Sunday, September 8
GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final 2013
Clare v Cork, Croke Park, 3.30pm
So, after what has been described as the most exciting and unpredicatable hurling championship in many a year, which produced 28 games in total, which simmered and then bubbled over into something magical, it has finally been reduced to this - the All-Ireland final between somewhat surprise packets Cork and Clare at Croke Park on Sunday.
It would have taken a very brave man, or woman, to have predicted that these two teams, who met in the Allianz Hurling League Relegation play-off back in April, would face each other once again five months later with the Liam MacCarthy Cup on the line? And who would have predicted more so that the Black & Amber of the Cats or the Blue & Gold of Tipperary would be conspicuous by their absence on All-Ireland final day?
It’s been that kind of summer. A summer of the tactical tempering of Davy Fitzgerald and the man management prowess of Jimmy Barry Murphy coming to the fore once more. These new strategies have challenged the notion that breaking the stranglehold was not just about outmuscling Kilkenny, Tipperary and Galway but more about out-thinking them, and more importantly about outplaying them.
When Jimmy Barry- Murphy’s running game meets Davy Fitzgerald’s superbly conceived passing game, something will have to give in what is the first all-Munster All-Ireland final since 1997, when Clare beat Tipperary. Clare have been back to an All-Ireland final since, in 2002, when beaten by Kilkenny, but under the expert tutolege of Fitzgerald, and with possibly the finest collection of young hurlers in the country available to him, there is a real sense that the good times are back in the Banner County. Cork, too, have been away from the biggest day in the hurling year since their 2006 final defeat to Kilkenny. Only Tom Kenny, Brian Murphy and Shane O’Neill are still involved in the Cork set-up from that day, adding to the sense of freshness in this final.
While Clare prevailed by 0-31 to 2-23 in a cracking relegation play-off back in April, condemning Cork to the second tier of the Allianz League, when they met again in the Munster Championship over two months later, it was Cork who gained revenge with a 0-23 to 0-15 victory at the Gaelic Grounds. Key to Cork’s success that day was the man-marking job defender Brian Murphy did on the influential Tony Kelly. After a dramatic return from injury will he be able to repeat that feat on Sunday? Tom Kenny is the player to make way at wing-back in the only change to the Cork team from the one that faced Dublin in the semi-final. Clare should stick to the same team that overcame Limerick with somewhat ease in their semi-final.
In what should be an intriguing tactical battle Cork will probably do a mirror image of Clare. They should have a sweeper deployed in their back line because Clare usually deploy a five man forward line utilising the expansive ground of Croke Park. Both sides have speedy players in the forward line but the key to the game may be what happens around the middle of the pitch as that will determine how effective the spare man will be in defence and dictate the time they will have to deliver the ball in to the spaces in the forward line.
Cork have the tradition of defeating the Bannerman in championship matches and in JBM they have a man who has the experiemce of leading a young Rebel team to All Ireland glory already back in 1999. However, with Davy Fitxgerald showing an expert knowledge of the tactical side of the game, and no doubt he will have a new trick up his sleeve for this game, the Bannermen may just have learned enough from thier defeat to the Rebels already and may just have the momentum coming in to this game to silence Biddy Early once more and carry them to victory.
Verdict: Clare Odds: 6/5
No comments:
Post a Comment