OUTSTANDING Clare midfielder Gary Brennan acknowledged there were anxious moments during the second half of Saturday’s provincial football semi-final but he was satisfied that Clare’s win was deserved, if only for the workrate. We never do things the easy way. “We are not good for people’s hearts but we got there. It would have been easy to fold in the second half but lads stood up and when we needed to find the crucial scores, we found them.

 

“There was huge character shown,” he said before warning that while Clare are in a Munster final, they have nothing won. “We are in a Munster final and it’s a while since we were there. It’s a great achievement. We will be back to business early next week to prepare for that game.”

According to Brennan, Clare “put a lot of energy into the first half, maybe unknown to ourselves as it wasn’t the intention. We said at half-time, we must drive on and keep the scoreboard ticking over and extend the lead but it’s hard to do that. Limerick were always going to come with a burst at some stage and they really did at the start of the second half but, thank God, we had enough to hold out.”

As Limerick fought their way back into the tie, did he think it was gone from Clare? “No, when you are on the field you can’t be thinking it’s gone. I said to David [Tubridy] at some stage when there was a bit of panic around the place, ‘if we get one score it will settle us’ and David went down and duly kicked a wonder score from the corner flag, one he had no right to kick. You just need one score to settle and calm the nerves and we managed that,” he said.

According to the St Flannan’s College teacher, “This win is great for Clare football. There are a lot of young fellas around the county that have never seen Clare in a Munster final and that’s going to change now. It gives a lift to the county. It shows that we are up there. We will have a massive test the next day but let’s look forward to it. That’s what we play football for,” he concluded.

Superb start eased nerves for McGrath

PLAYING in his first Munster Championship game, Clare forward Shane McGrath admitted he did feel nervous. “Anyone would be, playing in a first championship game. The championship is different to the league. As soon as the first five minutes are gone and you get the first touch of the ball, it eases,” the Dublin-born son of former Clare star John said shortly after the final whistle on Saturday evening.

“We started superbly and it helped ease the nerves but they came back again towards the end,” according to the Thomas Davis clubman. “We played well in the first half and we were disappointed we went in only nine points up but saying that, Limerick had a goal chance at the end of the first half, which they didn’t convert.

“We talked at half-time. Limerick are a proud team and they weren’t going to bow down. We knew they would come out determined and they did,” McGrath continued. “We have a lot of spirit in the squad and we believe in our own ability. Even when they drew with us at the end, we believed we could pull it out and that’s what we did. Tubridy kicked two points towards the end,” said the man who opted to play for the home county of his parents this year.

“We are now in a Munster final and we have four weeks to prepare and that’s what we will do. Cork and Kerry are the two best teams in the country. We are not going away from here thinking we will be going to the final to keep the score down. We are going in to win the Munster final and that’s what we will be planning for,” he said.