Anthony Daly: Mad, chaotic fun, with a Cork juggernaut coming up alongside

It reminded me of the old days.

It is some achievement for Alan Connolly to score a hat-trick but he has been doing that for fun throughout this season. 

I always felt he had the potential to be a special player but Connolly looks to be that player now. The big question over the next week is will he and his teammates get the chance to showcase that magic again in 2024?

It just sums up how mad, chaotic, and brilliant this Munster championship actually is.

This really was just like the old days, with Thurles bursting at the seams with Cork supporters, taking the place over like they owned Semple Stadium. A lot needs to happen yet but if results did go their way next Sunday and Cork somehow reached a Munster final, they’d pack the place out twice over.

When you’re talking about old Cork swagger and confidence, Connolly is the obvious starting point but Shane Kingston isn’t far behind him, with four points from his first four touches. That’s Roy of the Rovers stuff. 

Kingston would start on almost every other team in the country but this appears to be his role now on this side, which again underlines just how much depth and talent is in this squad.

It was Champagne stuff down the stretch as Cork did what they liked. Patrick Horgan got an exquisite goal and should have had a second, which was wrongly ruled out for a square ball. You wouldn’t blame referee Thomas Walsh at that stage for making the call because Tipp were already being embarrassed by the margin of Cork’s lead.

The momentum and confidence Cork now have behind them is incredible. It will just be devastating for them if they don’t qualify but, whatever happens, this team is certainly going in the right direction under Pat Ryan.

As TJ Ryan said in the Irish Examiner hurling podcast last week, Cork are a huge threat in this championship if they get through now.

Yet that was before they wiped the floor with Tipp. What must everyone else be thinking now?

How confident will Cork be if they do get through?

Look at the way some of their players have grown, and are growing as the summer progresses. Robert Downey was immense again. So was his brother Eoin. And remember, Ciarán Joyce has to come back into that team. 

But will he? Will Ryan bring Joyce back now for a preliminary All-Ireland quarter-final or a Munster final, considering that Cork seem to be onto something with a new defensive formation?

It’s a long road back for Tipp now but I know Liam Cahill long enough to know that Tipp will come out and play with pride and honour next week against Clare. Liam admitted as much in his post-match interviews. He, and the players, certainly won’t want the season to end on this note, or another one like it.

When I watched the Cork-Tipp match after the Clare-Waterford game, the most glaring difference between the two winning teams was how ruthless and efficient Cork were in comparison to Clare.

Maybe the three-week break was a factor but this was an awful flat performance. It’s also true that a bug ravaged the camp in recent weeks.

Apparently, if the match was on last Sunday, at least two, if not three, of the starting team would not have even been able to go to the match.

I fully accept all of that but, still, the casualness of some of Clare’s play was inexcusable in a game of this importance.

There is another edge to their game with their goalscoring, while they currently have the best forward in the game in Shane O’Donnell.

Connolly may be the man of the moment but O’Donnell is virtually unmarkable. He’s also the one forward in the country who is able to win possession when it almost seems physically impossible to do so.

In fairness to Iarlaith Daly, he did as much as he could but there is still only so much you can do against SO’D.

It was a funny game in Cusack Park. I thought after Clare went eight points ahead in the first half that they would control the match but they didn’t. In fairness to Davy Fitzgerald, his side played with great pride and organisation. If they bring that attitude to Limerick on Sunday, they’ll be hard to beat again.

Stephen Bennett put in some shift; his workrate was off the charts, even though he isn’t Waterford’s fittest player, and is someone who has been plagued with hip injuries. But his attitude summed up Waterford’s.

There was no end to Stephen. Or Waterford.

Clare were lucky that Adam Hogan did such a good job on Dessie Hutchinson inside. John Conlon had a fine game too. The rest of Clare’s defence coped well without being spectacular but Diarmuid Ryan is struggling for form.

At the other end of the field, Clare never really got motoring properly. At one stage we seemed to be stuck on 17 points (white flags) for an eternity late on. The goals saved Clare because 0-21 points is nowhere near enough in the Munster championship.

O’Donnell kept the ship afloat but, while he was a deserved man of the match, Peter Duggan was probably better than him. Duggy was outstanding again but his leadership has really shone through in the last three games.

Tony Kelly also made a difference. He may have got lucky with his goal but he still had the neck and the confidence to go for it when another player would have popped the chance over the bar. 

Tony also offers so much for others in how he opens up space for them. Ian Galvin did miss a glorious chance too just after he came on, which could have been a goal if he’d popped it inside, but Galvin sniped two great points afterwards.

Waterford will be disappointed not to have held out for the draw but I wasn’t surprised that they did as well as they showed. They are a far better team than a lot of people were giving them credit for, even after the Cork and Tipp matches.

Clare will be better for the experience but the attitude needs to improve. That won’t do next weekend and it certainly won’t do going forward, if Clare move forward. That’s all the more important again to realise, considering the age profile of this team and how the clock is ticking against so many of the key players.

Clare need to grasp the nettle now and drive on, because the chance for a Munster title is there if Clare really go after it. A win next weekend puts Clare back into a final and the chance to right the wrongs of the last two summers.

For now though, Clare shouldn’t get overly hung up on Tipp and the permutations — they should focus on themselves, go down to Thurles and make a statement like Cork did

I’m not talking about dancing on Tipperary’s grave, but Clare need to be ruthless now if they are to go to that next level. The last thing Clare need is to be sweating with five minutes to go like they were on Sunday.

For now, Cork will be the ones sweating for the week.