Clare’s resilience can see them crowned All-Ireland champions – Murphy

*Clare’s Aidan McCarthy. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill

FOUR-TIME ALL-Ireland winner, Paul Murphy is tipping Clare to come out on top in Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC final.

Clare’s ability to grind out results despite playing poorly has impressed the former Kilkenny corner back when assessing the All-Ireland hurling final which sees Brian Lohan’s side face off with the Pat Ryan managed Cork.

Paul said he wasn’t surprised that Clare and Cork are the last two teams standing. “At the start of the year and halfway through the year everyone had Limerick picked out as the main team and whoever was going to be able to beat was going to get to the final but the question was always who was going to beat them and Cork did an immense job in beating them twice. The neutral would be happy with the two teams that are there, it is maybe not the final pairing we thought but I’m not surprised either because both teams have been really good”.

Looking ahead to the key areas on Sunday, the Danesfort man said, “everyone will say Shane O’Donnell, Tony Kelly and Patrick Horgan but for me the real outstanding figures have been Darragh Fitzgibbon and Shane O’Donnell, Darragh is the unsung hero, he has been immense and has less profile than Shane O’Donnell, he is getting on a lot of ball, he is making a lot of runs and typifies the Cork team.

“Shane O’Donnell has had a bigger impact for Clare when he has been full-forward, we know he can perform on the big day. Tony Kelly didn’t hurl a ball in anger for forty minutes in the semi-final but hit three points when it mattered on the home straight, he has enough hurling in him over the last few weeks and I think we’ll see a big performance from him. The subs will also have a big role for both teams, particularly Shane Kingston for Cork and Ryan Taylor for Clare, there are a lot of sub-plots going on and how each team will get at each other is the real beauty of it,” he added.

How Clare deal with Cork in the middle third will have a big bearing on the outcome, the four-time All Star maintained. “We all talk of the middle third in the modern game, Cork have shown their half forward are coming out to meet the ball in the half-back line which was something Limerick didn’t get to grips with, Diarmuid Ryan and David McInerney are not afraid to attack the ball and play in that area, it is really important for them to put tabs on Seamus Harnedy and Declan Dalton as well as stemming the influence of Darragh Fitzgibbon. I think we’ll see Tony Kelly playing around midfield with Clare having two in the full-forward line, they will try get him on the ball heading towards the midfield area and that will be crucial, Clare will have three midfield whereas Cork are likely to keep two with Fitzgibbon going forward and Joyce sitting”.

Although he thinks Cork can produce a “huge performance,” his view is that Clare will be crowned All-Ireland champions. “My gut is telling me Clare at the moment but you couldn’t but be impressed with Cork, they are capable of a huge performance but Clare have shown their ability to grind out results, they’d have taken your arm off following the disappointing Munster final if you told them they could win the Al-Ireland and what they produced in the second half against Kilkenny was really impressive”.

On Friday evening, Murphy will be offering further analysis ahead of the final alongside 2013 All-Ireland winner Podge Collins, fellow Kilkenny great Tommy Walsh and ex Cork goalkeeper Anthony Nash at Off The Ball’s hurling final preview which takes place at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin beginning at 19:30.