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Disappointing dublin
Dublin’s wait to win the championship over Cork is now 93 years and counting.
When the Dubs beat Galway at Leinster last year, it seemed like a watershed moment.
With new coach Mattie Kenny, they had beaten one of the All-Ireland contenders for the first time since their provincial triumph in 2013.
Then came that surprise loss to Laois in the preliminary quarterfinals.
This campaign, Dublin started on purpose, demolishing Laois and leading Kilkenny to one point after conceding three goals in the first half.
They appeared to be the team to go into momentum in their clash against Cork, but they were off pace from the start. Their forwards struggled to gain possession and their backs couldn’t handle the speed of Cork’s forwards, who were given a huge amount of space.
Kenny made it clear that Dublin was the only team that had had to play matches for three consecutive weekends, but it was a demonstration that challenged the idea that it can hope to repeat Cuala’s success across Ireland with the county team.
Next year is the last of the three years he has agreed to take on the team, and he and the county board will surely hope to see more progress if his term is extended beyond that.
Rebels renewed
A big part of Cork’s success was the impact of the two championship debutants, Declan Dalton and Jack O’Connor.
Former minor goalkeeper Dalton pocketed 1-01 as a full forward while O’Connor scored a game point and set up several goals for his colleagues with his breakneck pace.
Kieran Kingston had to make changes after the disappointing loss to Waterford and the return of Luke Meade and Robbie O’Flynn also helped make Cork much more competitive in midfield.
They will now enter Saturday’s qualifying clash against old rivals Tipperary with rebuilt confidence.
Clare questions
On The Sunday Game last night, Dónal Óg Cusack suggested that “Every county hopes to have Clare in that drawing.”
It was a cutting comment but probably accurate.
Playing the final 40 minutes with 14 men obviously played a big role, but Clare almost held on to beat Laois by one point after being six ahead midway through the second half.
Their 0-27 count was just one more than they achieved in the loss to Limerick (1-23).
Coach Brian Lohan suggested Laois took advantage of his three scoring opportunities, but that in itself should be a concern. At the other end, Enda Rowland made two good saves to deny Ryan Taylor and Shane O’Donnell.
The flip side is that Clare will probably be happy about the draw too, given how poor Wexford was on the first day against Galway.
It will be interesting to see if the Banner appeals to David McInerney’s red for what Lohan called “a push” on Mark Kavanagh: TV replays suggested it was harsh unless there was more egregious behavior that wasn’t captured on camera.
David vs. Brian
The term ‘grudge match’ is usually hyperbole when used in a sporting sense, but it will be appropriate for Clare’s clash against Wexford this weekend.
Davy Fitzgerald and Brian Lohan were the goalkeeper and winger for Clare’s all-Ireland winning teams in 1995 and ’98, and firm friends.
That changed in 2014 when Fitzgerald’s LIT team faced Lohan’s UL in the Fitzgibbon Cup and sparked a pre-match brawl with their opponents by warming up in the area where the hosts had already placed their training gear.
Lohan was furious and the former teammates haven’t spoken since.
The following year, Lohan infuriated Fitzgerald by asking for an “independent” review of Clare’s release the following year, when Davy was manager and her father, Pat, county clerk.
Earlier this year, Fitzgerald reflected on losing his friendship with a man who he said in his autobiography had been “as close to me as a brother.”
“Maybe we should be old enough to forget about it and move on, there are much more important things in life,” he told RTÉ Sport.
A handshake this weekend would be a welcome surprise, but with a team set to exit the championship, it would seem like an unlikely prospect.
Laois laments
For Laois, it was another case of what could have been.
Manager Eddie Brennan later said that they had genuinely believed they could beat Clare and regretted not taking what he called “an incredible opportunity.”
Ross King was injured after 25 minutes, having scored 1-02 and Mark Kavanagh might not have been fully fit as he only managed half against Dublin, but scoring just 17 points will not win him many championship games in these days.
According to @GAA_Stats on Twitter, it was only the 10th time that a team that scored three more goals than its opponents lost a championship match.
Even in a year that many thought would be a leveler, the surprises we have seen in the soccer championship have not been repeated in the hurling: Waterford beating Cork was only a surprise given the underperformance they had since reaching the final. Ireland 2017.
Even Laois will feel like they’re opening a crack in the shutters of Hurling’s closed store. Getting Brennan back for the third year in a row, which he has hinted could hinge on better resources for the team, would be a big step in that direction.
Pointing the way
In the wake of the first weekend of the championship, there was much debate about the high points accumulated, particularly by Limerick (0-36).
It is therefore interesting to note that while the average points scored per team on October 24/25 was 28 points, it dropped to 23 points per team on Halloween weekend and was just under 23 (22 , 75) last weekend.
More challenging weather was likely to have played a role, so it’s probably too early to declare the launch in the middle of a downswing. scoring crisis …
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