The Banner are alive and Tony Kelly is at the centre of it. Clare hammered Dublin by 18 points on Saturday, and Kelly was the hattrick hero with the centre forward bagging himself three goals, four points and the man of the match. However, RTÉ pundit Joe Canning wasn't convinced that Kelly was deserved of all the plaudits despite his 3-4.
Clare had initially come roaring out of the blocks leaving Dublin utterly shocked but the Dubs fought back and settled into the game, with the two sides trading blow for blow for the majority of the first half.
However, Dublin's fairytale ended there, capitulation struck, and Clare scored two quickfire goals before half-time to put themselves nine points clear at the break.
Unfortunately for Dublin, their woes were only starting. Little improved in the second half with Dublin leaving acres of space for Clare to score. Tony Kelly took full advantage and produced an absolute masterclass completing his hat trick alongside a host of Clare points that saw Clare 15 points ahead with twenty minutes to play. Dublin closed the floodgates there but it was much too late and Clare ran out 18-point winners.
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Tony Kelly gets his Hat trick at the start of the second half!#gaanow @GaaClare @DubGAAOfficial pic.twitter.com/gYnu9ZyUDg
— The GAA (@officialgaa) June 24, 2023
Hat-trick hero Tony Kelly not Joe Canning's man of the match
Despite Tony Kelly scoring an outstanding 3-4 and getting a unanimous vote for man of the match from the rest of the RTE crew at the Clare v Dublin game, Joe Canning felt that Kelly's teammate Mark Rogers had quietly gone under the radar with a more consistently brilliant performance over the 70 minutes:
It's a little bit unfair on Mark Rogers. He's got 1-6 from play and throughout the whole 70 odd minutes he was consistently on the scoreboard. Tony kind of got 3-4 casually, in spurts almost.
But at the end of the day when you score 3-4 from play in a Championship game, he's the man of the match. All the goals were similar enough... and that's what he's really good at. He's not the kind of guy to win out of the air puck outs like a TJ Reid or anything like that.
He could've given it (his third goal) across to Galvin and if he missed it Galvin be going 'why didn't you pass?'... he could've given it again... I'm just saying he had options.
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To be fair to Canning, while he felt Mark Rogers 1-6 from play was deserving of the man of the match award, he was struggling to begrudge Tony Kelly of what was truly a small ball masterclass. Canning applauded the centre forward for his ruthless goalscoring.
Clare now go through to the All-Ireland semi-final and, while their defensive frailties might be of some concern, if Kelly and Rogers deliver more performances akin to that, the Banner county will fancy their chances against anyone.
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