EOIN Cleary had the look of a man who needed a power-hose to remove the stains of battle from his frame. Caked from head to foot in the residue of his own field and soaked to the skin, Cleary wasn’t concerned about that. Yet to re-enter the Miltown dressing room, he was on a lifetime high.
“Words can’t describe it. On our own pitch with the crowd behind us, it’s the best day of my life to be honest. With your family and friends, this is just unbelievable,” is how he put it.
“The whole town is behind us. Twelve months ago, we were fighting relegation and there wasn’t a sinner in Cooraclare. To have the whole town behind us is unbelievable,” Cleary marvelled.
The supply of ball into Cleary and his attacking partner, Seánie Malone, helped them to wreak havoc at stages throughout the game. Although Cleary, jokingly, suggested he is getting bored with Seánie following him around all the time.
“We’re in each other’s company way too much, on and off the field,” he laughed. “In fairness, the ball that Darragh [McDonagh] and Conor [Cleary] put in all year, we can’t complain. We’ve runners coming through too.
“We knew Currow had experienced players in Seamus Scanlon and Johnny Buckley but I thought the boys quietened them. We don’t know what losing is at this stage. We fear no team and that’s the way we’re going to be for the year,” Cleary said.
He is already looking towards the Munster final but knows Miltown have to regain the focus that stood so well to them last Sunday.
“It’s a great position to be in. Hopefully, this won’t go to our heads but there will be no fear of that with DOB [David O’Brien]. He’ll keep us in check. We’ll enjoy tonight but we can’t wait for Sunday week. We’ll fear no-one,” the Miltown attacker predicted.
.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.