'Massive' few weeks in store for Clare hurlers

NATIONAL HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION 1A, RD5

Clare 2-18 Cork 2-18

Venue: Cusack Park, Ennis

Compiled by Seamus Hayes

Story Of The Game

CLARE

Frees For: 12 (5/7)

Wides: 10 (6/4)

Scores from play: 2-9

Spread of scorers: 7

Top scorer: Aidan McCarthy (1-11 0-9f)

Bookings: David Reidy (44) Red Card: David Fitzgerald (61)

Own puckouts won: 26 out of 35 (74%)

CORK

Frees For: 14 (4/10)

Wides: 14 (8/6)

Scores from play: 2-12

Spread of scorers: 8

Top scorer: Seamus Harnedy

1-3

Bookings: Ethan Twomey (40), Conor Cahalane (44)

Own puckouts won: 24 out of 30 (80%)

REFEREE: Thomas Walsh (Waterford)

MANAGER COMMENT “

Brian Lohan, Clare:

“Whatever about the result we definitely needed an improvement in performance from the Galway game. I am happy enough with how the lads played. It’s crucial to get guys back, the experienced guys we have and it was a good match to come back into.

“There is a huge amount of focus on the last result in the league. After the Galway result we would have been very disappointed with the league but after that performance today we are happy enough but Cork were missing a good few.

“I didn’t see a huge amount in it. You have to be very cute when playing against inter county players.

“We have a massive couple of weeks now. We hope to be picking from the full panel”.

MANAGER COMMENT “

Pat Ryan, Cork:

“We are delighted with the effort the lads are putting in. There are lots of games where the lads could have played a lot better. I’m absolutely thrilled with the first half performance there, the way we played. There are obviously areas we need to work on but we were against a very good Clare team.

“There are a lot of teams throwing it (the sliotar) and there is no doubt about that. I would say go with a handpass of the hurley and that would sort this fairly quickly, that’s a fantastic skill. If you bring in the handpass off the hurley, fellas can’t be grabbing your spare hand because you are trying to throw it up on the hurley and that would be a free straight away. It would clean it up an awful lot. It would also bring in another element that is a very skillful part of the game that we don’t use enough. It would also make the referees’ job easier. The game is about striking the ball, it’s not about handpassing it and running up and down the field. That’s a different game. The game is about striking the ball and that is unique to our sport. I would be encouraging us to strike the ball as much as we could”.