The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
EVEN though Clare are All-Ireland champions, Pat Kelly argued that Tipperary and Kilkenny are still the two best teams in the game.
“To me Kilkenny and Tipp are still the best two teams in Ireland. I know we’re All-Ireland champions but they’re still the benchmark. We’re going to have to be ready for them next year. We’ll probably be back training on November 7 or 8, that’s the way it’ll be. We’ll enjoy our few weeks, we’re All-Ireland champions, they’ll be mad to beat us next year and knock us down a peg or two,” he commented.
The Inagh/Kilnamona number one said relief washed over him when the final whistle sounded.
“It’s just relief, your heart would be racing. You’re over the line, you can just relax, you celebrate because you’re over the line. In fairness, if we’d let that slip it’d be a travesty; it would have been worse than the last day. The last day was bad but to do it twice! In fairness to Cork, they showed some resilience to keep coming back at us. They’re some outfit and we’ll have some battles with them next year, as we will with Limerick. It’ll be savage again next year and they owe us one.”
Summarising the game, he said, “The first half we played well, they got a few handy frees before half time. We were four up but the thing was for us to kick on at the start of the second half. Cork actually kicked on 15 minutes in, I think they had scored five and we had got two, but they had no goal got and that was the main thing. Then the boys took over.”
Kelly praised Shane O’Donnell and said the depth of the panel has been shown throughout the year. “He (Shane O’Donnell) did the business today didn’t he? It’s always in him. If he gets the ball in training, it’s all goals.
“There was serious competition for places, lads were coming on and doing their bit. Cathal McInerney came on and won a few balls, Nicky (O’Connell) came on and did his bit, Bruiser (Fergal Lynch) came on. That’s been the story all year, back through all the games, the Wexford game, the Galway game, the Limerick game, it’s gone to a 20 or 25 man game.”
He said there was no real chance of stopping Anthony Nash’s piledriver in the first half.
“It was kind of comical enough when they got it. Everyone filtered back. He could only hit it one place and he got it. Everyone says he just hits and hopes but today he buried it in the top corner.”
Getting as many bodies between Nash and the goal and hoping for the best is all any team can really do, he feels. “You can’t have two many on the line because the only way you’re going to stop the shot is if it hits off your body.”
He felt that the three-week interval worked well for Clare. “The three-week break was actually perfect. The 21s went away for a week, we trained hard. It’s easier train as a small group, with a group of 20 you actually get more out of it.”
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
