*Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
Championship is back, and not a weekend too soon! While there was some entertaining hurling on show over the past couple of months the league was mostly a lacklustre affair. It was difficult to gather too much insight into the competing counties this year as managers took different approaches. Tipperary and Clare’s approach was stark in contrast.
Liam Cahill is new to the job in Tipp and came into a set up which was at a low ebb from 2022. Tipperary had the distinction of losing to every county in Munster last year and it seemed as though an aging team would need new life to re-invigorate it.
Cahill was always going to be able to give an initial bounce to the group who reportedly trained extremely hard pre-Christmas and were operating on a different level of fitness to most other counties through the pre-season tournament and the league. Cahill introduced the running game which he utilised in Waterford and Tipperary’s superior level of fitness in the early games gave Tipperary some good results. In their clashes with Waterford and Limerick, Tipperary seemed to be operating at championship pace, as they put in impressive displays. The question now will arise as to whether they peaked too early, or if they can sustain that level throughout the championship? My own suspicion is that the former is true.
Clare, perhaps learning from last year, took an alternative approach. They used the pre-season tournament for fitness and had not played as many challenge games or done the same volume of work in late 2022/early 2023. Clare put in some huge performances in the Munster championship last year, but ran out of steam thereafter. It seems as though there has been a conscious effort made to peak a little later in 2023.
Clare had a middling league campaign. We were way off the pace against Limerick but put in a dominating performance against poor opposition in Wexford. The Galway game gave a good gauge of where we were at, as we started the game extremely well before flagging entirely to finish. As the lads get more strength in the legs and come into championship fitness it would be the hope that they could maintain that first half Galway performance for the full 70 minutes.
My biggest hope for the league this year would be to find a few more players and flesh out the squad a little. That was achieved through the addition of Adam Hogan, who could play a part this year in his debut season. The re-introduction of Seadna Morey and Aidan McCarthy are also huge additions as Clare will desperately need squad depth through this attritional Munster Championship.
The clash between Clare and Tipperary this weekend may be the biggest game of the year for both sides, but certainly for Tipp. A loss here for Clare would be a huge blow before heading to Limerick next weekend. It would be hard to galvanise the team for that trip so a win here is a must or it could send the season into spiral.
Likewise for Tipperary, they have put all their efforts into being at the peak of their powers as early in the season as they can. With an ageing team, it is unlikely to be sustained, so they will need wins early in the championship if they are to have any hope of progressing through Munster.
Clare have come up against this running style often before and have coped well with it in the past. By playing the Clare half forward line further back the field towards defence, Clare will be able to clog up space for Tipperary to run into. Limerick did this particularly well over the last couple of years when facing Liam Cahill teams and it lead to his players running down blind alleys while opening up space at the other end in their defence.
While we are no great fans of Tipperary in Clare, historically their stickwork and skill level can be a joy to watch at times. This team has seemed to move away from that and towards a more athletic and physically demanding team. I don’t think the age profile of the team or the personnel involved are suited to that and Clare should be able to deal with it.
From a Clare perspective, the area I would most like to see improvement on from last year would be the creation of chances for our inside forward line. Clare did not pose a goal threat for most of last year’s championship and this will need to be addressed. Worryingly against Galway in the league, we saw a reversion to aimless shooting from out the field with many shots drifting harmlessly wide or falling into the goalies hand who could then launch a counter attack. If we are to give the benefit of the doubt, we could say this may have been a result of fatigue which shouldn’t be a problem this weekend. However, it is certainly and area that the management will have to address and ensure it is not repeated.
With the weather improving and excitement returning for hurling, it is great to have a championship opener in Ennis against the old enemy to kick things off. There should be a great atmosphere for this game and the hope for Clare will be that they get off to a good start and get the crowd behind them early. Tipperary will be a huge test for them and it is a team I would rather be playing later in the year than now. However, with home advantage I think Clare should have enough to get off to a win in the first game of the year.
