Clare pile misery on Cork with impressive victory in Thurles

Clare proved that their victory against Tipperary last weekend was no once-off performance as they recorded an emphatic two-point victory over Cork in Thurles in Round 3 of the Munster Championship.

The scoreboard may have said that there was only two in it in the end, but in truth there was an ocean between these two sides as Clare imposed their will on the game from beginning to end.

They led by an incredible 0-17 to 0-11 at the break with Tony Kelly his usual self, hitting 0-10, while David Fitzgerald and Cathal Malone dominated midfield, hitting 0-05 across the 70 minutes while John Conlon was outstanding at centre-back.

The Banner managed their lead brilliantly after the break and quick points from Fitzgerald and Ian Galvin had them leading by eight. That was the pattern for the next 15 minutes as Cork managed to get close, with Patrick Horgan keeping things ticking over, but never close enough as Kelly continued to keep Clare ahead.

A moment of individual brilliance from Alan Connolly then gave Cork hope when he kicked a brilliant goal to blow the game open and when Robbie O'Flynn followed it with his third point of the day, Cork trailed by 0-22 to 1-15 and seemed to be in with a chance.

That chance became bigger when Ian Galvin picked up a red card for the Banner, but they dug in to hit the next three points though Fitzgerald, Diarmuid Ryan and Ryan Taylor to take the wind out of the Cork sails.

A late point from Horgan and a Darragh Fitzgibbon goal brought the teams closer than they were, but there was no doubt about who was the better team.

After a tight start that saw the sides level twice inside the opening three minutes, Clare took over in every facet of the game in a performance reminiscent of their great team of