Kinnerk’s Limerick role adds edge to Clare clash

Kinnerk was a huge factor in the success of Clare hurling this decade but, in an indirect way, so was Alan Cunningham. After the Clare minors were beaten by Waterford in the 2009, Gerry O’Connor, joint manager of that team with Donal Moloney, asked Cunningham to coach the team in 2010. Cunningham, who coached the Clare seniors for five years between 2004 and 2009, under both Anthony Daly and Mike McNamara, declined. O’Connor didn’t want to leave it just there. “Well,” he said to Cunningham, “I’m not getting off the phone until you give me another name.”

Kinnerk was instrumental in Clare’s resurgence over the past decade

CATHAL NOONAN/INPHO

Cunningham spoke about Kinnerk, who taught with him and Forde in St Caimin’s. Kinnerk and Cunningham were involved with the St Caimin’s side which reached the Dr Harty Cup final in 2009, while he had also trained the Sixmilebridge under-21s to success alongside Sean Stack.

Kinnerk came on board. The first three nights at training there were constant rows. O’Connor and Moloney wanted to play a certain game but Kinnerk wanted to get them strong and fit. Once he did, that minor team began to change Clare’s traditional style of hurling, largely to accommodate the players they had, some of which were light, pacy, classy ball-players.

Moloney, O’Connor and Kinnerk won two Munster minor titles and three All-Ireland under-21s. When Davy Fitzgerald took over in 2012, he recruited Kinnerk because they shared the same philosophy.

Kinnerk was only 24 when he got involved with Clare in 2010. He effectively grew up with that group, through minor to under-21 to senior, and they grew up with him. As they evolved as players, he evolved as a coach. He had a clearly defined philosophy but it was never going to be easy to transplant that culture immediately into another county, with a new set of players.

That has been, and will be, the challenge for him in Limerick but Kinnerk’s involvement adds an extra layer of intrigue to tomorrow’s encounter.

Meath add finishing touch
On the day Meath and Cork drew in the league in March, Meath selector Gerry McEntee got into a car and went straight home afterwards. McEntee was raging Meath didn’t win the game. Meath were nine points down before storming back to go ahead, only for Cork to equalise with almost the last kick. In the circumstances, it was a decent result for Meath but McEntee was annoyed Meath didn’t finish the job.

His reaction reflected the attitude shift in this team because for the last number of years, Meath had made a habit of fading out of games. Ever since they hammered Carlow in 2014, Meath have lost the second half of their eight championship matches. They didn’t lose all those games but the new management wanted to make Meath more durable and resilient. Losing second halves was still a habit earlier in the league but, as the campaign developed, Meath began to emphatically win second halves. In their last two league games against Fermanagh and Clare, they outscored their opponents in the second halves by an aggregate of 3-19 to 1-10.

Meath manager, Andy McEntee, wants his team working harder than anyone else. That used to be the signature Meath style but it had gone out of their teams at all age levels. The last three minor teams carried huge expectation but none delivered on their promise. The senior team is still a work in progress but relentless workrate is a baseline requirement now.

Kildare search for balance
At the outset of this season, Cian O’Neill said he was looking forward far more to playing in Division Two, than in Division Three, where Kildare had been in 2016. Playing at a higher standard is an obvious appeal but Division Three, O’Neill felt, could be stifling. Promotion was demanded. Kildare were expected to win every game, often easily. That could be restrictive, and pressure-loading. Armagh were expected to get promoted to Division Two this year but they couldn’t manage it.

Kildare got promoted to Division One for 2018 and, already, they look looser and more relaxed than they did last year. They’re in year now of O’Neill’s strength and conditioning programme. They have some big players back, who weren’t available in 2016. Younger players have matured but Kildare looked far more confident and adventurous during the spring.

Last summer, Kildare were devoid of identity. In their five Championship matches in Croke Park over the three previous seasons, they had shipped a whopping 20-82. Kildare only conceded a combined total of 1-20 in their two Leinster Championship matches last year, against Wexford and Westmeath, but both performances betrayed a fear that almost reduced them to paralysis.

“We probably put an overemphasis on our defence, to the point that we never really mastered the transition to attack,” O’Neill said before the Division Two League final in April. “This year, with the players we have, we’ve been able to play the system that suits us better.”

During the league, Kildare were the second highest scoring team in the top two divisions, while they had the lowest concession rate in Division Two. They didn’t play well in the league final defeat to Galway but it was at least obvious that the shackles look off now. And tomorrow against Laois will offer further proof as to whether Kildare are closer to getting the balance right.