Goal-rush pleases Ryan as Lohan fumes over reds
Pat Ryan was pleased with the clinical edge his Cork side showed in hitting six goals past Clare in Ennis.
The All-Ireland final rematch fell a bit flat as the Rebels were nine points up at half-time - 3-09 to 0-09 - and 15 by the finish, with Brian Hayes and Declan Dalton bagging a brace apiece in a 6-20 to 0-23 cakewalk.
"It was a good day," the Cork manager told RTÉ Sport. "We performed well.
"I think that's our game [going for goals]. We have very dangerous inside-forwards. We're trying to get the ball in a bit better.
"We probably didn't take our chances over the last couple of league matches that we played in. We probably took all our chances today. But that's something we are working on all the time.
"Bit disappointed with the last 15, 20 minutes. I thought we got a bit ragged and didn't keep our shape. That's something that won't be good enough when we come back up here in six or seven weeks' time. So, that's something that we'll go after over the next two weeks of training."
The Division 1A table
Cork are now in contention for a place in the league final if they beat Galway in a fortnight's time.
Ryan insists that is the aim, even though he also expects to change some players on 22 March.
"We'll have more fellas back now again the next day, they'll need game time again. But Galway will be coming down to us in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and our job is to win that match.
"That's what we're looking at, win every match that we can, go and put in our best performance, that's what the Cork fans deserve, that's what they want, and you can't beat winning matches."
Clare manager Brian Lohan questioned whether a stricter interpretation had been introduced without notice after two of his players - Peter Duggan and David Fitzgerald - were shown red cards, the latter along with Cork's Cormac O'Brien after a scuffle and the former for catching Cork goalkeeper Brion Saunderson with an arm around the neck.
"I think that game was refereed differently to anything we've seen so far," Lohan told the Irish Examiner.
"The word I'm getting is that there was a big meeting with the referees during the week and they laid down the law, but nobody told us and nobody told the players. To get all this information second-hand or third-hand and have two players sent off as a result of it, it is just not good enough.
"If they're going to change the way the game is refereed, the least you could do is tell us. So, four red cards in Kilkenny, three here and one last night [Conor Cooney against Limerick]. OK, last night there was no debate, it should have been a red.
"But I don't know, I thought Peter's was a harmless tackle. I thought the goalkeeper kind of ducked his head to get around the tackle and it was harmless."
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