All hurling talk for Morey clan

JUST last Sunday, Chloe Morey captained Sixmilebridge to the Clare Camogie Senior B Championship title. The hope in the ’Bridge is that Niall Gilligan will follow that example and push the Canon Hamilton Cup into the mid-October sky on Sunday evening. Not having won a senior championship since 2002, county final chatter is ruling in the village this week.
There definitely won’t be much talk about the global downturn or the prospective fall of any Middle Eastern dictatorships when the Morey clan get talking between now and the weekend. Chloe’s brother, Caimin, is likely to start in the full-forward line, while her first cousins, Seadna, Danny, Declan and Tommy, are also either on the team or panel.
Her uncle, Pat, was a selector with the All-Ireland club-winning Sixmilebridge team in 1996 and has at least six senior championship medals in his grasp.
Throw in the fact that Chloe’s 16-year-old brother, Alex, is one of the ’Bridge water boys and you get the picture. The Moreys are into their hurling.
“Everyone is fairly excited because it has been so long since the hurlers have been in a county final,” Chloe confirmed. “Even for the camogie on Sunday, I know it was only the Senior B final but it was still nice to win so there’s a good atmosphere around the ’Bridge now. It’s building up steadily.”
It has been so long since Sixmilebridge won their last championship that Chloe, who is now 18, has no recollection of it.
“I can’t remember it at all,” she admitted. “That’s why it’s so exciting, especially for the younger kids. There’s always talk about the ’Bridge being good but they never got there. This year they’ve really played to their potential. My age group and the camogie team are rallying behind them now,” the Clare senior inter-county player added.
Her brother, Caimin, occasionally takes frees for the ’Bridge, as Chloe does for club and county. Sometimes they practice together, even if the talk doesn’t always flow.
“It’s hard sometimes to get things out of Caimin but we’d go up to the field and take frees sometimes. We’d talk about stuff like that but as I said, it’s kinda hard to get words out of Caimin. Sometimes I would ask him how would he do this or do that,” she said.
Chloe is the same age as her first cousin, Seadna, who will probably line out at centre-back on Sunday.
“We’d be very close being the same age and all. When he was a county minor, I was a county minor. When I saw him going in centre-back against Cratloe, I was a bit nervous. Nobody expects an 18-year-old to be centre-back but he did play very well. I was glad and I was proud to see it,” Chloe confided.
Used to playing rather than spectating, Chloe compares her hurling match day behaviour to that of her mother, Valerie, who is in the US this weekend.
“I would be roaring at times. I’m a bit like my mother to be honest. She has to stay away from the crowd and let her roar away at herself,” Chloe laughed.
“She’s in America. She won’t be able to see the county final. That won’t go down well at all. She’s gone over to visit my uncle in LA. She goes to every single match so it’s a big thing that she’s missing it,” she said.
However, Chloe said Caimin’s ears may not be as red as normal come Sunday evening.
“Whenever Caimin gets the ball she’s always roaring ‘goal’ whether he’s playing centre-back or full-forward so he might be glad. I’d never shout anything bad because as I know myself, people don’t go out to make mistakes on purpose. But I do tend to shout a small bit and I know I’ll be doing a lot of that on Sunday,” Chloe predicted confidently.
A second-year student at NUI Galway, Chloe doesn’t think she will see much of her adopted city next week if Sixmilebridge win their 11th senior championship since 1977.
“I will not make it up for the week,” was all Chloe would say on that.