All set for ‘the big one’

As Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald puts the final touches to preparations for the opening of the Banner’s league challenge on Saturday, he repeated his view that the recent Waterford Crystal meeting of Clare and Limerick will have “no bearing whatsoever on this one”.

As Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald puts the final touches to preparations for the opening of the Banner’s league challenge on Saturday, he repeated his view that the recent Waterford Crystal meeting of Clare and Limerick will have “no bearing whatsoever on this one”.
Clare beat their neighbours by the minimum margin in a replay at the Gaelic Grounds three days after two lots of extra time had failed to produce a winner at Sixmilebridge.
“This is the big one,” he said this week ahead of Saturday’s eagerly awaited clash in the opening round of the Division 1B title race, a game that will be played under lights at the Gaelic Grounds (throw-in 7pm).
It’s a repeat of last season’s Division 2 final, Limerick won in Ennis on a scoreline of 4-13 to 2-13. Entering the final quarter of that tie, Clare looked to be in a strong position for victory, leading by four points.
They had fought back from being four points in arrears at the interval to led by the same margin inside the final quarter but failed to close out the game.
The experience of manager Donal O’Grady played a huge role in Limerick’s fight back as they outscored the home side 2-4 to 0-1 in the closing stages.
Fitzgerald and his fellow selectors won’t name the team for duty on Saturday until later this week.
“We have lot of players involved in Fitzgibbon Cup action (inter-varsity’s hurling championship) this week and we will wait and see how that goes. Hopefully, we won’t pick up any injuries. It’s a pity that the Fitzgibbon Cup games are so close to the league,” he said.
Clare will definitely be without last year’s captain Pat Vaughan and Darach Honan, who are both out due to injury, as is Kilmaley’s Diarmuid McMahon.
Fitzgerald maintains that Clare “have a lot of ground to make up on the last few years. Limerick won’t rate us too highly. They had a good match against Waterford the other night (Limerick played Waterford in a match to mark the turning on of a new lighting system at Dungarvan on Saturday night) as well and it’s a big plus for them to have the Na Piarsaigh lads available”.
In the two games in the Waterford Crystal, Clare used a total of 28 players, all of whom are battling for places for this week’s clash. On top of that, the college players who weren’t available to Clare for the Waterford Crystal tournament are eligible for this, so the likes of Conor McGrath, Sean Collins, Brendan Bugler, Liam Markham, Eamonn and Brian Glynn, Donal Tuohy and Cathal McInerney, to mention some, will come into the reckoning.
Limerick are under new management with Cork’s John Allen in charge having taken over from his fellow county man, Donal O’Grady. Allen spent time as manager in Cork whom he led to All-Ireland glory. Former Limerick great Ciarán Carey, who broke Clare hearts back in 1994 when his last minute point dumped the then All-Ireland champions out of the championship, is the only member of last year’s management team to have remained.
On paper, experience appears to be on Limerick’s side with Donal O’Grady, Brian Geary and Wayne McNamara expected to play on Saturday. Seamus Hickey hasn’t played in recent outings but he is one of the key members of the panel. Others who will face Clare on Saturday include goalkeeper Nicky Quaid, Gavin O’Mahoney, Tom Condon, Kevin Downes and the freescoring Declan Hannon who caused a lot of problems for Clare in the Waterford Crystal clashes.
There is a lot of speculation as to what the Clare line up will be for this week’s outing. There is little doubt but that Pat Donnellan, Cian Dillon, Domhnaill O’Donovan, Nicky O’Connell, John Conlon, Colin Ryan and Conor McGrath will be in the starting line-up.
Currently there are four goalkeepers on the extended Clare panel and all have seen action during Clare’s games since the beginning of 2012. It is expected Donal Tuohy will get the nod for this week’s outing but Patrick Kelly and the unrelated Fahys, Andrew from Whitegate and Dereck from Sixmilebridge, are all in contention.
Limerick officials have made no secret of their annoyance at being included in Division 1B this year having gained promotion to the top division by winning the Division 2 final last year. However, a re-structuring of the groups in the autumn saw the Shannonsiders dropped to Division 1B.
There is no doubt but that Clare have benefited from the games played over the past eight weeks and they will make their more fancied opponents fight all the way for victory this week. Another very close contest is expected and while Limerick carry the favourites’ tag, it won’t be a surprise if Clare are ahead when the final whistle sounds.