Malone – it’s always a privilege to play for Clare

Clare finished at the summit of the Munster Senior Hurling Championship table after overpowering Waterford in their final home match of 2022 to complete an unbeaten group campaign and yet despite the contrasting form guide, it was still seen as a surprise.

From the outside looking in, Clare, having blazed a trail safely through to a Munster Final showdown with Limerick with a game to spare, didn’t appear have much to play for outside of giving valuable game-time to new and recovering players.

For Waterford however, off the back of two successive defeats, a stirring response was simply a prerequisite to back up their National League winning form and just stay alive in the championship.

From the inside looking out though, nothing could be further from the truth as captain Cathal Malone, deputising for the rested Tony Kelly, outlined immediately afterwards.

“Every match you get to play for Clare is valuable. You want to play every single game and win every single match too so we didn’t look at it any differently than previous matches as it’s always a privilege to play for Clare.

“It was great to keep our run going though. For the two home games, we had targeted maintaining our unbeaten start and not letting our standards slip and thankfully we were able to achieve that.

“Our aim was to hit the ground running and we did that with the wind behind us to maybe put some doubts in Waterford’s heads too. Look, there’s guys playing for positions on the team and there’s others just determined to make the match day 26 for the Munster Final so we all had something to prove.

“We’re not getting carried away with today though. It was good to play well and win and great too for a few lads who have been pushing at training the whole year to get some game-time and experience today but it was only another win along the way. I think what it does give us though is a bit of momentum ahead of the Munster Final which we’re really looking forward to.”

Having soared 20 points clear at one stage, it would have been easy to be whimsical about such an impressive display but Malone quickly put things back into perspective when clinically reflecting on the overall performance.

“We played well at times and did our best to keep up the intensity, especially against such a strong wind but we also know that it wasn’t perfect. We hit a lot of wides [20 in total], conceded a few goals and Waterford put up a decent score too so we’ll have to look at that as well.

“The main thing I think was that we seemed to always be in control. Once Fitzy [David Fitzgerald] got the goal at the start of the second half, it helped push us on a bit and then the likes of Robin Mounsey, Shane Meehan and Adam Hogan came on and made a big impact.”

While the Banner buzz has certainly permeated around the entire county and beyond following such a scorching start to the summer, for the players it has been much more of an incremental blossoming process.

“It’s been building for the last two years to be honest with the amount of young lads coming through. Their skill and energy is fairly clear but they’ve really added to the group in that they’re good craic and are pushing us all at training since they’ve come in.

“So it has been building for a while now and we just need to keep that going and not get carried away with the few wins that we’ve had so far.”

The mere prospect of facing down an all-conquering Limerick side that have annexed the last two All-Ireland Senior titles along with a hat-trick of Munster crowns is sobering enough to refocus not just the minds as the Sixmilebridge player outlines.

“We just need to get the bodies right now, that will be our main focus for the next two weeks. As for the match itself, it’s great to go back to Thurles again but we know that we’re going to have another massive battle against Limerick who are the defending Munster and All-Ireland champions for a reason.”

Ennistymon native Malone will gladly hand back the captaincy to Tony Kelly for the Munster Final on Sunday week, safe in the knowledge that Clare are blessed with such an abundance of leaders right now that it doesn’t really matter who leads them out onto the field, it more about who leads them out on the field.

“It was a massive honour alright [to captain Clare] but I didn’t really think about that beforehand as we were just concentrated on getting the performance right, especially with a good few changes to the starting team.

“There are plenty of leaders out there [on the field] at the moment though and at different times, different players have stepped up when it was needed most.

“The most important thing now though is we can get our bodies back on track, continue to keep our heads down and work hard for Thurles.”