All-Ireland SHC quarter-final: Clare too good for Dublin

All-Ireland SHC quarter-final

Clare 0-29 Dublin 0-16

Stephen Barry, FBD Semple Stadium

Once again, Semple Stadium provided a happy hunting ground for Clare as they got their All-Ireland ambitions back on the road with a 13-point victory over Dublin in front of 13,279 fans.

Returning to the site of their round-robin success over Tipperary and recent All-Ireland U20 triumph, the Banner scored 15 of the last 18 points to book their semi-final ticket for a fortnight’s time. Éibhear Quilligan pulled off seven saves to keep his clean sheet.

Dublin’s sixth successive Thurles defeat saw a promising campaign come to a disappointing end following their Leinster final thumping a fortnight ago.

It closed with Brendan Kenny receiving a straight red card for a reckless high hit on David Reidy, who required lengthy treatment before being stretchered off the field to a standing ovation.

If Cork beat Offaly on Sunday, Clare will meet Limerick, who were in attendance at the Kerry-Armagh clash earlier in the afternoon. If Offaly produce a shock, Brian Lohan’s side will instead face Galway.

There was plenty of intrigue about the late changes to either team. As rumoured, Conor Cleary was introduced at full-back instead of Conor Leen to tackle John Hetherton’s aerial threat. The only catch was that the towering full-forward was withdrawn from the Dublin team, replaced by defender John Bellew.

Cleary ended up chasing Ronan Hayes around the middle third, but showed his comfort with an early intercept for a Shane Meehan point before claiming two high puck-outs. Injury forced his withdrawal before half-time. David McInerney also exited late in another injury headache for the Banner.

Like Galway did to them in the Leinster final, Dublin withdrew all but one inside forward, Conal Ó Riain, which led to a heavily congested middle third.

Clare were able to navigate through the mass of bodies with clever passing from Tony Kelly, dropping deep from midfield, and Mark Rodgers, who lined out at centre-forward. Kelly did his defensive duties, getting a hook on Ó Riain’s first shot, and scoring two early points from distance.

Dublin didn’t score from play between Ó Riain’s super ninth-minute effort and Dónal Burke’s 29th-minute score, in which time they were entirely reliant on Burke’s frees to limit the damage.

After Burke was denied by Quilligan, Peter Duggan put six between the teams. With 12 minutes on the clock, all six forwards had scored for a 0-9 to 0-3 lead.

Seán Rynne was causing plenty of trouble with his movement for three points. Shane O’Donnell raised the biggest cheer, assisting and scoring his own point from an errant handpass for 0-14 to 0-6.

Dublin did all the scoring in the 10 minutes before half-time. Either side of Eddie Gibbons denying Rodgers, Burke racked up five points on the spin, including four frees. Ronan Hayes’s move inside caused immediate problems as he forced Quilligan into quickfire saves.

Back to 0-14 to 0-11 at half-time, Hayes and Burke made it a one-point game on the resumption.
Clare responded with the next four points, although Quilligan made his fourth save to prevent a close-range equaliser from Burke.

Hetherton came on for Bellew, with Crummey dropping deeper, but the Dubs were enduring another dry spell with no score from play from the 37th to 54th minutes.

Clare added another four in a row with braces from Rynne and Duggan, including a sideline cut, for 0-22 to 0-14. Gibbons also made fine saves from Rodgers and Rynne.

At the other end, Quilligan was giving an outstanding display with a flying save from Ó Riain, Seán Currie firing just over, and Adam Hogan blocking Brian Hayes’s effort. When Quilligan denied a close-range Hetherton free, it marked his sixth save.

After a lengthy stoppage for Reidy’s injury, which saw Kenny sent off, David Fitzgerald pointed with his first touch.

As they played out 13 added minutes, Quilligan protected his clean sheet by blocking Hetherton’s close-range kicked effort.

Scorers for Clare: Tony Kelly 0-7 (3f); Seán Rynne, Mark Rodgers (5f) 0-5 each; Peter Duggan 0-3 (1s/l); Cathal Malone, Shane Meehan, Shane O’Donnell 0-2 each; Niall O’Farrell, Diarmuid Stritch, David Fitzgerald 0-1 each.

Scorers for Dublin: Dónal Burke 0-12 (9f); Seán Currie, Ronan Hayes, Conal Ó Riain, Conor Groarke 0-1 each.

CLARE: Éibhear Quilligan; Adam Hogan, Darragh Lohan, Conor Cleary; Diarmuid Ryan, David McInerney, Niall O’Farrell; Tony Kelly, Ryan Taylor; Cathal Malone, Mark Rodgers, Seán Rynne; Shane Meehan, Peter Duggan, Shane O’Donnell. Subs: Conor Leen for Cleary (35-f-t, temp), David Reidy for Meehan (46-49, temp), Ian Galvin for Rodgers (53), Diarmuid Stritch for Malone (55), Cian Galvin for O’Farrell (60), Reidy for Taylor (65), John Conlon for McInerney (66, inj), David Fitzgerald for Reidy (70+7, inj).

DUBLIN: Eddie Gibbons; John Bellew, Paddy Smyth, Conor McHugh; Eoghan O’Donnell, Paddy Doyle, Conor Burke; Brian Hayes, Conor Groarke; Fergal Whitely, Chris Crummey, Dónal Burke; Ronan Hayes, Conal Ó Riain, Seán Currie. Subs: John Hetherton for O’Donnell (45), Conor Donohoe for Groarke (54), Cian O’Sullivan for Currie (58), Brendan Kenny for Whitely (62), Diarmaid Ó Dúlaing for R Hayes (65).

Referee: James Owens (Wexford).