This article is from page 83 of the 2009-07-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 83 JPG
AN award winning film by the Coen Brothers a couple of years back was titled “No Country For Old Men’.
It purported to demonstrate a ruth- less, consuming determination to achieve a goal. I was reminded of it at Cusack Park on Saturday evening. We had too many old and tired Jae NaLeisy
Old ideas, old hurling, and old fail- ings. Both on the field and off it. No ruthless determination to change them. Once again the management stood idly by whilst the game slipped away. After a quarter of an hour it was in Gort and well on the way to Galway. Almost a replica of the Gaelic Grounds against Tipp.
After the events of this year all faith has evaporated. Of course there was never much justification for having any faith in the first instance. No evi- dence that when the going got tough and real knowledge and understand- ing of how games should be won was required.
No inspiration was forthcoming and it is now past the time for genu- ine Clare GAA people to realise that at senior inter-county level Clare hurling is a bit of a joke.
The approach to the NHL was full of arrogance, ignorance, and nonsense. Every league game must be taken seriously. Teams are built and honed there. When did you last hear Brian Cody say that the league, or any game, was unimportant and that Kilkenny’s focus was just on the championship?
Instead we had talk about present- ing ourselves well and restoring pride in the jersey. Clare hurling does not
deserve this kind of nonsense that has nothing to do with winning games.
All year we had failure in man- management and selection and a failure to compromise and sacrifice the managerial ego for the common good. The Quinn and O’Connell epi- sodes demonstrated this. At the 12th hour Nicky O’Connell was brought into the panel. On Saturday evening he was listed at No 30 and neither played or introduced.
Back to 2007 for a moment. Then the manager, who had led the team to a win over the Tribesmen at Cusack Park, and on to the All-Ireland quar- ter-final against the eventual finalists Limerick, was shamefully shafted.
It’s a long road that hasn’t a turning. We await with interest what will be done now after the most disastrous year ever in Clare senior hurling. It was a year in which the team was rel- egated to Division 2 and taking part in the Relegation Championship.
We can now prepare to wear the jersey with pride and present our- selves well in this hell-hole. Should Clare hurling followers continue to live with a system that has brought this situation about? Isn’t it time that this Clare managerial setup took a look at itself and do the decent and honourable thing?
A brief look at the game.
Clare had so many positional switches that instead of confusing Galway they seemed to be confused themselves. Midfield was so crowded that neither Griffin or Vaughan could function to real effect.
If the intention is to make space for players who can hurl then it is surely counter productive to crowd that space yourself. Though he was
no great shakes in the first half it was astonishing to see Griffin planted at centre forward after half time and dispatched to the line after a couple of minutes. It smacked of complete panic.
At the end of the League I warned here that most of the Clare defend- ers that I had seen were off the pace for championship hurling. James McInerney and Pat Donnellan apart, the Clare defence was outran all evening.
Cyril Donnellan ran Brendan Bu- gler ragged and put away a hatful of scores. Bugler must learn that deny- ing his opponent scores is the key to defensive play. Philip Brennan, who saved the Banner from an even big- ger thrashing, can hit long ball and it was pathetic to see a plethora of short puck-outs in the first half. Where were all those supposed giants in the Clare attack who should be able to field the ball in the clouds? Another myth of Clare hurling.
Ollie Canning mopped up the Ban- ner attack at his ease. In the time that they were on the field Barry Nugent and John Conlon scored three points. Surely they should have been in from Wetomce-v ames
Several clear facts emerged from Saturday evening’s debacle. The first is that Clare hurling, apart from the obvious sideline failings, 1s very un- derskilled.
Until we remedy this we won’t compete at the highest level.