CLARE MIGHT HAVE WANTED anyone to fetch up in the All-Ireland semi-final, apart from Kilkenny.
The scarring the Cats have left on Clare in successive semi-finals has led to a mental blockage of sorts.
The recent Munster final loss to Limerick was the most damaging of all the last three provincial decider defeats to Limerick.
So goes the conventional wisdom. In losing the Munster final, it’s almost as if Limerick weren’t given credit for their own levels of performance in the last quarter and yet, Clare were so much closer once you take the tape back out and look over it again.
Semple Stadium, Sunday 9 June. 56 minutes are on the clock.
The previous 20 minutes commenced with four consecutive Limerick points to grow their lead to four. Clare snapped back with a brace.
Limerick came strong and Gearóid Hegarty helped himself to his goal. Clare and Limerick share the next four points.
And then Mark Rodgers produced a brilliant catch and never got the meat behind his strike for a routine Nickie Quaid save. Aidan McCarthy pointed a free soon after.
In the next play, Tony Kelly robbed Barry Nash and put Rodgers away. He lets off his strike and it hits the butt of the post.
Had it have been a goal, it would have put three between them, but crucially Clare would have owned the momentum.
Six points is no margin in hurling, but were Clare far away?
That’s not to say they aren’t carrying issues into today’s game.
There is a sense Kilkenny have figured them out long ago. The deployment of Mikey Butler marking Tony Kelly will be revisited. The inability to get Shane O’Donnell on the ball will not be helped by Huw Lawlor breathing down his neck.
Take a look at that half-forward line that Kilkenny fielded in the Leinster final demolition of Dublin; John Donnelly, TJ Reid, Adrian Mullen. Incredible.
Two years ago, Clare felt they had enough ringcraft for Kilkenny after coming through a fairly spectacular Munster campaign. Holding Limerick to a draw in round four before taking them to extra-time in the Munster final had them feeling they really were the second best team in Ireland.
And then Kilkenny popped that bubble with a 12 point margin. The Cats fans immediately set about some digital work online, mocking the Clare efforts and the open top bus tour of Ennis for getting a draw against Limerick.
Petty, nasty, spiteful stuff. The good stuff, in other words.
Last year, it took an Eoin Murphy save for the ages against Peter Duggan who did everything right in hitting the ball A) early and B) first time. However, a verbal description doesn’t do the save justice and hey, this is what the Internet was invented for:
Kilkenny play Clare on Saturday.
— Daniel Hussey (@DanielHussey2) July 3, 2024
In last year’s semi-final, Eoin Murphy produced one of the best hurling saves of all-time to seal victory for the Cats.
Absolutely outrageous.
pic.twitter.com/qsmO8qE0KN
A note of caution. After a weekend where four games of Gaelic football brought one half of exciting action, this should be one for the ages. There is no doubt.
However, sales in Kilkenny are slow.
Sources indicate that we are heading for a crowd of around 35,000 today. If that is the case, then a serious review of the inter-county structure is needed.
Last weekend brought the lowest aggregate attendance at the All-Ireland quarter final weekend in football. Munster attendances are extremely healthy, but a poor turnout here will cause significant alarm.
This week, two big beasts of intercounty management stepped off the carousel with Davy Fitzgerald and Henry Shefflin stepping down from the Waterford and Galway posts.
A loss here and Brian Lohan might find that a serious group of Clare hurlers are crossing the threshold of age and experience, while getting no closer to a Liam MacCarthy win.
No sin in these Limerick times we are living in. But so much rides on it.
It’s Kilkenny’s blessing that on an annual basis they can arrive into an All-Ireland semi-final with so little thought about it.
The work of Derek Lyng has not been subject to the same parsing and analysing. But he has brought Kilkenny into the data-driven era, with much more ball-carrying, shape and structure than we have ever seen.
They possess pace and they have squeezed a good bit more out of established pillars, John Donnelly being the obvious case in point.
It’s worked for them before. It will work again. Kilkenny win, but it might need another wonder show from Eoin Murphy along the way.
Clare are broken