Tag Archives: Enda Coughlan

No Clareman has more Croke Park experience than Enda Coughlan — as a player and a selector the Kilmurry Ibrickane legend goes all the way back to when he was just 18 and starting out on his inter-county career, writes Joe Ó Muircheartaigh, looking ahead to this Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-final. “IT’S still only a field at the end of the day,” muses Enda Coughlan when talking about Croke Park, but he quickly qualifies his statement by explaining what makes the place different and how it plays differently. “You get used to playing on different pitches,” he explains, “and when you’re not used to it, it’s different for a while. I’ve been lucky enough to play there and it’s the feel of it — it seems to play bigger than probably everywhere else. “There’s a tricky wind coming in there and it’s getting used to it. When you don’t get to play there that often it takes time to settle so …

When Kilmurry Ibrickane’s newest member Joe Campbell was born almost 18 years ago, Enda Coughlan had already garnered his first county senior medal the previous Autumn. On Sunday, he bids for a historic tenth title and in typical ageless fashion, is as influential as ever in Kilmurry Ibrickane’s engine room as the Clare selector continues to pull the strings for the defending champions. So what is it that keeps Coughlan coming back for more? “Look, as I keep saying to the younger lads, these days might’t last forever and I think definitely as you get older, you appreciate it a lot more heading into these games. “Look, if you don’t win a final, you may as well have been beaten in the first round, that’s my own opinion. I mean it’s great getting to finals but if you don’t win them, they’re a tough blow to take so with a good few younger lads coming through at the moment, hopefully …

CLARE and Kilmurry Ibrickane footballer Enda Coughlan is hoping that he will be given the all clear to resume playing on March 5. The 29 year old Garda injured the cruciate in his left knee playing championship football for his club in Doonbeg against Kilkee last July. Since the operation on September 9, Coughlan has been training six nights weekly in the gym and on the running track. “It’s coming on very well. I was up with (surgeon) Ray Moran before Christmas and he said that there is only 14% strength deficit between the legs. Once that’s down to 10% you can go back playing. I have a few other things to work on and I’m back up to him then on March 5 and hopefully I’ll be cleared to play then,” the Clare utility footballer told The Clare Champion this week. Coughlan has been told that gaining full confidence in the repaired knee is possibly the most difficult step …