This article is from page 80 of the 2007-11-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 80 JPG
CLARE county football cranks back into gear tonight (Tuesday) with the first training session of the new sea- son, a full two months ahead of last season’s return.
It’s the third manager in as many years for the footballers and while the exact make-up of the league squad won’t be known for a number of weeks, some new additions are likely to be included when the panel is pared down.
The early start brings renewed
Structure, a direction that has been welcomed by players involved under recent appointment Frank Doherty. “Players have had a rough enough time of it over the past couple of sea- sons, maybe they lost their way at times and we decided to get together to bring some guidance back,” said Doherty. “I want to get to know play- ers and know what they’re about. Put faces to names. There’s no point in starting out for the season a couple of weeks after Christmas and maybe a fortnight to go before a McGrath Cup game. The bottom line is that
we want to get belief back in Clare football that’s been missing for the past while.”
With the addition of Kilkenny to the footballers league group, it means the spring will be action filled and if Clare can put together a decent McGrath Cup run, close to a dozen hours of competitive football could be played before the championship Torta DENSE
“It’s important to get some work under the belt at this stage,” adds Doherty. “All going well, the core fitness will increase and the lads
will be able to play at a high tempo throughout the league.”
Some dovetailing for those involved in the Under 21s is also expected.
“In all, I’m hoping for 28 to 30 lads at the first training. Some will be in- volved in Under 21 training and I’d expect a lot to be involved with us as well. On top of that, we have lads involved with Sigerson who won’t be available immediately and there isn’t any issue there. We want the entire panel to know what the game plan is and what’s expected in terms of physical condition.”