Can lightning strike twice for the Cratloe skipper?

SHOULD Cratloe manage to retain the Clare Senior Hurling Championship title on Sunday, team captain Barry Duggan will join a special group of people, those who have captained their clubs to more that one county senior title.
The team’s inspirational leader was retained as skipper this year after he led the club to a historic first Clare senior crown 12 months ago.
“Last year’s success was a huge boost to confidence. We got a bit of belief into the club, the team and the players. Setting out this year, we said we don’t want to go out in the first round, we don’t want to go out in the group stages. We were lucky enough that the ’Bridge did us a favour, the result was out of our hands. We got to the semi-final and we said we want to go on to the final, go one step further. We are in the final and we want to retain the title,” the outstanding full-back said after last Saturday’s semi-final victory over Clonlara.
Duggan is one of a large number of dual players in the Cratloe side. He is also the club’s full-back in senior football, a position he has held for the past year with the Clare senior football side.
With regard to playing both codes, he said, “We had a bit of a break this year, going out of the football in the quarter-final but saying that, we were all disappointed to lose. We would love to be still playing football as well.”
“It’s hard to keep going when you get injuries but we have been lucky enough not to have suffered too many injuries. We have a few injured now but hopefully they will be back.”
On the question of retaining the title, he said, “It’s very difficult to retain a title, that’s the nature of sport. There is very little between all the teams in Clare. We have that bit of belief that maybe some other clubs didn’t in the last couple of years. It’s massive to win a county title. They say that good teams win one and great teams win two.”
In the Cratloe captain’s view,  “Crusheen will be like we were last year. There is no doubt about it and no point in saying otherwise. They came through a very tough game against the ’Bridge in the semi-final, which could have gone either way in the end and that’s exactly what happened us last year. They are going to go out and do everything they can to win ball and get the scores,” he warned.
Asked if it is a disadvantage to be going into the final just a week after winning the semi-final, he replied, “We probably lost a bit of match practice when we didn’t have a game in the last round of group matches. We were a bit rusty against Newmarket. These games will bring us on a bit.”
Would he like to get another chance at the Munster Club Championship? “We haven’t even thought of the Munster club. It’s the last thing we are thinking about. All we want to do right now is retain our county title. There might be a bit of added bite if we get through with Tony Considine involved with Kilmallock but we haven’t even thought of that. All we want to think about is going out with this group of players, doing our best to retain the county title,” he said.
For now, the Cratloe captain is delighted to be part of a panel that is preparing for the county final. It’s a position which has resulted in a great atmosphere around their parish.
“There is a great buzz. It’s great to see all the young fellas with their hurleys coming down to watch training and hitting a ball against the wall. That’s the way every club should be, have all the young fellas out and we are just delighted to be part of that right now,” he concluded.