Cork 1-20 Clare 0-20
A dozen wides and twice as many frees conceded gave Clare plenty to think about after Cork won their opening league game of 2019 before a crowd of 4,737 at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday night.
Ace marksman Patrick Horgan almost single-handedly ushered Cork into the winners’ enclosure with an exhibition of free-taking, 15 in total from his 16-point contribution.
In contrast, 16 Clare points came from play, captain Tony Kelly leading the way with a half-dozen and John Conlon, Ian Galvin and Diarmuid Ryan following.
But, it was the Banner’s over-zealous tackling which was uppermost in the mind of joint-manager Donal Moloney.
“That was probably one of the main headlines and it’s something we’re going to have to look at.
“It hadn’t been a problem all last summer, but it’s a problem at the moment. We’ve got to go back and analyse why that’s happening. And fix it,” he said.
It was a tight game, which lacked bite even though the sides were level 13 times, including on 10 occasions in a tit-for-tat second-half with Cork only edging in front for the first time after 38 minutes.
“Those frees were keeping Cork in the game. Any time we got a point ahead they got an equaliser, and in addition they probably got a bigger impact off the bench than we did in the last few minutes.
“We got a good return from our full-forward line. It’s good to see John Conlon coming back to form, and Tony Kelly was in good form as well. We were pleased with a lot of the performances.”
Cork needed a lucky goal from captain Seamus Harnedy to be level at 1-6 to 0-9 at the break though manager John Meyler was delighted with his impact subs.
“I’m delighted with the performance. Our game plan wasn’t great in the first half, but we got it right in the second-half. The subs coming in, Alan Cadogan, Darren Browne and Luke Meade, made a difference.
“I certainly thought we got value off the bench. I was delighted with that,” he said.
Cork outscored Clare 0-4 to 0-1 coming down the stretch with Horgan converting three frees and then setting up Tim O’Mahony to move a couple clear in injury-time.
It was entirely fitting that Horgan should close out the game with the last of frees in the 73rd minute.
CORK; A Nash; S O'Donoghue, D Cahalane, S McDonnell; C Joyce, T O'Mahony (0-1), D Griffin; C Murphy, B Cooper; D Kearney (0-1), S Harnedy (capt; 1-1), C Lehane; J Coughlan (0-1), A Walsh, P Horgan (0-16, 15 frees).
Subs: L Meade for Murphy (48 mins), A Cadogan for Coughlan and D Brown for Griffin (both 60).
CLARE: K Hogan; R Hayes, D McInerney, J Browne; C Malone, C Cleary, D Fitzgerald; S Golden, C Galvin; P Duggan (0-4, three frees, one 65), T Kelly (capt; 0-6), D Ryan (0-2); I Galvin (0-4), J Conlon (0-4), P Collins.
Subs: R Taylor for Golden (52 mins), C Guilfoyle for Duggan (60), M O'Neill for Collins (64), A McCarthy for Fitzgerald (65).
Referee: J Ryan (Tipperary).
