This article is from page 134 of the 2008-07-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 134 JPG
THE progress goes on. Great credit to everybody. Slightly dodgy at times in Semple Stadium where Limer- ick failed miserably to come up to expectations. The real successes there were Pat Vaughan, Jonath- an Clancy, and the midfield pair- ing of Brian O’Connell and Colin Lynch with Gerry O’Grady keeping O’Shaughnessy in check. Now the stakes get bigger, the barriers higher. How good in reality is this Clare team? Who can honestly say with certainty? Tipp will be a true test for everybody. Coming within five or six points of them at this stage will be undisputed progress.
Defeating them will in fact mean that Clare are up with the best. For-
get about the bruhaha about the lo- cal set-up. There is no responsibility there for Mike McNamara and Co. Their duty is to get the best out of the county team. There will be hard choices before the Munster final. Both in placings and personnel. The first is to whether to carry on with the team building or go all-out for a ante
Winning this final will demand a combination of cuteness and courage from the sideline. Beating Tipp 1s not beyond the Banner. We have a good track record in this area. This is the championship and anything can hap- pen. At this point I will set out my stall. The loss of Brendan Bugler will be keenly felt. Bugler is a very flexi- ble player with good pace and hands. Yet on reflection Niall Moran scored
five points from play in Thurles.
I will take it that O’Grady will be able to field out. Having marshaled O’Shaughnessy I would assign the Crusheen man to mark Kelly. Cor- bett makes much more play than Kelly nowadays, however, and his lightning pace will create problems unless counteracted. The aim should be to limit the supply to the Tipp dangermen, space to indulge their skills must be denied them. Their forwards must be crowded out. Any forward can be frustrated. How to do it without fouling holds the key.
My plan would envisage the Banner fielding the strongest halfback line possible and withdrawing the mid- fielders into it for the set pieces such as puckouts, frees, sidelines etc. In the fullback line I would move Frank
Lohan to No. 2 and bring back Brian O’Connell to run with Lar Corbett when he goes roaming.
A crowded half line should help Conor Plunkett. Playing Pat Vaughan at midfield will facilitate this. Vaughan is good at tidying up in broken play. Up front the hard decision will pertain to the No. 14 slot. Barry Nugent put himself in the frame again when he came on against Limerick. All through the League Paul Curran was one of the stars of the Tipp defence. Who gave him his toughest hour? Fergal Lynch. Clare should not spurn this obvious opportunity now. The time has come to start the Clooney-Quin man again. There is no room for both Lynch and Nugent. This time I would give the start to Lynch.
Keep it simple. Crowd the defence to deny Tipp the space. Play the Clare’s half forward line deep towards mid- field. Put the ball inside them for Clancy and Griffin to exploit it. Vary it by putting the high ball down on Lynch. And the team to do tt: