Footballers prepare for short trip to Limerick

Peter O’Connell talks to Clare senior football manager, Micheál McDermott, about the team’s prospects in the upcoming Munster semi-final

 

Limerick stand between the Clare senior footballers and a place in this summer’s Munster final on July 8. Limerick easily disposed of Waterford (2-12 to 0-7) in last Sunday’s provincial quarter-final in the Gaelic Grounds and will play Clare at the same venue at 7pm on Saturday, June 9, in the semi-final.

Clare manager Micheál McDermott predicts Limerick will have a stronger panel in three weeks time than they had access to against Waterford.

“People will say it was a poor game but it will bear no resemblance to what the Munster semi-final will be like on June 9,” McDermott said.

“Tom Lee played really well in midfield and probably in another three weeks there will be another few lads back because they started on Sunday without Stephen Kelly, Jim O’Donovan and Stephen Lucey. They’ll be a formidable team next month. There’s a Munster final at stake for whoever is going to give a big performance. If we can give it, we’re capable of winning it but Limerick know that’s the same for themselves.

There won’t be anything in it but we really need to be on the top of our game that day,” the Clare manager commented.

Clare beat Tipperary by a point last Thursday in a challenge game in Toomevara and they are due to play Down in another challenge this weekend.

“Both sides were very strong. We played well at times and poorly at times but overall it was a really good workout,” McDermott said of the challenge against Tipperary.

Enda Coughlan is part of the championship panel, although injury is likely to rule out his Kilmurry-Ibrickane team-mate and Clare sub goalkeeper, Peter O’Dwyer.

“The only player we’re probably going to be missing is Peter O’Dwyer. He has a problem with his knee. He is most likely to be out so it looks like Pierce De Loughrey will be stepping in for the Limerick match. Aside from Peter, we’re almost injury free at the moment. Gary Brennan played a half against Tipperary and played the full match for Clondegad at the weekend,” he said.

“Enda Coughlan is part of the panel now and we have Podge McMahon, Barry Duggan and Seán Chaplin in there as well. They’re in at the moment because we want to make sure we’ve 15-a-side in training but if they perform and knock on the door, you wouldn’t know what would happen,” he added.

“We would have had Podge McMahon in earlier on in the year but he just wasn’t able to commit. Technically the panel is as it was all throughout the league with the addition of Enda (Coughlan). The other lads have come in to assist but if they do stand out, they could come into the equation before the year is out,” McDermott reiterated.

Conceding a goal in the first minute cost Clare in their pivotal league game against Wicklow in Aughrim. Had Clare won or drawn they would have been promoted to Division 3. McDermott accepts that Clare will have to try to be more proactive against Limerick in the opening minutes, although he doesn’t agree with the suggestion the side were outplayed in the opening half in Aughrim on April 15.

“There was one lapse of concentration that caused the goal but in general we actually made a good start against Wicklow but we just didn’t take our chances.

“We had four or five chances in the first half and we actually played quite well in that half but the lapse of concentration caused the goal and we didn’t take our chances,” he said.

“That’s the one thing we really have to be tuned in on. You saw Waterford last Sunday against Limerick, they didn’t take their chances when they presented themselves. In championship football it’s all about taking your chances because you only have one shot at it. When the opportunities come up you’ve got to take every chance presented to you,” McDermott noted.

Clare’s last Munster Championship meeting with Limerick was in June 2009 when Limerick won 1-13 to 1-9 in Cusack Park.

Of the 20 Clare players used in that game three years ago, nine are not currently part of the Clare panel. The players are Dermot O’Brien, Conor Whelan, Dean Ryan, Kevin Dilleen, Paul Reidy, Seán Collins, Cathal O’Connor, Gearóid Lynch and Niall Considine.

Following Clare’s league game away Wicklow, Micheál McDermott defended Clare’s decision not to travel to the night before. He says though that Clare will be travelling to Limerick the night before their impending Munster semi-final to ensure they are primed for Maurice Horan’s team.

“The long and short of the Limerick match is that we have the Greenhills Hotel booked. We’ll have to go in the night before to make sure we’re sharp,” the Clare manager laughed.