CLARE have a lot to work on ahead of their Munster semi-final clash with Cork. That’s the view of team captain Pat Donnellan who said the team will have to “up our performance for the next day”.

 

The O’Callaghan’s Mills clubman added, “There wasn’t a whole pile said at half-time, just to stay playing and try and give the percentage ball and maybe not be so perfect the whole time. Be confident that we will win the 60-40 ball. We are confident that we can perform and that we can turn things around on the field if needs be. We are confident that we have the work done and with younger players in the team, we will keep playing to the end.”

He said the message at half-time was, “Just to stay going. For the first five minutes, we were playing exactly as we wanted to and then my stupid mistake gave them a bit of momentum and it put us back on our heels a little bit. It was disappointing that we didn’t stay going like we had started.”

“In any championship game you need goals. It gives a lift and will be the deciding factor. More often than not, it will be the team that scores the goals that will win rather than the team that gets the most scores.”
Donnellan warned against complacency. “This is only a first Munster win, it’s not a Munster or All-Ireland title. We will keep it in perspective. It was important to win to get to the semi-final and it will be important to win the semi-final to get to the final. That’s the way we are treating it.”

Clare needed to get hoodoo off their backs

HEADING to Thurles, Clare forward John Conlon was looking for his first Munster Championship win.
A regular in the side for the past five years, the Clonlara man is regarded as one of the game’s leading forwards and he showed just why this is so with another strong display on Sunday.

He was key to Clare’s strong start, scoring two of their opening four points in the first six minutes.
“Yes, we were anxious. We hadn’t won a Munster Championship game for some time and we needed to get that hoodoo off our backs. Once we got on top, we really drove on,” he said after the game. 
“The goal brought them back into the game and it killed us for a while. It came following a mistake and we have to cut out those mistakes and drive on,” said Conlon who recently graduated from Mary Immaculate College in Limerick.

“There was no shouting at half-time. Davy came in in a relaxed mood and reminded us that we were not far behind. We knew we could push it on in the second half,” he said.
The Clonlara man added, “Cork have every incentive. We got the better of them twice this year in the league but there was nothing in those games. In the relegation play-off, we were a bit lucky. They will be gunning for us and it’s up to us to knuckle down and really drive on and we all want to do that.”

“This win takes off some of the pressure. We hadn’t won in a few years. We can relax now and enjoy the game more. It’s up to us to drive on from here,” he concluded.