Failure not an option for Cratloe captain

It’s a measure of how highly-rated Barry Duggan is within Cratloe GAA that the club’s dual full-back is captain of the senior hurlers for a fourth successive season and, on Sunday, will lead the side into their third county senior final in that period.
In 2009 he led the club to their only county senior title at the end of a season in which he was also the full-back on the county senior football team. After a break from inter-county football duties for a year, he returned to the Clare squad for the 2012 championship and played at full-back in the team that contested the Munster final.
No doubt he and all Cratloe followers will be hoping that history will be repeated on Sunday and that he will again lift the Canon Hamilton Trophy.
“We were a bit disappointed with last year’s championship. Our aim was to get back to the final but it didn’t happen. When the draw for this year’s championship was made, we knew that the first match was a do or die game against Sixmilebridge and we did not look beyond that. That’s all we concentrated on and, thankfully for us, everything clicked on the day. We haven’t played as well since,” the Cratloe captain said this week when reviewing the year to date and looking ahead to Sunday’s final against Newmarket.
Because of inter-county fixtures, the championship took a break for a while
“when it resumed, we were a lot more tired for the second and third round games. We have a big dual involvement and a lot of games came together. We were all extremely disappointed with the way we went out of the football championship,” according to Duggan.
The Cratloe skipper believes, “we put pressure on ourselves as we had a lot of draws which didn’t help.”
He paid tribute to the club’s representatives on the Clare team that won the Munster and All-Ireland U-21 titles.
“Fair play to the lads involved with the U-21s. It was the same in 2009 (Cratloe won the championship and Clare won the All-Ireland U-21 crown). The lads know how to look after themselves. It does take a bit out of you being involved in both with all the games. I was late into the county football squad this year, only joining the panel for the championship but I was grateful to have the opportunity and it kept me busy during the summer.”
The Cratloe full-back agreed that “Newmarket were very hungry for victory against Clonlara. We must get our hunger for success up to that level. In our meetings in recent years there has only been a point or two between the teams.
“They are like we were in 2009 – hungry for the title. When you get to a final you are always going to do your best to succeed and both sides will be going all out on Sunday in search of this title.”
According to the Cratloe captain his side knows what it’s like to lose.
“We don’t want it to be one win from three final appearances. As the song goes, two out of three ain’t bad and we will be aiming that that will be the case come Sunday evening.”
The fact that Cratloe are contesting their third final in four years, should mean they are the more experienced side going into this game.
“It’s county final day and after the first five minutes, all nerves will be gone and it makes no difference how much experience you have,” is the Cratloe full-back’s view.
“We know how great it is to win and how devastating it is to lose and we don’t want that latter feeling again. There are lads in our team who didn’t play in the la st final and they want to win their own title and we want to win it for them.”
According to Duggan, “There is a huge buzz around the parish. The club shop is open and there are flags and bunting appearing everywhere”.
“It’s great to see all the kids down at the field. Having the senior team involved at this stage is a great boost to all the other teams in the club. When the senior team goes well, the other teams tend to go well also. Our juniors were a bit unlucky in this year’s championship. They are always pushing us hard in training as they want to get into the team.”
He remembers the excitement in 2009 when he brought the Canon Hamilton Trophy back to the parish. He would love to do the same again.
“Every ounce of energy we have will go into trying to win back the Canon Hamilton Trophy,” he concluded.