Cork v Clare: Three reasons the Rebels fell to a second defeat in a row
Clare's David Reidy is tackled by Cork's Eoin Dowmey in the Munster senior hurling championship round 2 at SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
For the second week in a row, Cork lost a member of their full-back line during the second half, with captain Seán O’Donoghue given his marching orders for a second booking, taking out Shane O’Donnell close to goal.
While Cork weren’t over-run by Clare when it was 14 against 15, the numerical disparity did make it tough to hold the Banner at bay and to find scores at the other end as the clock ran down.
At seven points up to a Tony Kelly-less Clare, the hope would have been that Cork would have been able to build on such a lead or at least hold Clare at arm’s length.
However, the fact that Clare’s first goal, from Mark Rodgers, came so soon after that, helped to halve the deficit and they added a pair of points through David Reidy immediately after that.
They had drawn level by the time of the second off and added 2-6 after that.
As impressive as Clare might have been in an attacking sense, the bare facts are that Cork have conceded 2-25 and 3-26 in successive matches.
They are big amounts to outscore, a task that proved beyond them in the end, but speaking afterwards, Pat Ryan felt that scoring efficiency stood to Clare in contrast to the way his team didn’t maximise scoring opportunities.
Given that the next opponents Limerick are a side that have won five All-Irelands through building prodigious tallies, it’s something that must be rectified.a
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