Lohan: I don’t see the Clare going with a sweeper from the throw-in
Corner-back on Clare’s all-conquering teams in 1995 and 1997, but now resident across the border in Oranmore, home of Galway centre-back Gearóid McInerney, Frank Lohan is well-placed to tackle the main questions heading into tomorrow’s All-Ireland semi-final replay between the two counties.
I wouldn’t be privy to what is going on in the Galway camp, but from what I’ve heard, I don’t think Gearóid will be ready for Sunday.
Daithí Burke and Gearóid at full- and centre-back have been phenomenal for Galway last year and this year. Filling Gearóid’s boots will be difficult.
Paul Killeen came in for him in Croke Park and this is one option. Another is bringing in Seán Loftus, used as a sub last weekend, at wing-back and moving either Pádraic Mannion or Aidan Harte into centre-back.
They might also look at Joseph Cooney coming back centre-back and rejigging it that way. They have a good few options. It is a great opportunity for whoever comes in to step up the next day.
Galway have their set plan where the centre-back stays deep. The two wing-forwards play very deep an awful lot of the time and, in the process, get through a huge amount of work. And that works for Galway, by and large.
From Clare’s perspective, they’ll just be trying to get Tony on the ball as much as possible. He can do great damage when they do that.
For the Galway centre-back to man-mark Tony, even if Tony drifts out the field, that would be a big change from what Galway normally do and so I don’t see them doing that.
But they’ll have a plan for Tony, no question.
I don’t see them going with a sweeper straight from the throw-in. Management will wait to see how the game is unfolding.
Galway’s two wing-forwards almost play as half-backs. Galway will more than likely do the same again. Clare will look to counteract that.
Redeploying Colm into the sweeper position is a great option to have and it worked really well the last day. Colm was so intelligent in how he played — and read — the game.
His distribution of ball was excellent. There will be some sort of surprise from both sides.
The bench is going really well, which is always encouraging. A lot of guys are showing great form.
Everyone is talking about Limerick and the return they got from their bench on Sunday. You really need a panel with depth and Clare have that.
David Fitzgerald is playing really well. To be honest, I wouldn’t like to see Aron Shanagher start.
He is just back from injury but did have a huge impact when he came on and is really, really talented. I would much rather see him make an impact from the bench.
Ian Galvin has made a significant contribution everytime he has appeared. I am a huge fan of Conor McGrath.
Things didn’t go great for him the last day, but whether you start him and try and get him into the game straight away, I’m not sure.
For Jason McCarthy, a young lad, to come on and have the composure to get up the field and nail the levelling point is fantastic to see.
The bench went well for Clare, but Galway, we should not forget, also have a strong bench.
The first 20 minutes for Clare weren’t good. We were under an awful lot of pressure. Galway looked like they were going to win comfortably.
Clare played really, really well after that. During extra-time, I thought Clare were going to win it.
Galway did brilliantly to get themselves into a position where they were leading coming down the stretch and it was Clare who had to get the draw.
An awful lot of Galway’s marquee players had gone off the field at that stage so credit to them for getting themselves into that position.
Look, everything is on the line for Sunday. Both sets of players know that. It should be a cracking game.
Thurles will be packed and there will be a great atmosphere. But certainly, for Clare, we have had a bit more success in Croke Park.
Thurles hasn’t always been that kind to Clare teams.
Also, Thurles can be tricky to get in and out of and Croke Park’s bigger capacity would have allowed more people to see the game.
