable runs to the last eight is made even more impressive by the quality of players who haven’t been involved with both squads this season.
Kevin Walsh stated in May that 52 players turned down the chance to join the senior squad over the past 18 months, with talented players like Ian Burke, Michael Lundy and Johnny Duane among those playing their football in America rather than in the maroon jersey.
For Tipperary, Colin O’Riordan is trying his hand at the oval ball in Australia, while Steven O’Brien and Seamus Kennedy chose to focus on hurling, and a few more U21 starlets opted for a summer Stateside.
What Walsh and Liam Kearns have achieved in bringing both these squads to Croke Park must not be understated. Making it to the last four would be an even greater testament to the players who stayed behind and pulled on their county jerseys.
2. Galway forwards should revel in wide expanses of Croke Park
One thing you immediately notice when you watch this Galway side is the quality of their forward play. The Tribesmen have six attackers who can hurt you with pace, power and technical quality. In Damien Comer they have an outstanding ball winner and once the ball hits the full-forwards, the runners arrive at pace from the half-forward line.
Five of the Tribe forwards scored inside the opening 20 minutes against Roscommon and they looked hungry for the ball every time Galway won possession.
Danny Cummins is finally delivering on his enormous promise with the sort of consistency that could yet win him an Allstar.
3. Easy route to last four no benefit to Kingdom
If Kerry overcome Clare for a second time in the 2016 championship, they’ll find themselves in the All-Ireland semi-final. The only other side they’ve faced is Tipperary, who they accounted for by 10 points in the Munster final.
The easy nature of their path to this stage is worrying for Eamonn Fiztmaurice. The last Division 1 team they faced was Dublin back in April and in the three month’s since then Kerry haven’t faced a significant challenge. That’s an indictment of the championship structures and nothing to do with Clare, who have performed admirably to get this far.
Colm Collins’s men will believe they’ve improved significantly since their 12-point beating by Kerry in the Munster semi-final, but they should still be no match for the 2014 champions.
4. Gary Brennan gets his moment on the big stage
Similarly to Limerick’s John Galvin a few years ago, Gary Brennan has been producing top class performances off-Broadway for long enough. At 27 he’s already nine years into his inter-county career and days like today’s clash with Kerry have been all too rare.
Brennan deserves his chance to shine on a big championship day out in Croke Park. The International Rules star plays a crucial role at the heart of Clare’s midfield and Fitzmaurice will look to nullify his threat from the outset. It won’t be an easy task as Brennan looks to help the Banner to the upset of all upsets.
Another big performance here could well deliver Brennan that Allstar he deserves.
5. Clare’s voyage continues into bonus territory
It’s been a remarkable year for Collins and his team. After a promising league campaign they showed their penchant for the big occasion with a stunning victory in the Division 3 decider over Kildare.
Since then Clare’s season has gone from strength-to-strength. Clare’s footballers are flying the flag for their county after the hurlers fell to Galway last Sunday. That eases the workload on Podge Collins, who has been combined both codes since the beginning of the year.
Clare are looking to emulate the class of ’92 and make the All-Ireland semi-finals and the sort of freedom they’ve been playing with in 2016 suggests they won’t freeze on the big occasion.
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