Month: January 2008

LAST YEAR, Clare travelled to Dr Cullen Park in the league opener, played well. When Carlow moved through the gears in the second-half, Clare responded and came home e100 MAA n OE

It was Clare’s highlight of the year

and already, even without the league beginning, they’ve eclipsed last year’s achievements.

On Sunday, Carlow come to Ennis in the reverse fixture and Clare will expect a similar performance and re- sult to that of 2007. Crucially, they will also expect and should continue their winning habit throughout the

league.

Despite Carlow’s draw with Dublin in the O’Byrne Cup and despite Paul Bealin’s introduction and a fresh at- titude in ther panel, Clare won’t have any serious reservations about the Carlow challenge. Dublin took them down at the weekend in the O’ Byrne Cup replay with a weak side and had

eight points to spare in the process.

The starting 15 against Carlow will hold the most interest from a Clare perspective. The back four should remain the same from the McGrath Cup final and Niall Considine — who wasn’t available for selection on Sun- day — should come in at wing-back, possibly at the expense of Jimmy yeah

Gordon Kelly has done enough at centre-back to keep the jersey. He’s been one of the county’s most con- sistent players over the past two years and he provides the spine Frank Do- herty needs.

During the McGrath Cup campaign, Clare have tried to coax a handful of players back onto the panel. So far, they haven’t budged but a slice of success in January will provide more bargaining power.

Garry Brennan will push for se- lection on Sunday, but the feeling is that Clare will stay with the midfield of Darragh Kelly and Frank O’Dea — though O’Dea picked up a knock to the back against Limerick.

Clare need Brennan and one other player pushing for a second midfield spot while Brennan also provides an option closer to goal. David Russell, of course, would provide the pres- ence needed in the middle but he was used effectively against Limerick — in his first start of the year — as, es- sentially, a third midfielder. Joe Hay- es could have used him more from his kickouts and whenever he did, particularly late on, Russell revelled. Though he’s been with the panel for less than a month, he already looks fit and sharp.

If Clare need some competition for

midfield places, then they also need two more forwards of inter-county standard. Michael O’Shea is an ob- vious starter on the 40 and Stephen Hickey has held his place throughout the McGrath Cup.

David ‘Tubridy has one corner locked up and Rory Donnelly might get the other. If not, Hickey could move to the corner, opening other options out the field.

The real decision comes at full-for- ward. Before Sunday, the feeling here is that Timmy Ryan was ahead in Clare’s pecking order but once more, Colm Dillon came on and made an immediate impact.

While both provide obvious pres- ence and height — thus increasing depth and penetration — they each bring different qualities to the table. Dillon is arguably better in the air and has a strong relationship with Tubridy. Ryan is the more rounded footballer but still lacks match sharp- ness. It’s a close call, but Ryan will Start.

Sean Collins, Keith Whelan, Fintan Conway, the Larkins and John Hayes will also have contributions to make and Doherty hasn’t been afraid to make fast personnel decisions during elses. 00a len

It’s a dog-eared cliché to state that Clare must win their home games, but a five from five start to the season is within Clare’s grasp.

DIFFERENT year, different Clon- lara performance but the same Jim Gully. As ever, the Clonlara manager was his animated self on the sideline as he watched his charges take on Galway side Tommy Larkins. Yet for the first time since possibly the semi- final against Killanena in 2006, his post match mood was one of under- standable disappointment yet im- mense pride in his players.

“We’re definitely disappointed by not winning it but I don’t think we can have any excuses. I think the bet- ter team won, I don’t have have quar- rels about that. I thought even in the first half we were very lucky to be six points apiece at half time. They had all the hurling done and I even said to the boys at half time that I thought the wind was going to suit them play- ing into it in the second half because it would have stopped the balls from going wide.

“In fact they killed the game well by slowing it down and we never got to the pace of it. I never thought we were in a comfortable position where we were going to drive on. Maybe the time we got the goal that was dis- allowed, we might have drove on af- ter that but I think our heads dropped and they definitely got a wind from it.”

Clonlara never really reached the lofty heights of previous games. The spark that ignited inspirational per- formances against Killanena, Car- rgitwohill and Lorrha just wasn’t there and even though the supporters stayed on to the bitter end awaiting another comeback, it never really materialised.

“I thought with ten minutes to go that it was going to take an unmerci-

ful effort to get out of it because we weren’t creating chances which was different for us. In past games, we al- ways had a forward running through and maybe they would get the ball to him but that wasn’t happening to- day. Apart from that one chance that was disallowed, I don’t think we ever threatened their goalkeeper and that was worrying me.”

The loss of Donal Madden was cer- tainly a factor on Sunday. Having got

seven points in their last outing in the Munster Final against Dromin-Ath- lacca, his influence from both open play and frees was crucial to Clon- lara all year but while Gully agreed, he wasn’t making any excuses.

