This article is from page 76 of the 2007-10-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 76 JPG
AS THE success starved Tulla fans flooded the field to greet the players, it was easy to mistake Jim McInerney for the politican who stood before the people in the 2004 local elections. Everyone wanted his hand.
Young kids took photos and asked for autographs and there was no doubting who they believed was the chief architect of this victory. In es- sence, Jim McInerney is the epitome of Tulla hurling. He manages the team how he played the game him- self, throwing everything into it. As he stormed up and down the sideline,
hitting every ball in his mind during the game, his raw emotions came to the fore.
He longed for this day – when Tulla could take their place amongst the club’s great teams of the past. He has always believed in his players and they have equally responded this year. But, he was still in disbelief that it had finally happened.
“It is a proud day, there is no doubt and it’s great to finally win it. That’s what we have always strived for and now we have it, it is hard to believe we have it.”
But he is also quick to remember the other side of the coin too, deem-
ing it rather unfair that Crusheen had to lose such a close final.
“VL tell you, my feelings are with Crusheen too. They gave us a great battle. There was nothing in it in the end, they were very unlucky not to score a goal at the end and I hope someday, they will go on and win the senior title because they are there a long time without it and they have a lot of great work done for hurling. They have been knocking on the door for the last four or five years and hopefully their day will come as well.”
McInerney could certainly feel the tension on the sideline as the game
hung in the balance. He looked as exhausted as any player who played in the decider but felt that despite in- juries to key players, his squad lived up to expectation.
“Andrew Quinn was a huge loss to us and I think it upset our team prob- ably for the last 20 minutes of the first half. But we regrouped at half-time and we played the kind of passion- ate hurling that took us through the quarter and semi finals. Sean Torpey in fairness to him, he got man of the match there. He caught some massive ball inside in the square where it was most dangerous. He dominated that area and came away with the ball.
“But it was a tremendous display by all our backs. Mark Quinn had a great game at centre-back again and our two corners were massive as were the two wing-backs.
“It was a great performance defen- sivewise. But Crusheen have great backs too and they made life awful hard for us and our forwards. As a result, with two great sets of backs, it was a low scoring game. It was a very tight battle right to the end and we just got through it in the end. Just about!”’
But justified as well. A one point victory and McInerney is on top of the pile.