Veterans and youngsters added to senior Clare panel

Kilkee duo David Russell and Michael O’Shea have rejoined the Clare senior football panel as Micheál McDermott’s team prepare for the visit of Down in the first round of the All-Ireland qualifiers in Cusack Park on Saturday week.
Declan Callinan, another experienced inter-county footballer, has also linked up with the panel, while U-21s Stephen Tierney (St Breckan’s) and Seán O’Driscoll (Ennistymon) are now part of the panel as well. Diarmuid Daly has also returned to training following a long lay-off with injury. “There’s no doubt about it, they’ve added a bite to the panel and every one of these lads are going to be looking for a place in either the 15 or the 26 for Saturday week,” McDermott said of the new additions.
Clare have, of course, lost their team captain Gordon Kelly, who will be playing football with Connemara Gaels in Boston for the summer. The Miltown man was sanctioned under the 60-day rule on Monday of this week, having received what is called a USA J1 Sanction. That means that he will be eligible to play for Miltown in the second round of the senior football championship on the weekend of August 13/14.
McDermott told The Clare Champion that efforts were made to persuade the Clare centre-back to remain at home for the summer. “To be honest, there was an awful lot done for Gordon Kelly. The county board in particular have to be complimented on that fact. But Gordon decided himself that this was something he wanted to do and we respect his decision. Life moves on and we can’t dwell on the players that are missing. We have to concentrate on the players that are there. Without a doubt, everything was done to keep Gordon Kelly at home but he made his decision and we respect that,” McDermott stressed.
Clondegad man Gary Brennan, who is carrying a slight knee injury, has now been appointed captain.
“Without a doubt, he’s a different sort of captain to what Gordon would be,” McDermott said. “He’s a guy that’s very well respected among the panel. What I like about him is he encourages players around him in every position. You’ll never hear Gary Brennan giving out to a player. You’ll always hear Gary encouraging players. That’s what I think he brings to the captaincy. His leadership qualities are based around the performance he gives himself but he’s a great man to get the best out of players as well,” the Clare manager added.
As for the Down game at 3pm in Ennis on June 25, McDermott says that home advantage should be of some benefit to Clare.
“It’s the one positive out of it. But the one thing playing a team like Down is, there’ll be absolutely zero expectations of Clare to beat them. Whereas if you were going in against a Division 3 or 4 team, maybe there would be expectation there that you have to perform and get a win.
“Against Down, those expectations won’t be there but within the team themselves, every one of them is looking forward to the game. There’s no fear of Down, there’s no fear of what lies in front of them on Saturday week. It’s all going to be about our own performance,” the Monaleen mentor maintained.
To win, he acknowledges that Clare will have to produce a career-defining display all over Cusack Park.
“To be in with a chance of winning this game we need to give the performance of our lives. Every one of the players on that team has to be prepared to go out there and give that 10 out of 10 performance and make it happen. If we do that, as a management team, that’s all we can ask.
“But I firmly believe that it could get us a result if we can produce that performance. They’re not a big, physical, strong team. They’re a team that’s very much on a par with ourselves in the physical stakes. So they’re not a team that’s just going to walk through you with the physical strength of Cork that we found hard to cope with,” he said.
All county players will be involved in some crucial Cusack and Garry Cup games this weekend. They will return to training on Sunday with a video and pool session in preparation for Down.