In attendance at the launch of Bord Gáis Energy’s ‘That’s Hurling Energy’ campaign is Bord Gáis Energy ambassador Joe Canning at Croke Park in Dublin. The new campaign marks Bord Gáis Energy’s 15 years of involvement in inter county hurling and celebrates the excitement, spirit and passion that makes the GAA All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and its fans so unique. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Such is the dog-eat-dog nature of the Munster Hurling Championship that Sunday’s clash between Cork and Clare is being billed as a do or die contest.
A defeat for either team wouldn’t kill off their hopes of getting out of the province, but it would leave them with no further room for error with two tough matches to play.
Perhaps the vista would be especially bleak for Cork considering one of those games would be against a five-in-row chasing Limerick team who would love nothing more than to eliminate them from the championship.
The big variable coming into Sunday’s game is how both sides process two tough defeats from last weekend.
Clare must be deflated to have lost a nine-point lead against Limerick in the final quarter, while Cork lost to a Waterford team most people expected them to beat.
Which team has the harder questions to answer coming into this match? Former Galway star Joe Canning has more doubts about the Rebels based on what he saw in Round 1.
“When you look at the Cork forwards, there's three guys (Patrick Horgan, Conor Lehane, Seamus Harnedy) that were on the 2013 All-Ireland team,” says Canning.
“They're still around. When you look through the Cork team, a lot of the older guys are still there. This conveyor belt, the word they're all talking about down there, hasn't come yet. It's an interesting one.
“My point is they're still going back to the same guys again. And that's no disrespect to them. There's talk of this Cork coming, and I have more questions over them than I would over the likes of Clare or other teams.
“I don't think they have the spine of their team sorted by any means. If they lose to Clare Sunday, you're going from this week saying, 'Jeez, they're in contention for a Munster final or going for the All-Ireland drive...' It's one week basically that it all changes, which is crazy.”
Conor Lehane of Cork is tackled by Tadhg de Burca of Waterford during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 1 match between Waterford and Cork at Walsh Park in Waterford. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.
As for Clare, Canning doesn’t agree that the nature of their final quarter collapse against Limerick is suggestive of some psychological weakness in their make-up and believes the manner in which they consistently trouble the best team in the country proves their quality.
"If I was from Clare, I’d be going, ‘Jesus how did we lose?’”, he says. “It’s mistakes, it’s basic errors that can’t happen at inter-county level.
“I don't think it's really a mental kind of a thing. If you look at that free (Diarmuid Byrnes’ goal), it's a miss hit, Cleary goes to catch the ball in the square. Is that a mental thing? It should have been left to the goalie. It's a split second reaction.
“What was there, 20,000 people roughly in the stadium? Who thought Diarmaid Byrnes was going to miss hit that and drop it in? I'd say nobody. The ball's travelling, it takes maybe a second or two to get to the [square], so they have to decide that, and next thing it's in the net and you're like what happened?
“It's very hard to say it's a mental meltdown or anything like that. I don't think it is. You're playing the best team over the last many years... it just gave them a bit of confidence, because they were under pressure.
“There's no doubt about it, Limerick were under pressure just before that. Semi-final (All-Ireland) last year, you could say tactically, but that's a management thing. That's not a players' thing. Tactically, they got it completely wrong last year, playing a sweeper.
“The year before that, I'm not too sure. Kilkenny are good like. I don't think there... people will question it now because they haven't, but they're the only team really to beat Limerick in championship in the last few years as well - be it once - but they're running them really close the whole time.
“Other teams haven't got over the line against them. I'd question other teams really, before I'd question Clare, to be honest about it.”
Aaron Gillane of Limerick celebrates after scoring his side's third goal as Conor Cleary of Clare looks on during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 1 match between Clare and Limerick at Cusack Park in Ennis, Clare. Photo by John Sheridan/Sportsfile.
So, who’s going to win Sunday’s pivotal clash at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Canning believes home advantage will be an asset for Cork, but still fancies Clare to edge it.
“Yeah, Páirc Ui Chaoimh…Clare didn't want to go there for last year's Munster final,” he points out.
“Cork have speed, but Clare have speed as well. I think Clare have speed in their forwards, maybe not in their backs as much. Cusack Park probably suited them a bit better in Ennis, that's the only thing.
“Cork can turn it on if they want, but if it's a dogfight, usually... if they're let play, they'll play, but if it's brought down the last few minutes and it's a dogfight, I'm not too sure.
“I'm just basing it on the last few weeks, winning the league, it's more psychological than anything for Clare now how they deal with yesterday and how Cork deal with yesterday. I think it's a bigger shock for Cork to lose yesterday than it is for Claire in some in some respects.
“It's a very interesting one really. Will Tony Kelly start? Didn't have much of an influence yesterday but that's hard because after he came on, Limerick seemed to turn it around. Probably (fancy) Clare a little bit.”
