New champions to emerge from unique senior final

Earlier in the summer when St Breckan’s slumped to a disappointing Cusack Cup Final defeat by neighbours Ennistymon, and Cratloe were defeated by Kildysart at the group stage, few could have predicted they would be the two teams marching behind the Tulla Pipe Band on County Final Day.
Having steadily improved throughout the championship, St Breckan’s and Cratloe are deservedly taking their place on Clare football’s biggest occasion this Sunday (3pm).
St Breckan’s are contesting their first final since 1996 as their unquenchable quest for a first-ever Jack Daly trophy has intensified while it’s nine years since Cratloe last tasted senior football glory albeit that they have contested finals in 2016 and ’20.
Cathal McInerney, Podge and Sean Collins, Liam Markham and Enda Boyce are all that remain from the starting line-up in their breakthrough senior triumph a decade ago, with that experience invaluable in such a novel final pairing.

Breck-ing the mould

While it’s this generation’s first county senior final, St Breckan’s have matured as a team and this year have really changed their approach from the flamboyant attacking style they have adopted since their promotion from Intermediate in 2019.
They were very disappointed with last year’s quarter-final defeat to neighbours Ennistymon and realised that a change in approach was required if they were going to take their game to the next level.
Following the departure of Donie Garrihy who had put the foundations in place, Declan O’Keeffe, who had worked under the current Oscar Traynor manager, stepped up to take over the manager role. The Rathmore native did it all as a player and gained valuable experience playing under legendary Kerry managers Páidi O Sé and Jack O’Connor, not to mention as a Clare coach under Sunday’s direct opponent Colin Collins.
For his first managerial role, he brought in Odran O’Dwyer as coach, a man who certainly knows what it takes to be a winner having won seven county titles and two Munster Club medals with his native Kilmurry Ibrickane.
They are now setting up in a more defensive formation, tending to keep 13 men inside their own ’65 to really frustrate the opposition. They tackle hard and force turnovers and counter-attack at pace with Colm O Brien and Cian Burke leading the charge.
Liam Tierney, while playing at midfield, tends to sit in front of the half-back line when they are attacking, Alan Sweeney is the playmaker, a vital part of the defence while also getting forward to good effect as shown in the semi-final when he created a goal chance for Shane Fitzpatrick who was fouled for a penalty that Joe McGann duly converted.
If they are to win on Sunday though, the Lisdoonvarna/Doolin/Kilshanny based side need to score more from play. After all, they failed to score from open play in the semi-final until five minutes into the second half and depended on the electric McGann for inspiration and perspiration, a reliance that paid dividends last time out as he was the ultimate difference between the sides with 1-4 to his name.
O’Keeffe and Co. do have a big call to make for the goalkeeping position since last year’s number one Tristan O Callaghan has returned from his travels and rejoined the panel. If anyone is qualified to make this decision however, it’s the two-time All-Star and All-Ireland winning Kerry goalkeeper. It would be an extremely hard call to drop Mark O’Donnell who hasn’t really done anything wrong, having played like a sweeper at times and is also comfortable on the ball.
Kick-outs are a major part of the modern game though and therefore will be fundamental to the result on Sunday. Invariably, St Breckan’s are content to give up their opponent’s kick-out and instead set-up to engage on the ’65. For example, in the semi-final against St Joseph’s Miltown a fortnight ago, St Breckan’s only pushed up on four of their opponent’s 17 restarts, winning just one.
At the other end of the field, Mark O’Donnell’s favoured restart, being right-footed, is to the left wing. Nine of his 19 against Miltown were aimed there while five were central and five more went out right. When Miltown catapulted Gordon Kelly forward in the second half, St Breckan’s struggled on their own kick-out and were forced to go long, losing four of their nine in this pressurised period. However, they did snatch back full control in extra-time, winning 80% of their own kick-outs.
Defensively, the North Clare side will have to try and limit the supply to Cathal McInerney. By dint of their defensive formation, sheer numbers will automatically aid that primary concern but more specifically, Raphael Considine is expected to be tasked with keeping McInerney at close quarters.
They will also need to curb Podge Collins’ influence, and this will be their most difficult job as the former dual inter-county star is as elusive as ever, possessing an insatiable appetite to steer his native club back to the top of the Clare football ladder. Cratloe’s lynchpin will work, run, tackle, take players on and shoot, and how well he plays will go a long way to deciding the result. Paddy Doherty is anticipated to be given this unenviable shadowing role as he has proven to be a very adept man-marker throughout the championship.

