This article is from page 90 of the 2007-07-31 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 90 JPG
A FLOPPY ham sandwich in one hand, half a bottle of Lucozade gripped tightly in the other. It was a slightly perplexed Tony Considine that faced the thicket of reporters outside the Clare dressing room af- ter his side had gone down by seven points to Limerick.
His mood was quickly explained. Missed chances. Clare had too many of them.
The Clare manager said his side’s failure to score at critical junctures in the game was the main reason for their exit from the All-Ireland se- ries.
He was also full of praise for Lim- erick, a side he said were better pre- pared for the contest by virtue of their rigorous four-game Munster campaign.
He said, “you can’t afford to miss the chances we missed and expect to win a match, especially in the first half. We missed goals that we should have got. Look it we came up, as un- derdogs and I knew that. People were building up Limerick and things like that. This is a god Limerick team make no mistake about it. They will put it up to anyone left in the cham- pionship. Jesus lads, you can’t af- ford to miss the chances we missed. Whatever you do whether you do it wrong in training, it’s just maybe fel- las don’t see the posts when they get out there. At the end of the day when you miss those chance you’re not en- titled to win those matches, you’re not entitled to win the match.
“We died and we came back again and we brought it back to three points. Of course we gave away a very soit goal as well. In Croke Park you get mistakes like that, you get mistakes. The one thing that you have to do is get over them. Everyone can make a mistake; I can make them myself as well. At the end of the day, I think Limerick deserved to win. They were the better team and I wish them the best.”
Considine also revealed that Gerry Quinn’s selection was in doubt right up until he took the field in Croke Park.
Quinn, who lined out at centre back, wasn’t expected to start due to a knee
ligament injury. However, a late fit- ness test at the team hotel and the pre-match warm up, convinced Con- sidine and his selectors that Quinn was fit to play.
With three players making their Croke Park debut — Philip Brennan, Brendan Bugler and Bernard Gaff- ney — Considine said inexperience played its part.
“There was inexperience as well. We made silly mistakes as well. They came back they got the fourth
point and the fifth and the sixth. That kind of kills a team as well. I thought our lads gave everything as well. I can’t fault any of them lads for the effort they gave out there. Lynch has been a superb man for years, I think he has been superb for the last thirty years. He gives it everything. You can’t fault anyone. Everyone goes out there to do they’re best. I done my best for the team as well same as Pat O’Connor, Ciaran O’Neill and Tim Crowe. We did our best and it wasn’t
good enough today.”
The sandwich now gone, Consid- ine drained the last of the Lucozade before taking questions on his own JaUUHUNRon
After a stormy year at the helm, the Cratloe man gave no indication whether or not he would like to con- tinue in the role.
‘Well I have been shot so may times this year that a few more bullets won’t do me any harm at this stage. That’s for another day, maybe that’s
for other people, maybe that’s for an- other day. You don’t think about that now.
“We all know what sport is and we all know what tragedy is as well. Sport is only part of our life. We give or best everyday we do it, whether that’s at club, county or any other level.”