This article is from page 93 of the 2007-04-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 93 JPG
MICHAEL Considine was an ani- mated figure on the Gaelic Grounds sideline on Saturday afternoon.
It was a combination of trying to get his team going, exhorting them to ereater heights and venting his anger at some of the decisions that didn’t go his team’s way.
The latter is something that Con- sidine was thinking about after the game – the injustice done to Clare twice in the first half when they were playing catch-up after Limerick scin- SD UE-lenerea eva
“T’m not making excuses but I thought the refereeing was a dis- grace, said Considine about Mau- rice Condon’s handling of the game.
‘The decisions that went against us were unbelieveable. Gary Leahy was pulled up by the referee after he took a free, while Enda Lyons should have been awarded a penalty. He was defi- nitely pulled back. When those things gO against you it makes it harder. We needed scores badly at that stage but didn’t get them,” he added.
However, the refereeding aside, Considine admitted that it was a very disappointing display by his charges after they play some fantastic foot- ball in the drawn game three days previously.
“We were flat, very flat,” he admit- ted. “The start killed us, to concede 2-3 of a start to Limerick meant we were chasing the game and it was al- ways going to be very hard to come oye) que ueyeemset.le
“But we battled hard and I can’t fault the lads for the effort they put in the game. They got it back to four
points with four minutes remaining which showed the character that’s in this side,” he added.
This character will be needed in spades on Wednesday when they re- turn to the Gaelic Grounds to take on a Tipperary side that went down by 3-7 to Q-10 in their opening round tie in Limerick.
“lve watched the DVD of Tip- perary’s game against Kerry last Wednesday. They are a typical Tip- perary team – they’re big and strong and will be very hard to beat. We know that they will be hard to beat, Tipperary teams always are at under- age level,’ said Considine.
‘“We’re hopeful that the lads will lift it now but it’s crazy that they’re being asked to play a third cham- pionship game in seven days. The GAA have established a committee to look into player burn-out yet they wouldn’t consider putting back this game by a few days.
“But were going to get on with it. We have injury worries that we carried into Saturday’s game, Dav- id Connole has a rib injury while Michael McDonagh has ankle trou- ble. Your midfield is crucial and we ll just have to wait and see how they are on Wednesday.”
Clare’s preparations for the tie started after their defeat on Saturday when they had a pool session in The Bunratty Shannon Shamrock Hotel. “We’ll have another pool session be- fore Wednesday and then take our chance,” said Considine. “If we can get over Tipperary, we have Water- ford to look forward to and we could yet reach a semi-final against Cork. That’s what we have to aim for.”