Rejuvenated Cratloe

At the start of this campaign, the general feeling was that Cratloe faced a tough task to make it out of the group and that their clash with intermediate champions Kildysart would probably decide third place, So when Cratloe lost that second round encounter in Cusack Park two months ago, they seemed destined to follow their hurling counterparts in exiting at the group stages.
However, with their backs firmly pressed against the wall, they admirably came out fighting for a do-or-die clash with last year’s finalists Ennistymon, producing a refreshingly rousing display of pressing, work-rate and tackling along with an outstanding midfield display from Diarmuid Ryan who scored two goals. And all this without their injured talisman Podge Collins. Next up were Kilmurry Ibrickane, a team Cratloe had never beaten in knock-out football, with another gritty display teeing up a semi-final showdown with back-to-back county champions Éire Óg.
Despite those previous barnstorming displays, Colm Collins’ side were largely written off and following a bad start when conceding the first six points, the narrative appeared to be adhering to that pre-match script.
However, a lifeline goal before the break provided a glimmer of hope that they fully capitalised upon on the resumption as they pressed the Éire Óg kick-out and outworked the holders, despite being a man down for the majority of the second half.
On three separate occasions, Cratloe appeared beaten but crucially never lowered their heads and after forcing extra-time and subsequently penalties, they did possess the cooler heads to deservedly win the day.
One key trait that one would have always associated with Cratloe was their loyalty to their principles of playing attacking football. This year however, they have been much more fluid and that tactical adaptability has predominantly depended on their opponents formation.
Keeping two forwards in the opposition half, mainly Cathal McInerney and Conal O’Hanlon, everyone else is defending but when they attack, Cratloe keep two defenders back, mostly Kevin Harnett and Enda Boyce to mind the house while everyone else is bombing forward. This type of game requires huge work-rate and fitness and they won’t be found wanting in that department after appearing the fresher side after 80 minutes of intense action against the outgoing champions.
When they turn St Breckan’s over, they will need on occasion to give direct ball into the forwards to try and breach their opponent’s defensive wall.
In terms of kick-outs, they gave up all of Éire Óg’s in the first half to perhaps lull the defending champions into a false sense of security, only to do the opposite for the new half, winning four of the Townies’ restarts and putting serious pressure on the ones they didn’t win. In total, they won six out of 21 Eire Og kick-outs but that was sufficient to do a lot of damage and alter the complexion of the entire contest.
On their own kick-out, Padraigh Chaplin, a left-footed kicker, prefers to go across his body to the right wing. If that isn’t on, he attempts to go short down the middle as evidenced by his 25 kicks against the holders that went right eleven times and central on ten occasions.
To win on Sunday, Cratloe will need to create space in the St Breckan’s defence and at some stage, press high, force long kick-outs and trust the Diarmuid Ryan/Tommy Rooney partnership to win this battle.
They will have to limit the frees they concede as St Breckan’s tend to win a lot of frees when running at teams. A tight rein on Joe McGann is a prerequisite and this task will probably fall to David Collins. Captain Kevin Harnett could be earmarked to pick up Jamie Stack, with Liam Markham shadowing Shane Fitzpatrick.
In a really close battle between two evenly matched teams, Cratloe possess the bigger spread of scorers thus far and if they can emulate if not surpass their work rate from the semi-final, the Jack Daly could be destined for the South East of the county for the first time in nine years.