Clare edged out in thriller

Clare were both unlucky and lucky in Cusack Park last Saturday afternoon. Unlucky in that Down corner-forward Conor Laverty cleared off his own line a minute into injury time. If Laurence Healy had managed to bundle the dropping ball over the line, Clare would have pulled off the biggest shock in the history of All-Ireland qualifiers.
Yet such was Clare’s lethargy in the opening minutes, they were lucky not to concede three goals in the opening five minutes and at least four come the 20th minute, when Joe Hayes halted Benny Coulter with an nifty save.
Martin Clarke kicked a Down goal chance low and wide as early as the 52-second mark. Clare were cut open again when the Ulster county’s top scorer, Conor Laverty, pointed his side’s first score, while Laverty did goal shortly afterwards with Clarke and Coulter combing to slice through Clare. Clarke had pointed a free a minute earlier. Now 1-2 to 0-0 behind just five minutes in, Clare were heading for a hammering.
They could have caved in but instead wides from a David Tubridy 45 and John Hayes from play were followed by points from Mark Tubridy, Alan Clohessy and Ger Quinlan, who went head-to-head with Martin Clarke in midfield.
Clare had now steadied and their small support base in Cusack Park were rubbing their eyes when Timmy Ryan deflected a high Cathal O’Connor delivery to the Down net.
Paul McComiskey equalised from a free before Hayes made that aforementioned stop from Coulter.
Martin Clarke put over another Down free before Gary Brennan responded with an excellent score from play. Laverty, who was being marked by Barry Duggan at this stage, pointed two fisted scores just before half-time. Quinlan’s second point, set up by combination play involving David and Mark Tubridy, left Clare trailing 1-6 to 1-5 at half-time.
From the fifth minute until half-time, Clare had outscored Down 1-6 to 0-3. They retained just three of their own 10 first-half kick outs, although Clare won six of Down’s 10 in the opening half.
It took Clare 13 minutes before they scored in the second half. Just 50 seconds in, Barry Duggan made an excellent goal-saving tackle on Paul McComiskey, who had evaded Laurence Healy. Down stepped it up though and landed five successive points. At this stage, Declan Callinan, who drove forward from wing-back, was brought on for Mark Tubridy, while Niall Browne was brought outfield from corner-forward, leaving Timmy Ryan and Rory Donnelly inside.
After Benny Coulter put Down 1-11 to 1-5 up 14 minutes into the second half, Michael O’Shea replaced Rory Donnelly, whose movement was good although he didn’t look as dangerous as he had against Cork in the Munster quarter-final. Down only added two points in the last 21 minutes, which indicates Clare’s dominance in that period. The home county kicked seven points between the 13th and 32nd minutes of the second half to draw level at 1-12 each.
David Tubridy pointed from play after Gary Brennan had half a chance at goal, while Tubridy also pointed a free from a tricky angle. Joe Dowling made an immediate impression when sprung from the bench. After McComiskey pointed Down 1-12 to 1-7 up in the 19th minute, Dowling fired successive and quality scores from play. The huge Down travelling support were now edgy and silent, while the few Clare supporters who bothered to turn up were beginning to believe that a seismic shock was on.
That belief increased when Tubridy pointed a free won by Gary Brennan. John Hayes then fired a top-class point from play 10 minutes from time, leaving Clare just 1-12 to 1-11 behind and the stadium alive with excitement. Down were beginning to panic and reintroduced Kalum King, their midfielder, who had been taken off 14 minutes into the second half.
David Russell had an immediate impact when brought on four minutes from time. The Kilkee man won the free, pointed by Tubridy, which tied the scores at 1-12 each.
With the momentum behind them, this was Clare’s big chance to record their most stunning win since the 1992 Munster final. However, Down’s hundreds of supporters were jumping into each other’s arms seconds later though, when Paul McComiskey fisted the winning point after Benny Coulter had won and taken a quick free.
It looked over but not so. Laurence Healy somehow appeared 10 yards from the Down goalmouth as Joe Dowling’s long ball landed. The Clare corner-back managed to get a body part to the ball, which evaded Down goalkeeper Brendan McVeigh. Down were on their way out until Conor Laverty appeared to sweep the ball off the line and Clare out of the All-Ireland qualifiers.
Although they started very poorly, Clare showed that they had plenty of vim and bottle subsequently. That they could have won isn’t of any comfort though. These chances don’t present themselves too often. A win would have lifted this group of players and would have infused them with invaluable confidence. Now they have to wait around for the next round of the club championship on August 13, unless their club has qualified for the league semi-finals.
Joe Hayes, Kevin Hartnett, Martin McMahon and John Hayes gave it everything at the back, while Gary Brennan and Ger Quinlan, who stuck with Martin Clarke, had the edge in the middle.
Joe Dowling excelled after coming on and scored two points, while Declan Callinan, Michael O’Shea and David Russell also made meaningful impacts. Russell could have been brought on earlier though on a day when four of Clare’s starting six forwards were substituted, including the entire full-forward line.
Down: Brendan McVeigh; Aidan Brannigan, Dan Gordon, Brendan McArdle; Declan Rooney, Kevin McKernan, Kevin Duffin; Martin Clarke, Kalum King; Caolan Mooney, Mark Poland, Liam Doyle; Paul McComiskey, Benny Coulter (capt), Conor Laverty.
Subs: Paul Murphy for Kalum King (49); Darren O’Hagan for Kevin Duffin (54); Peter Fitzpatrick for Liam Doyle (60) and Kalum King for Paul Murphy (62).
Scorers: Conor Laverty (1-3); Paul McComiskey (0-4, 0-2f); Martin Clarke (0-2f); Caolan Mooney, Benny Coulter, Mark Poland, Brendan McArdle (0-1 each).
Wides: 7; Frees: 19; 45s: 1
Yellow cards: Martin Clarke, Mark Poland, Conor Laverty.

