McInerney puts down a marker

Cratloe’s Cathal McInerney has put down a marker for the Clare senior hurling management team as they turn their attentions to making plans for their All-Ireland quarter-final meeting with Galway on Sunday week.

A member of the panel for the past couple of seasons, many followers have been surprised that he hasn’t made more appearances with the senior squad.

Called into the action at Thurles on Saturday, he certainly delivered with 2-1 in the first period of extra time.
“We had a lot of wides in the first half, a lot in normal time and we were lucky to get out of it with a win in the end. Hopefully we will knuckle down for the next two weeks ahead of the quarter-final. It will be a big challenge,” he told The Clare Champion.

The dual player said he wasn’t sure how many wides the team actually had but guessed it was in the 20s. “It was one of those days. Hopefully we will work on that in training and get it right,” he added.
Asked about his goals against Wexford, he paid tribute to his clubmate Conor McGrath.

“Conor set up both goals. He does that a lot. We have a good understanding. When he gets the ball you just know where to go. It’s an understanding we have and hopefully we can keep that going.”

According to McInerney “if we had converted the chances we could have been out safely. It was nail-biting stuff in the end and thankfully it went our way”.
Looking ahead to the quarter final he said, “Galway will present a ‘massive challenge’. They will want to bounce back from their defeat in the Leinster final. We have a tough challenge ahead and the target is to get to the semi-final. We haven’t been in this territory for a good while and it’s one we are looking forward to,” he concluded.