This article is from page 93 of the 2007-07-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 93 JPG
IT WAS a tale of two teams, two managements too.
Clare players and the backroom of Paidi O Sé, Vincent O’Connor and Kieran Kelleher made a hasty retreat to the dressing room. They wanted out of Cusack Park after the end of what has been a very disappointing year for Clare football.
Apart from the early National League wins over Carlow and Lei- trim, it was a harrowing year, poll- forked by some very disappinting displays.
Take your pick: Monaghan in Cu- sack Park, Roscommon in Hyde Park and worst of all Waterford in Fraher Field. Throw in this Tommy Mur- phy Cup semi-final before a couple of hundred, hence the rush for the dressing room.
Antrim were in no hurry. Play- ers gathered at midfield — first they warmed down, then manager Enda Gormley talked about the road to Croke Park.
Antrim are on that Dublin road and this was a big win, went Gormley’s line as his side exacted some revenge for their defeat to Clare in an All-Ire- land qualifier in Casement Park last year.
Then Gormley broke away to field questions and talked about the importance of this victory for the development of Antrim football. “Certainly at half-time we had a lot of work to do,” admitted the former Tyrone star.
“Clare definitely had the lions share of possession in the first half when
we got caught too deep at times. But in the second half our defence did very well and coped with what Clare could throw at us. We broke well from defence and set up some great attacks.
“A big this for us was midfield in the second half. Joe Quinn put on a great display in the middle of the park and fielded eight or nine ereat balls. That gave us a platform. We were putting good ball into the spaces and forwards ran on to it very well,” he added.
And, no forward impressed more than Conor McGourty who finished with a personal tally of 1-5. Gormley wasn’t surprised. “Conor McGourty is an outstanding talent and we knew that this performance was in him. He’s just one of a number of out- standing players in this team.
“We take a lot of heart from this result and are looking forward to the final. It’s great for these lads. It’s a long time since these footballers played a game in Croke Park. Many people have made little of the Tommy Murphy Cup but for this team and its development it’s very important.
“It’s a big stepping stone — we’ve said that we’re using this year’s Tom- my Murphy Cup to build for next year’s National League campaign. The fellas have responded really well and we’re looking forward to our day out in Croker.”
Clare, meanwhile, look towards a very uncertain future.