Clare: Joe Hayes (Lissycasey); Kevin Hartnett (Meelick), Barry Duggan (Cratloe), Laurence Healy (Ennistymon); Mark Tubridy (Cooraclare), John Hayes (Kilrush), Martin McMahon (Kilmurry-Ibrickane); Ger Quinlan (O’Curry’s), Gary Brennan (Clondegad, capt); Alan Clohessy (Liscannor), David Tubridy (Doonbeg), Cathal O’Connor (Coolmeen); Rory Donnelly (Cooraclare), Timmy Ryan (Kilmihil), Niall Browne (Two Mile House, Kildare).
Subs: Declan Callinan (Kilmurry Ibrickane) for Mark Tubridy (39); Michael O’Shea (Kilkee) for Rory Donnelly (49); Joe Dowling (Ennistymon) for Timmy Ryan (51); Michael Foran (O’Curry’s) for Niall Browne (63) and David Russell (Kilkee) for Cathal O’Connor (66). 
Scorers: David Tubridy 0-4, (0-3f); Timmy Ryan (1-0); Ger Quinlan, Joe Dowling (0-2 each); Mark Tubridy, Alan Clohessy, Gary Brennan, John Hayes (0-1 each).
Wides: 6; Frees: 28; 45s: 2
Yellow cards: Laurence Healy, Barry Duggan, Declan Callinan, Cathal O’Connor.
Referee: Pádraig O’Sullivan (Kerry).

McDermott undecided on future
Perhaps it was a bit early to be quizzing Micheál McDermott as to whether he intends to stay on as Clare senior football manager for a third year. His team had just exited the All-Ireland qualifiers in the first round after a doughty display that had fallen just short of stunning the 2010 All-Ireland finalists.
“It’s something that we haven’t even discussed or the county board haven’t discussed,” McDermott replied when asked by The Clare Champion what his intentions were.
“It’s something we haven’t even thought about ourselves because we were so focused on winning here today. We were hoping to be back here training on Tuesday night. That’s how determined we were and as regards next year, it’s something that hasn’t crossed any of our minds at all,” the Clare manager added.
McDermott said he was lifted by Clare’s display but that the senior county team must string back-to-back performances together if they are to make significant progress.
“What Clare football needs is consistency. That display has to happen every day we go out. We have a habit when we play teams of average standard that we play at that standard. When you play a team like Down, you rise to that standard and that is our problem. That’s something Clare football needs to get over to be able to get out of division four, number one,” he maintained.
While proud of Clare’s innings, McDermott didn’t avoid the fact that they were beaten and will now not play inter-county football until next February.
“We almost pulled it off. I feel gutted for the players. Gary Brennan spoke afterwards there in the huddle and the one thing he said was ‘no matter who applauds you off the field, no matter who slaps you on the back, today we lost and remember the pain and the hurt of losing’,” McDermott revealed.
“When you see Down in the last five minutes, holding onto the ball just to keep possession, you know they were in a battle. It could have been a repeat maybe of Louth and Meath and it could have been a hard call on the umpires if that last ball had went in. That’s how close we were,” he sighed.
McDermott was further frustrated by his assertion that Clare hadn’t played particularly impressively.
“Today, we actually didn’t play our best but we emptied our tank on the field. The effort, the courage, the drive and desire of everyone of those players, it has to be held up there as a great display for Clare. But it’s all about winning. Our year is over. Down move forward and who knows where that momentum will bring them now,” he reflected.
The Clare manager acknowledged his side’s insipid start was no help to them.
“It has been a problem for us all year that we haven’t started well in a lot of our league games as well. But to concede a goal so early in the game, it showed a bit of courage to battle back. We decided today that we were going to take them on, man for man, no sweeper system or anything in the first half because we believed in our backs. We were brave today as a team. We were on our home pitch and we wanted to go out and play football today,” McDermott said.
He felt players like Joe Dowling, Michael O’Shea, Declan Callinan and David Russell lifted Clare when they were brought on.
“The fresh legs coming into the forward line made a huge difference. Joe Dowling kicked two points as soon as he was in. They’ve been confident all week. Yes, we had a workout here against the Kildare juniors last Friday night and it was terrible. But that game was what we needed to be ready for today. You could sense once the league matches were out of the way with their clubs last Saturday night, when they came in on Tuesday they were a different team. There was a focus and a determination about them on Tuesday and Thursday night that I felt confident coming in here that we could give a big performance,” McDermott added.