The wheel comes full circle for Shane Daniels as he marks his 25th adult season with a senior final appearance today (Sunday).
Having started as a sub-goalkeeper in the 2000 decider win against Doonbeg, the former county star now finds himself in a novel goalkeeper/selector role once more for his second final in three years as he looks to finally break his Kilmurry Ibrickane hoodoo.
“It’s funny how it works out alright, I had to get surgery on my knee after the Clare minor campaign in 2000 but ended up playing Under 21 in goals and was then named as sub goalkeeper in the 2000 final. The following year I was playing at full-forward so that was my goalkeeping career over then or so I thought.”
Fast forward to 2004 and a young Daniels was made to suffer his second senior final reverse in three years, this time in much more agonising circumstances at the hands of Sunday’s opponents.
“When played them in the 2004 final and should have won it the first day as we led by a big score but ended up having to go to a replay which they won and went on to win the Munster that year.”
A return to the winners’ enclosure in 2006 was subsequently offset by successive final defeats in 2007 and 2014 despite being captain of both but having hung up his outfield boots in 2020, he would receive an unlikely reprieve as goalkeeper only two years later.
“It was mainly Paul’s I think. He was kind of sounding me out a bit as Nathan Murray who had been in goals for the win in 2021 had gone traveling while the next goalkeeper coming through was very young at the time so he felt that we needed a bit of experience in that position especially with the ways things have developed in terms of restarts and stuff.
“He asked me would I go in for a league game and it kind of went from there. He wasn’t promising anything and I wasn’t committing to anything either but once I got in there and got accustomed to it, It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
“The way things have gone, 90% of it is about distribution. Organising, distributing and communicating with the back-line are the main traits of a goalkeeper these days. There’s as much prep as actual onfield practice as you’re studying teams and we’re fortunate now to be in an era when practically every game is being recorded so you spend times looking at opposing teams and seeing how they set-up.
“Now it doesn’t always work out that way as some teams change the way they play even within matches but the homework does help to prepare yourself for the next challenge.
“The main advantage I do have over the other selectors is that I have a perfect view of the defensive shape. Sometimes it’s difficult to see that fully from the sideline and we talk about that regularly after games.”
So has the game changed much in other ways since the turn of the millennium?
“It was a more direct game when I started out while now it’s more a possession game. Teams look after the ball far better and are set up more defensively. But I’d like to think that Éire Óg are a good footballing team too so I think we have a decent mix of both styles really.
“I mean we’ve very athletic players than can carry the ball but we also have strong finishers in front of goal as well.
“Overall, the squad at the moment is extremely strong. I mean we’re backboned by current inter-county players and ex-county players and we have plenty of young players coming through as well, the likes of Luke Pyne and them bursting through and doing his best to get on the team.
“So the team have gotten better but our standards have gotten better as well in terms of what we expect out of the team and what they expect from themselves. I think that’s been the biggest thing over the past three or four years.”
One thing that definitely hasn’t changed is that Kilmurry Ibrickane are still the team to beat in Clare, having contested six of the last nine finals.
“You have to admire them too because they manage to hold on to their experienced lads and get the most out of them and also always seem to bring through new players all the time too. But they always play a good style of football and are always very hard beat.
“They’ve been a credit to the Clare championship, they really have and their tradition and know-how really stands to them.”
So will the opening tie between the sides have any bearing on Sunday’s showdown?
“Both teams have changed a lot since. It was the first day out and both were probably blowing off the cobwebs a bit so I don’t think it will count for anything come Sunday. We’re a lot different side than we were then and they are as well, having watched some of their matches along the way.
“Look, they’re going to be looking for revenge for the 2021 final but we lost a semi-final last year in tough circumstances too so our guys were obviously hurt from that, really hurt in fact, The one thing you can say about us this year is that we’ve been very focused. Our aim was to get back to a county final so we’ve that done now so we’re not going to lose our focus now.
“Last year hurt bad so we’ve an opportunity on Sunday to hopefully right the wrong of last year.”