“We knew we were coming in here under fierce pressure without Donal Madden but they were missing one or two of their fellas as well. I think probably the experience of being there two years ago, they knew how

to kill the game. Tommy Larkins played like a senior team today, we probably didn’t and we were just that little bit more naive.”

It may be the end of the road for their All-Ireland challenge this year but with a senior championship to look forward to, Gully now feels his side can make an impact at the highest level of Clare hurling, seeing last year’s successes as a huge learn- ing curve for his players for the year

ahead.

“We are definitely looking forward to playing senior. As I said to the lads inside, from a management point of view, I would gladly swap playing in the All-Ireland final on Saturday week to be in the county final next September. I would gladly swap it all but from the players point of view, from the day you are born all you ever want to do is play in Croke Park. That was their chance and that’s why I feel so sorry for them today but we ll definitely be looking at giving the Clare senior championship aright good go this year. We have a good, lively team and they will learn from today and from what happened last year. I think we proved today that we are no flash in the pan either. I mean we put it up to Tommy Larkins who were there two years ago and it came down to a puck of a ball really. We can play better than we did today, that would be my reading of it.

“But It has been a real rollercoast- er and I am just delighted to have played a small part in it and I’m sure I speak for Niall (Hogan) and Kieran (Whelan) as well. It 1s just a pleasure to work with those lads and It been a fantastic year and hopefully now this year we can drive on, make it count and be up there with the best of them.”

Accepting second best is not in Jim Gully’s vocabulary. The rest of the county beware.

A TOP level meeting is going ahead this week to prioritise key tourism marketing actions which are needed immediately and will now be pos- sible as the Government has an- nounced €3 million in funding to meet Open Skies.

Commenting on the Government announcement of the fund, a Shan- non Development spokesperson said, “It is good that we have certainty and commitment for a dedicated fund which will allow us to move forward

without delay and use the funds to implement a top-class North Amer1i- can tourism marketing campaign. As part of the implementation group for the allocation of the funds, Shan- non Development will meet early next week with the other appointed representatives to prioritise a set of key tourism marketing actions which will be undertaken immediately.” The plan, which will result in an an- ticipated €15 to €20 million over the next few years, will be implemented by tourism interests in the region. It incorporates investment in infra-

structure and tourism development in the mid-west, as well as a forward- working plan for the autonomy of Shannon Airport.

This plan was drawn up in consul- tation with a number of Government departments and pays regard to a re- port entitled ‘Mid-West Tourism and Economic Development Plan’ which was submitted by a group under the aegis of the Mid West Regional Au- thority, taking in Clare County Coun- cil, Shannon Development, Shannon Airport Authority (SAA), SIGNAL and IBEC.

Responding to the announcement, SAA Chairman, Mr Pat Shanahan said that the marketing fund is a sig- nificant development in meeting the challenges brought about under the new Open Skies era.

“Shannon Airport Authority wel- comes the Government commitment to invest in a major tourism market- ing strategy to stimulate tourism traf- fic into the west of Ireland through Shannon in the post-Open Skies en- ab KO)eNeelssOLm

“We look forward to working with tourism agencies to ensure the return

from this funding is maximised,” he Sr nKOe

Meanwhile, Clare Deputy, Timmy Dooley also welcomed the funding, stating that Clare will reap economic rewards from commitments outlined in the plan.

“T am delighted that, following a series of discussions with colleagues such as myself in the mid-west, Transport Minister, Noel Dempsey TD and Arts, Sports, and Tourism Minister, Seamus Brennan TD, have come forward with a plan as compre- hensive as this.”

“A GOOD result in miserable condi- tions.” Two days after the game, that’s Anthony Foley’s concise reaction to Saturday’s victory over Wasps, a re- sult that saw the reigning champions dumped out of the competition.

It was one of those old Thomond nights when Munster rolled out the red carpet for an esteemed visitor be- fore devouring their reputation with 80 minutes of controlled rugby.

The achievement didn’t end with the scalp of Wasps and Munster didn’t rely on their home record to see them through. Effectively, it was the bonus point secured against Cl- ermont Auvergne that catapulted Munster to their tenth consecutive

appearance in the knock-out stages of the competition.

“It was great to get all the points be- cause we went into the game with a lot of permutations in our heads. Bo- nus points, the winning margin. So we had to keep our eyes on a number of different things and to succeed on all fronts was a great achievement.

“It was a real cup atmosphere, a winner takes all thing. Thomond has seen a lot of those over the years and we ve got a lot of experience in those battles and we never doubted our- selves on Saturday.”

Munster’s composure impressed Foley. The full force of Wasps was met early on and the home side con- trolled the momentum.

‘“We’ve come to learn that playing

against any English side there’s a big 20 minutes in them from the start. They’ll throw everything at you and you’ve got to cope with that. Then they’Il come out in the second half and give it everything for the ten minutes after the break.”

Foley is asked if the ground, in the process of a major facelift, lost any of the character and tenor that dappled the place in the past and dismisses the theory immediately.

