Munster SHC, Round 2: Clare 1-24 Limerick 2-20
And breathe. A night of magnificent frenzy in front of 30,460 in Limerick ended with Clare giving their summer the kiss of life. Everyone’s summer, come to that. Limerick lost their first game since the 2019 All-Ireland semi-final and saw Seán Finn and Cian Lynch hobble off just to rub it in.
The temptation, of course, is to adopt the pose of an old bore and assert that nothing was won on Saturday night. That this was two points on the board, nothing more. But if you were there, you knew this was no mere accounting exercise. Limerick had gone 16 matches unbeaten in championship. Everyone presumed the only mystery in 2023 would be around who came second. Now it feels like anything is possible.
For Clare, the strain of their DNA that would refuse to bend the knee to Limerick in any circumstance came to the fore here. They were behind for just six minutes all night - the bit towards the end of the first half after Seamus Flanagan’s contentious goal. But even that was dealt with briskly after the break, Shane O’Donnell levelling matters with Clare’s first attack.
“It had to be relentless,” said Brian Lohan afterwards. “We needed to get back into this competition. If we didn’t win tonight we were close to being out of the competition. I know Cork came back from it last year, but two defeats would have been a real hammer blow, especially with the work the lads have done all year.
Shefflin trying to devise a way for Galway to halt Limerick juggernaut
Malachy Clerkin: The GAA should make more of St Patrick’s Day - and more of its intercounty stars
Munster CEO defends broadcast coverage of province’s hurling championship
Sports Review 2023: Murphy’s incredible reflex save showed hurling’s facility for the impossible
“Also on top of not being able to beat them last year, it was crucial. They have so many weapons. They’re able to get it done. They’re able to get it won. We were there three times against them last year and we couldn’t do it. We were hoping that if we were there this year that we would.”
And they did. For four years now, we’ve known that you have to win two games to beat Limerick – the first win is staying alive long enough to have a chance in the closing minutes. The second is actually going and doing it.
Clare did the first part to the nth degree. They hooked, they blocked, they gummed up the works. Tom Morrissey was the one Limerick player able to find room in the jungle around the middle third but if he didn’t get a clean strike on his first step, he got a bearhug on his second. Clare made the Limerick players the things the Limerick players usually make everyone else – hurried, unsteady, unsure.
As John Kiely’s side forced matters, Clare were taking their chances at the other end. Tony Kelly, Aidan McCarthy and MArk Rodgers all found their range, David McInerney loped forward for a rare score. They were 0-10 to 0-8 ahead on 24 minutes and there but for the grace of Nickie Quaid’s inside leg, they’d have been further ahead. Kelly had stolen in behind the Limerick cover but his shot deflected off Quaid and onto the butt of the post. Limerick got a life.
And how they used it. Flanagan opened the goalscoring for the night soon after, tapping into an empty net after Cathal O’Neill had skated in from the left sideline. It looked for all the world like a square ball but repeated television replays left enough doubt for you to give the umpires a pass. After a long discussion with referee Colm Lyons, they raised the green flag and Limerick were ahead for the first time in the game, 1-8 to 0-10.
Usually, when Limerick get a hold of you, they squeeze until you scream for mercy. That wasn’t the case here. Gillane twisted the knife with a free soon after to put the champions two ahead but Clare weren’t perturbed. Ryan Taylor whipped a point after brilliant work by Mark Rodgers, Peter Duggan drew another fine save out of Quaid in the Limerick goal. Half-time score: Limerick 1-10 Clare 0-12 (and not one bit afraid).
They were in front again directly after the restart. And when Duggan robbed Will O’Donoghue on the Clare 20-metre line soon after, he finally beat Quaid to grab a Clare goal. It was the least cleanly-struck of Clare’s shots on the night, which is maybe why the Limerick keeper missed his save. Who’d be a goalie?
Clare were sizzling now, 1-14 to 1-10 to the good. But though Limerick weren’t in the sort of rhythm we’ve come to expect, they still know how to swing a punch. They wiped out Clare’s lead in the space of four minutes, a rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat of points from Cathal O’Neill, Gillane (twice) and Byrnes (a free).
Kelly stopped the bleeding with a brilliant score off his stick but nobody was in any doubt now – this was turning into an epic. Score for score, hit for hit, the two sides turned for home. With five to go, they were level on 1-20 apiece. Quaid intervened again, with his best save of the night - this one from Aron Shanagher. But Clare could reach out and touch it now. Kelly nailed one from the gods, Shanagher got his paw up and grabbed two on the spin. Even a late Flanagan goal couldn’t deny them.
“It is a very downbeat dressing room inside there,” said Kiely afterwards. “It has been a while since we lost a championship match. Still tastes the same since as it did the last time. It is not good. And it will take us a few days to digest it.”
Days, weeks, months. The championship suddenly has plenty of road left in it yet.
Limerick: Nickie Quaid; Seán Finn, Dan Morrissey, Barry Nash; Diarmaid Byrnes (0-5, 0-5 free), Declan Hannon, Kyle Hayes; Darragh O’Donovan, Will O’Donoghue; Cathal O’Neill (0-2), Cian Lynch (0-1), Tom Morrissey (0-4, 0-1 free); Aaron Gillane (0-7, 0-6 frees), Seamus Flanagan (2-1), Peter Casey. Subs: Mike Casey for Finn, half-time; Gearoid Hegarty for Lynch, 38 mins; David Reidy for O’Donovan, 45 mins; Graeme Mulcahy for P Casey, 64 mins; Conor Boylan for O’Neill, 70 mins.
Clare: Eibhear Quilligan; Adam Hogan, Conor Cleary, Rory Hayes; Diarmuid Ryan, David McInerney (0-1); David Fitzgerald (0-3), Cathal Malone; Peter Duggan (1-1), Tony Kelly (0-4), Aidan McCarthy (0-7, 0-4 frees, 0-65); Ryan Taylor (0-1), Shane O’Donnell (0-2), Mark Rodgers (0-3, 0-1 sideline). Subs: Paul Flanagan for Hogan (blood) 35-36 mins; Arron Shanagher (0-2) for Duggan, 60 mins; Shane Meehan for Rodgers, 64 mins; Flanagan for Hogan, 73 mins.
Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork).
