Cooraclare striving for consistency

Same stage and same venue. Last year, Kilrush beat Cooraclare in the championship group stage in Doonbeg and that’s where the teams meet again in their opening championship game on Saturday.

The teams go into this weekend’s fixture following mixed league form. Cusack Cup holders Cooraclare have played inconsistently in the league and sit on six points with one game remaining, while Kilrush are joint top of the Garry Cup Division two.
Kilrush manager Aidan Daly is expecting an exacting hour’s football against Cooraclare and indeed predicts that every game in the group will test the fibre of his team.
“Our group is going to be a very tough group. We’re up against it with Cooraclare to start with, while Doonbeg are one of the pre-championship favourites and O’Curry’s are one of the most determined, dogged teams in the championship,” the Kilrush manager said.
In broader terms, he feels that county and Munster champions Kilmurry Ibrickane are still the team to beat.
“Kilmurry are the ones who have set out their stall. They have set the bar for the rest of us to reach,” Daly added.
His Cooraclare counterpart, Aidan Moloney is hoping that his side don’t bring their up-and-down Cusack Cup form into the championship arena.
“To be honest, we haven’t exactly set the world alight in the league. We’ll be looking for a huge effort to get over the first round. Kilrush are probably more settled and have had a good run in the Garry Cup. We haven’t been able to settle our team as well as we would have liked. We’re going to have to up it an awful lot,” the Quilty man said.
Kilrush will probably field Donal O’Sullivan at full-back, while John Moody and Seán Burke are part of the current panel. They are still largely dependent upon Peadar McMahon and Jim Young up front, although players like Paddy Clancy, Rory O’Connor, Con O’Brien and Chris Dixon have established themselves as frontline Kilrush footballers.
Cooraclare were boosted by Rory Donnelly’s return this year but the former Clare forward has been injury prone thus far, while Joe Considine is also carrying a nagging back injury.
Players like Mark Tubridy, Fergal Lillis, Seán Maguire, Cathal Lillis and Michael Chambers will have to be close to their best if Cooraclare are to win.
The boys in blue don’t have a great record playing championship football in Doonbeg but that may change this weekend if they leave their inconsistency to one side.

Doonbeg v O’Curry’s
SINCE winning the intermediate championship in 2001, O’Curry’s have proven themselves to be one of the most resilient club teams in Clare football. While other senior clubs are not exactly bursting with a huge population base, O’Curry’s have been relying on a small pool of hugely committed players to ensure that they remain a competitive senior football club.
They have picked up some famous wins over the years, including a championship win over Kilkee in Cross in 2004. The fact that they are the only senior club not playing either Cusack Cup or Garry Cup football shouldn’t be a major factor, given the senior championship experience now evident in their panel. Their league form has been excellent, however, and O’Curry’s have already qualified for the Division 3 league semi-final, while their junior team is also doing well. That indicates that O’Curry’s are well organised and well up for the championship battles ahead this summer.
Few football people will give them any chance of upsetting Doonbeg in Cooraclare on Saturday. However, if they are to produce a huge upset once again, people like Ollie and Ger Quinlan, Michael Carmody, Seán Haugh and Michael O’Shea will have to be playing at near the top of their game.
Doonbeg will have the utmost of respect for O’Curry’s, knowing that if complacency is a factor, the Magpies could be two points behind their neighbours in the group table, come Saturday evening.
“Our first game is O’Curry’s and it’s the only game we’re thinking about,” Doonbeg manager Kieran O’Mahony commented.
However, on a broader note he maintains that the group will be one of the most competitive of the senior championship, with matches against Kilrush and Cooraclare to come.
“It’s very hard to see any team winning their three games and it’s very possible that there could be play-offs at the end of it,” he predicted.
“Kilrush are flying in division two. Cooraclare are Cusack Cup champions from last year and we always find it very hard to beat O’Curry’s,” he added.
That said, David Tubridy, Conor Whelan, Enda Doyle, Pauric Aherne and Eamon Tubridy should be capable of helping Doonbeg to their first championship points of 2010.