Tactically-strangled League final not pleasing on the eye

Inside Track with John McIntyre

THE last thing the Clare and Waterford hurling camps probably wanted was an inconclusive outcome to last Sunday’s slow-burning and tactically strangled National League final in Thurles. Replays can be an inconvenience in normal circumstances, but when the two teams are due to meet in a big championship clash in less than a month’s time, they are even more distracting and disruptive.

Naturally, the rival managers, Clare’s Davy Fitzgerald and Waterford’s Derek McGrath, tried afterwards to put a positive spin on the stalemate outcome, but deep down they will be concerned that a league final replay will not only be sapping some energy that will be needed for the championship, but also over the knock-on impact on domestic fixtures.

Almost 20,000 turned up at Semple Stadium to witness the first ever league final between the counties and though there was no shortage of commitment or energy, you still got the sense that both teams were trying to tease out each other’s systems. The result was a largely unexciting opening half as crowded defence ensured scores from play were few and far between.

Granted, the spectacle wasn’t helped by some wild shooting from out the field, particularly from Waterford who amassed 19 wides in normal time. Once again, Conor Gleeson’s shoot-on-sight policy didn’t serve his team well, while they also missed a heap of frees. Clare, at least, were initially more frugal, but they had also become victims of the wides ‘bug’ by the finish.

With both teams setting up with sweepers, open and fluid hurling was an exception to the rule. It also forced rival players into shooting from distance due to the lack of options inside, resulting in so much hard won possession being frittered away. In the circumstances, you’d just wish that both teams would have had a cut at each other – swapping adventure for caution – but the modern game has become focussed on defensive securitry and restricting goal-scoring opportunities.

Mind you, there were still a few of those on Sunday, but Waterford’s Stephen O’Keeffe and Clare Patrick Kelly’s were both in top form. In a tight affair, there was never more than three points between the teams with Conor McGrath and Shane Bennett the two outstanding players on the field. The fleet-footed McGrath also pointed a nerveless free from the sideline to force extra time and has rediscovered the swagger of the team’s all-conquering 2013 campaign.

Yet, in some ways, Bennett’s contribution was even more laudable. After talking over the free-taking duties from a wayward Patrick Curran, the Waterford centre forward should have been rattled by failing to hit the target from three placed balls at the start of the second half, but he didn’t go hiding and managed to pick off a couple of terrific points when Waterford badly needed them. Bennett has really progressed throughout the league and is now of the team’s biggest influences.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.