Last weekend’s Cork v Dublin epic is a tough act to follow, but with the rivalry, the quality of both sides and what should be a cracking atmosphere, Limerick v Clare is shaping up to be a classic. Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on.
A claustrophobic middle third
Croke Park is a huge pitch with wide open spaces and players often comment on how it plays bigger than everywhere else because the crowd aren’t on top of you as they are at most other venues.
That said, don’t be surprised if the middle third on Sunday afternoon resembles the opening scenes in Saving Private Ryan such will be the amount of bodies between the two 45 metre lines and the ferocious intensity with which both sides are likely to approach the early exchanges.
One of the most refreshing aspects of last week’s semi-final was that, for the most part – Dublin did employ Niall Corcoran as a sweeper for long stages – both sides maintained traditional structures and went at each other man for man.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that it will affect the game as a spectacle on Sunday but a repeat is highly unlikely, with Tony Kelly and Podge Collins likely to wander from their centre forward and corner forward berths to further out the field, where they’ll likely meet Declan Hannon and Seamus Hickey coming in the opposite direction.
It was interesting to hear Joe Canning on Championship Matters last night telling of how Kelly had been deployed in front of him at times during Clare’s defeat of Galway and his theory that Kelly and Hickey could virtually end up marking each other at various stages due to their propensity to drop deep.
Throw in both midfield pairings and the respective half-back and half-forward lines into the mix and it soon becomes clear that centrefield won’t be a place for the claustrophobic nor the faint of heart come Sunday afternoon.
One hell of an individual battle on the edge of the square
Although the majority of focus has rightfully been on the excitement of the hurling championship as a whole and the emergence of the four semi-finalists from out of the shadow of the so-called big three, a number of individual performances have really stood out.
Podge Collins wasn’t half-bad against Galway, for example, ditto Brendan Bugler against Waterford, Patrick Horgan and Anthony Nash against Kilkenny and the likes of Lorcán McLoughlin, Danny Sutcliffe and Conal Keaney last weekend.
Arguably the best of the lot, however, was Richie McCarthy’s tour de force in the Munster Final victory over Cork, a display which, considering Limerick have only played two Championship games to date, is the main reason why McCarthy is the 8/1 third favourite for Hurler of the Year behind Cork duo Horgan and Nash (McCarthy was 7/1 joint favourite with Horgan before last Sunday).
Richie McCarthy’s display against Cork was arguably the performance of the season so far
His performance in the Gaelic Grounds that day was inspirational and followers of the Treaty County will be looking for a repeat this weekend.
The challenge that awaits the Blackrock man is a lot different than what he’s faced so far as he will be conceding at least six inches in height to his direct opponent, Darach Honan, who has been as culpable for Clare’s sometimes erratic shooting as much as anyone, which goes some way to explaining a fairly average tally of 0-9 in four games so far.
That said, Honan’s presence alone creates havoc and with Collins and Conor McGrath looking to feed off the scraps, he’ll take a bit of minding. The battle between this pair could be worth the entrance fee alone.
Will fitness play a part?
We might not be enjoying the glorious weather of this time last month but anyone who’s been about in Dublin this last week will know that it’s still quite warm and very, very close, conditions which will test both sets of players on the most physically demanding pitch in the country.
Clare’s fitness sessions under Davy Fitzgerald in recent years have nearly become as legendary as Ger Loughnane’s when Davy was a player and the Clare panel is full of under-21s who probably don’t yet know the meaning of the words ‘tight hamstring’. On the other hand, those under-21s have plenty of mileage on the clock and Clare have had twice as many outings as Limerick in the Championship to date.
Limerick, meanwhile, have only played two games and while that should keep them fresh, they haven’t had to play at Championship intensity for a whole month, which can have an effect no matter the level of intensity in training sessions over the past few weeks.
Inter-county teams are so fit and conditioned now that it is almost an offence to question their fitness but they have also raised the bar to such an extent that it is almost natural to expect a drop-off at some point; Dublin’s struggles with 14 men in the last quarter last Sunday being a case in point.
The game is likely to be that tight that it will still be in the melting pot in the last five or ten minutes and it could come down to who a) has all their men on the pitch and b) who has that bit more left in the tank when the final outcome is decided.
