Off The Fence With Fergie O’Loughlin

We were looking for fireworks ahead of last weekend’s quarter-final action and thankfully they arrived. The safety net was gone so teams set about laying down a marker and really going at it.

The standout game for me was in Sixmilebridge between Inagh-Kilnamona and Feakle. We thought it was going to be a titanic battle in a tight setting, and we saw Inagh-Kilnamona coming through a real battle after extra-time. Now the question becomes about whether this is the real Inagh-Kilnamona that we have been expecting to emerge over the last few years and taking their place at the top table. They took a scalp against Cratloe a few weeks ago and now followed that up with a real battling display. The big thing now for Fergal Hegarty over the next week will be to keep his crew grounded and make sure that they are ready for what will be another massive test against Sixmilebridge.

Eire Óg might have lost to Sixmilebridge but in many ways they will be happy with their year. They have cleared the decks and got the most committed players on the panel and they really tested the team who are favourites to lift the Canon. The break from competitive action for Sixmilebridge might have had an impact in that they were probably not as sharp as they would have wanted to be. Now that they are into the last four, they are a really dangerous prospect. The time to catch the Bridge has always been early in the championship, but they are a different animal at this stage of the year. The concern for them will be that their record against Inagh-Kilnamona is not great, and that even rang true in the Clare Cup this year. Overall, the Bridge will be happy to be in the last four still knowing that there is more improvement to come and they will be really focused on making sure they do that.

There will be a lot of people in Ballyea very concerned about their performance against Crusheen. It was a far cry from the team we saw last year on a few fronts. Their battling qualities that we have lauded them for so much in recent years really seemed to be lacking. Everyone knows that their marquee players are the ones that win them games but everyone else usually rows in with a savage work-rate that just did not seem to be there. There will be serious questions asked as to why that happened. From a Crusheen point of view, I have been saying they are the real dark horses and here they are now into the last four. They have been really solid in every facet of the game but I was really impressed with the work ethic right through the team. They work and play as a unit and they are getting the best out of each other. There is a new life to this team and that has come about from the younger lads they have brought onto the scene this year. That has been a major positive and I think it will be cracking game when they meet Cratloe.

As for Cratloe, it was a case of the old dog for the road. It was a typical example of their leaders really standing up when they were needed and they delivered. Clonlara will probably be disappointed with their year for the next few weeks but they will take a lot of positives from it too. They blooded a good few young lads and they must now keep going with the process and follow it through. They got rid of a few from the panel that maybe were not serving the jersey in the way they should have been and now they have a great blend to build on. I tipped Cratloe at the start and I was left confused after the game against Inagh-Kilnamona as to where it left them, but they have recovered and are now in a great position to get back into another county final. They have a chance to amend for what happened last year which I would imagine is still leaving a sick feeling in their gut as to how they lost it.

At the other end of the scale, I think it will do no harm to Tulla to have gone down. They need to regroup and refocus and they would not have had the time or space to do that in the senior ranks. It might give them that bit of breathing space in a championship in which they will be very competitive. They just looked out of sorts this year at senior level. Now the focus will be on bringing through more of the younger brigade and getting the focus back on that battling spirit and pride which is what a club like Tulla is all about.