Munster champions to prove major test for improving Dublin

ALL-IRELAND MHC SEMI-FINAL Clare v Dublin:WHATEVER ABOUT the daunting prospect for the winners of playing Kilkenny in the final, this at least presents the exciting prospect of one close, competitive All-Ireland semi-final – unlike the one-way traffic Kilkenny generated against Galway last Sunday.

Kilkenny looked strong in all sectors as they handed Mattie Murphy’s Galway an 19-point hammering at headquarters last week.

Both these teams come to Croke Park with an interesting and mixed run of matches already behind them.

Clare were beaten by Waterford in the first round of the Munster championship, by nine points, but came back through the qualifier round, beating a fancied Tipperary outfit to earn another outing against Waterford in the final.

And second time around, against the odds, they recorded an impressive 1-16 to 1-11 victory.

It was Clare’s first Munster minor title since 1989, and the team that spawned a generation of history makers.

Clare captain and full back Paul Flanagan of Ballyea is just one of their many standout players, which includes fellow defenders Seadna Morey and Enda Boyce, midfielder Tony Kelly, and forwards David O’Halloran, Niall Arthur and Daire Keane – those three between them hitting 1-12 in the Munster final.

Dublin have also played five matches so far, losing heavily to Kilkenny in the first round, 2-13 to 0-9, but recovering with wins over Carlow and Wexford, before losing again to Kilkenny in the Leinster final – this time 1-20 to 0-10.

However, once again they responded well to defeat Antrim quite comprehensively in the quarter-final at Crossmaglen – Whitehall-Colmcille’s Cormac Costello scoring two goals.

There is a feeling that manager John Murphy has now found his best 15 players.

In fact Dublin are unchanged from the Antrim game, with capable wing back Cillian Moffat recovered from the ankle injury to line out alongside team captain Danny Sutcliffe and Ben Quinn.

Ciarán Kilkenny moves to centre forward, Emmet Ó Conghaile moves to full forward, and Glenn Whelan reverts to the wing.

Given their improved scoring rate against Antrim (3-13) and the familiarity with Croke Park the slight advantage would appear to be with Dublin although the bookmakers still understandably make Clare the strong favourites following their breakthrough success in Munster.

DUBLIN: E Dillon; C Murphy, E McKenna, S McClelland; C Moffat, D Sutcliffe, B Quinn; D Kelly, B McCarthy; G Whelan, C Kilkenny, F Heavey; C Costello, E Ó Conghaile, D Flood.

CLARE: R Taaffe; H Vaughan, P Flanagan, S Morey; E Boyce, K Lynch, S O'Halloran; C Galvin, T Kelly; C Malone, P Collins, J Shanahan, D O'Halloran, N Arthur, D Keane.

Referee: Eamonn Hassen(Derry).