Our inability to see out games is now a real problem. There's no way that we should have drawn that game. Doing it last week was disappointing, but we were only up by a point so there was a good chance that would happen. But to be winning by four with about two minutes left and to draw is criminal. I don't know how we go about fixing it, other than winning a couple of tight games, which we can't seem to do at the moment.
I thought that overall we were the better side, despite playing for a large part of the game with 14 men. We weren't clinical enough again, missing some easy enough scores and Vernon having a great goal chance saved. Clarke was rightly sent off and throwing his elbow back like that was stupid. He caught square in the face and could have no complaints. He knew as soon as he did it that it was bad and you could see by his protests that he was trying to convince the ref that he hadn't hit him in the way that he did. It had a major say in the game. While his marker was niggling at him, that's the treatment all top forwards get.
The slippy conditions really made it difficult for the players who were losing their footing and balls kept spilling from their hands. But we put together some good passages of play and worked some very impressive scores. I thought that Mackin had a good game. As did Aaron McKay until his stupid second yellow card. I thought Sheridan and Grimley did very well in containing the Clare midfield, especially Gary Brennan who is some athlete. That shoulder that Sheridan hit him with was great to see. Jemar Hall had a good game. He was busy, made some good runs, linked up well and scored some good points. He's very light which sometimes causes him problems when coming into contact. Rian O'Neill had an impressive second half. All the best to the Clare player who was injured. I didn't see what happened to him, but those screams were chilling and I hope he makes a full recovery.
There are positives that can be taken out of the game and last week's one too. We're more than able to compete in this league but what should have been the main positives, we've let slip . We should have four points yet only have two. To take the next step up, we have to win these types of games.
Are players just a team of bottlers? Some them clearly not good enough too!!
Which players do you think aren't good enough?