Clara vs. Portlaoise - Leinster club semi final 22/11/2009

[Offaly2010]

Well lads was at the game today and the scoreline does not tell the full story.

Portlaoise got off to the better start and went ahead but Clara came right back and went 0-2 - 0-1 ahead. In a very scrappy first half,in terrible foggy conditions,Portlaoise turned it around to go in 0-3 0-2 up at half time,but it could have been such a different story.

Thomas Deehan was put clean through and was took clean out of the game by Michael Nolan in the Portlaoise goals. Referee Joe Curley,who had a bad game, awarded a penalty and a yellow card to Michael Nolan when it have easilly been a red. John Reynolds stepped up,and drove the penalty wide. If Clara had of scored that penalty their heads would have been up and you never know what could have happened then.

Half-Time: Portlaoise 0-3 - 0-2 Clara.

Again,Portlaoise got off to the better start and,again,another major talking point. One of the Portlaoise forwards,didn't see who it was,was put through. He was brought down,and Joe Curley awarded the penalty. Corner forward Paul Cahillane stepped up and slotted the penalty past Kevin Meehan. Clara got going again and went straight back down and got a point through Stephen Deehan,but it all went downhill from there. That proved to be Clara's last score of the game,but by no means was that Stephen Deehan's last involement in the game.

Portlaoise went down again and tagged on another few points. Clara actually defended well,but when they got the ball in defence,they just couldn't get rid of it. Towards the end of the game,a bit of a scrap broke out in front of the stand,and Stephen Deehan who had already been bokked,got involved. I didn't actually see what he done,but he was given his marching orders,and he wasn't happy about it!! He pushed referee Joe Curley as he was walkin off and tha will surely prove costly for him.

One positive from the 2nd half was to see Joe Quinn back in action.

Full-Time: Portlaoise 1-9 - 0-3

[offaly09]

The Clara penalty was as clear as they come but would think a straight red is more so a soccer rule. Dont think the goal scoring opportunity or last man tackle comes into GAA?

[Offaly2010]

I'm not sure but I mean on another day with another referee it could have been a red card.

[black and red exile]

I could be very wrong but I thought it was Cahir Healy to took Tommo out for the penalty and by god the fog was unbelievable, at one stage about half way through the first half im sure there was a fear among everyone that the referee was going to call a halt again, I was on the terrace just below the tv gantry and at times it was impossible to see what was taking place on the far side of the pitch, Christ could ye imagine trying to play hurling in that. IMPOSSIBLE.

[Offaly2010]

I also thought it was Cahir Healy because he was marking Tommo all day.

Another big factor today was Clara played virtually no half forward line because the wanted to get the ball into Shaper and Tommo as quick as possible but they struggled to do that because Portlaoise copped on to that straight away and they nearly always had an extra defender there to help Cahir Healy and whoever was marking Shaper.

[The Magpie]

I think O2010 makes some good points. The most important of those is that there was never a 9 point difference between these two teams.

Clara's best football and better chances undoubtedly came in a first-half that they clearly dominated. The half time score, with Portlaoise leading by 0-3 to 0-2 didn't in any way reflect the run-of-play in that first half-hour. Clara won the middle of the field, defended well and looked lively up front. The missed penalty was definitely a big moment. It would've put Clara ahead by 1-2 0-1 in a game where scores were proving very difficult to come by. About 7 minutes later, Thomas Deehan again had the freedom of the Park, but when heading towards the posts, with John Reynolds unmarked to his left and in an excellent position, he elected to shoot for goals with his left foot. Like the penalty (taken by John Reynolds), the ball flew wide, failing again to work the Portlaoise goal-keeper. A couple of other decent point-scoring chances were wasted and Clara were to go in a point down at the break.

I thought to myself at half-time, having only seen 5 points in 30 minutes of football, that the first team to rattle the twine today would push on to win this game - and so they did. Portlaoise were awarded what seemed to be quite a soft penalty (as they were last week) and Cahilane proved he wasn't going to waste another opportunity from the spot, firing into the left-hand side of Kevin Meehans goal.

For the first time, there was real daylight between the teams. Although Clara responded well, Portlaoise tagged on a couple of scores. With about 15 minutes to play, in what had been a very competitive game, the score was Portlaoise 1-5 Clara 0-3. To be honest, it was at this point that Portlaoise started to play their best football of the match, winning a lot of ball around the middle of the field and delivering well into a forward line that started to move around very well. In this last period of the match, they kicked four good points as Clara battled gamely to break past the Portlaoise 40.

In summarising, it's hard to argue that Portlaoise weren't the better team - at least they clearly were in the last 15 minutes. However, it's difficult to ignore the contribution of the referee in this encounter. I'd be interested to hear others opinions on this issue, as I haven't had a chance to discuss this with many people. From my (undoubtedly biased) perspective, the referee's decisions were favoring Portlaoise. A number of incidents occured in the first half that were either missed or ignored - some big hits after the ball was played and some tackling that, well, just wasn't tackling.

To be fair to Portlaoise, I also saw two clear pushes by Clara backs when Portlaoise players were kicking for points in the first-half - both were very clear, but both were ignored. So, the referee was bad all round.

Anyway, from here it only remains for me to wish Portlaoise the best of luck in the remainder of the competition. They're not the team I expected them to be, so I feel there is a little bit of a myth there. However, they are a good outfit and if they see a little bit of daylight it does seem to loosen them up into playing a good brand of football - I can see how they put up big scores in previous games. If they stretch to a 4-5 point lead against Garrycastle, I'd expect them to disappear out of sight - even in Winter conditions.

And to Clara. A great year and an enjoyable journey that had to end somewhere. God knows, it could've ended in O'Connor Park 6-7 weeks ago and could very well have ended in Newbridge two weeks later. Strangely enough, it ended on an afternoon when Clara welcomed Joe Quinn back onto a football pitch - something that was utterly unimaginable a short time ago. So football, much as defeat hurt today, was put back into it's place in the grand scheme of things.

We'll look forward to next year where the tougher assignment of retaining the Dowling Cup awaits.

[joe bloggs]

The Clara penalty was as clear as they come but would think a straight red is more so a soccer rule. Dont think the goal scoring opportunity or last man tackle comes into GAA?

Spot on there. There is no distinction given as to where a foul is commited. If it deserves a yellow or a red, only depends on the type of foul or frequency of.

[Phoenix]

I thought the goalie's tackle clearly merited a Red Card. Same as Stephen Cluxton on Finbarr Cullen. People who say that this is a soccer rule are missing the point that both the Portlaoise goalie and Cluxton took out an opposing player in a manner which should result in a Red Card no matter where on the pitch the foul takes place.