This article is from page 87 of the 2008-01-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 87 JPG
IN THE space of twelve months, K1i- eran Kelliher has seen Clare exit the McGrath Cup at the first stage and make the final of the competition. He’s the only arm of the manage- ment team that links the 2007 season and the progress this year is clear to him.
“It’s an achievement getting to a final and the lads played some good football out there. We got a great start with the goal almost right after the throw-in, but they seemed to go into that comfort zone again.
“We were sliced open a couple of times and that was worrying. Joe Hayes made a couple of great saves but if CIT had taken those opportun1- ties, they’d have been back to two or three points. We’d have been forced to start over again and establish out lead.”
The McGrath Cup, as always, has been used by Clare as a springboard to the league, a vehicle for establish- ing the best 15 come early February. But it’s been more than just a compe-
tition to blow early season cobwebs eee
The preparation has been ongo- ing since mid-winter and the fruits are showing. Still, Kelliher believes some more work is required.
“You have to say that CIT caused us some problems. They ran at us through the middle and we’ll have to tighten that up. If we’re going to com- pete with the county teams come the league, we’ll have to make sure they don’t get the goal chances that CIT got. Simple as that. But we’re still us- ing the McGrath Cup to look at play- ers in different positions. Nothing’s decided on yet and the team is still open.”
So far, 23 players have been used, discounting Greg Lyons, Garry Bren- nan and John Hayes who were each involved for their college. The pool of talent, Kelliher says, is increas- ing and improving. Fitness levels are high and competition for places is rising.
‘““We’ve wanted to have a look at as many players as possible and we’ve done that. We still haven’t stopped
looking and that’s the message we want to send out.”
One of those to resume training in the past fortnight was David Russell. He was named to start wing forward, was replaced on the starting 15 by Kevin Larkin but eventually made an appearance with 12 minutes left.
“This was David’s second week back and it’s been a big plus for us. He’s a strong player, a team player.”
Sunday is Clare’s fourth game in a month and it brings added incentive.
‘“There’s only four or five lads in- volved this year who already have a McGrath Cup medal. They’ll want to finish the competition on a high note, but we won’t take too much for eranted against Limerick. They’re the first county side we’ll have met.”