This article is from page 103 of the 2007-06-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 103 JPG
SO FAR, 2007 has been annus hor- ribulus for Clare hurling.
Not all to do with the controversies engendered by the Davie Fitz, Sem- plegate, Tony Carmody, Ger Ward and Dave Mahedy affairs. Some- thing to do with results as well. A poor league followed by a poorer start to the championship.
A case of bad to worse. Casement Park on Saturday afternoon is when things have to start getting better. Win and the Clare hurlers throw themselves a lifeline and march on- wards and upwards to a mouth wa- tering clash with Galway in Cusack eevee LUA awe
Lose and Clare hurling isn’t so much as staring into the abyss — more
a case of plummeting head long into a black hole. They aren’t contemplat- ing the latter, only the former as the wagons are being circles by Tony Considine and his team this week.
It seems anything that could go wrong has gone wrong in the build up to the All-Ireland qualifier. The county board refused to bow to Con- sidine’s request for club champion- ship games to be put on hold until af- ter Clare’s All-Ireland race was run.
Power to clubs preached the top table, while Considine launched a verbal broadside when saying “all I’ve wanted since I came into the job was to have a fair crack of the whip. One some level you begin to wonder if some sections would prefer to see you fail”.
It’s this siege mentality that’s driv-
ing Clare this week — the overwhelm- ing feeling from those involved in the team is that they’re in this thing on their own. Without board back- ing, especially from the rump within the board that want Tony Considine to fall on his own sword.
That state of siege is added to when you factor in suspensions to Alan Markham, Colin Lynch, Barry Nugent and Andrew Quinn and a mounting injury crisis with the Clare squad.
The Clare quartet were suspended by the Competitions Controls Com- mittee for their part in the fracas with Cork, while their one-match bans were upheld on appeal last Thursday night.
Since then things have got worse, with fresh injuries clouding Clare
preparations for their journey north. On top of the absence of Whitegate’s Brendan Bugler, Newmarket-on-Fer- cus’ Bernard Gaffney has been ruled out, as has Clooney-Quin’s Fergal Lynch.
Meanwhile, both Jonathon Clancy and Kevin Dilleen are in a race to be fit for the clash against the UI- ster champions, which has prompted manager Tony Considine to delay naming his starting 15 until the day om elemestclceey
Only then will Clare’s small trav- elling support know the team. Only then will the wagons be fully cir- rer