“Not a chance. It’s a great ground. The atmosphere was terrific and the kick off time was better than the Sunday games. Saturday evening seems to suit the crowd. There was a great buzz around the stadium and you have to think that as the stadium develops, the spectacle is just going

to be get better and better.”

Munster now face Gloucester at Kingsholm Stadium at the beginning of April and in between, they play just six matches with four of those going ahead during the Six Nations. When he looks at the pool of clubs still left in the competition, Foley reckons it never mattered who Mun- ster faced next.

“There are seven other teams ca- pable of winning the tournament. A few teams have never been at this stage before, so there’s going to be some extra excitement.

We’ll have some time off between now and then and there’s the Six Na- tions in between, so there’s going to be a lot of free time and we’ll have to handle that. You’d prefer to be play-

ing games, to stay together and that’s something we’ll have to deal with.

“But for now, you’ve just got to be happy with a quarter-final. To come away from Thomond with that place secured was the target. We knew go- ing into it that we wouldn’t have a home tie and we wouldn’t have an easy passage. It’s the old story – there are no easy games in the last rounds of the Heineken Cup.”

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.”

WHERE experimentation goes in the McGrath Cup campaign of 2008, Limerick can claim to enjoy an edge on Clare. Mickey ‘Ned’ O’Sullivan has used 27 players in their three games to date, while Clare have used 23. And, as he looks ahead to the fi- nal that fixed for Cooraclare on Sun- day, O’Sullivan that there’s more to come. “We’ll try a few more because we have a big panel in at the moment,

but by the time the National League comes around the following week, the county board will want numbers aria Cena F

‘“We’ve brought in five new for- wards, while we’ve experimented in other areas of the field as well. In that respect the McGrath Cup has been great — we’re getting competi- tive games and a chance to see what we ve got.”

However, the wholesale changes that O’Sullivan made in the cam-

paign thus far shouldn’t lull Clare into any sense of confidence ahead of Sunday’s final. ““Now that we’re in a final, we will be going out to win it, just as Clare will be,’ says Kerry’s 1975 All-Ireland winning captain. Famously he tasted defeat at the hands of Clare as Kerry manager way back in the Munster final of 1992, but during his tenure with Limerick to date has enjoyed league and champi- onship victories against Clare. However, most of those who will

line out on Sunday have no experi- ence of playing against Clare. “This is my third year in charge of the team and the team has changed a lot in that time,’ admits O’Sullivan.

“In my first year I more or less stuck with the team that had been there before. They had played a lot of football over the years and put in a lot of hard work to try and win a Munster championship.

“In my second year I brought in a good few players, but many more

have come in this year, so the team is going through some transition. After the McGrath Cup we go straight into a tough league campaign where we will be up against teams like Sligo, Wexford, Fermanagh and Down. By then I’d hope to have the new players and the old fighting out for places on the team.”

The first test comes 1n Cooraclare on Sunday — not a must win game, but Mickey ‘Ned’ O’Sullivan wants to win it all the same.

THE real value of the McGrath Cup, for manager Frank Doherty, came with the opportunity to familiarise himself with the raw materials he has to shape.

At the start of the competition, he stood outside a dressing room in Miltown and said games were what mattered, that getting the most out of January was the target.

Clare have achieved that and are one game away from picking up

some silverware, the target has only SIUESA STON VASSOU BA KoLe

“What we’re getting is four games in January and in reality, 20 training sessions wouldn’t be as valuable as that,’ he says. “But I’m a great be- liever that winning is the best habit you can form. There’s are only four trophies that any county in Ireland can win from one year to the next, and the McGrath Cup is one of those. So it’s important that we go out in the right frame of mind — and we will.”

He’s aware, too, that Limerick will

prove to be more of a block in the road to success than the college teams Clare have faced so far. Colleges, by definition, don’t have the team spirit or ethos that define county teams and Sunday will allow Doherty gather more knowledge.

“Limerick will be a different ball game for us and we’re hitting them at a good time for us. Right before the league starts, it’s no harm to get a good, hard game under the belt.

“We want to win the McGrath Cup and in fairness, Mickey Ned

[O’Sullivan] will be just as anxious to do the same. So you’ll have two competitive teams going out on Sun- day and that’s useful for us.”

Doherty asked to run his mind over the campaign in general and pick out the positives. He points out enough to find some satisfaction in the three games So far.

“From what I’ve seen so far, the hunger seems to be coming back. That’s important and for us, the at- titude from the first game was right. Players were focused. On top of that,

a certain amount of passion that mightn’t have been there is starting to come as well.

“Lads are pushing themselves and pushing each other hard in train- ing. There have been a lot of pluses throughout the competition. The habit of winning is something that we want to develop. If we can keep in that zone, then that’s going to be a big boost going into the league.”

The hunger he speaks of is obvi- ous. Generally, his players have been starved of success on the county scene and he reckons that the vast majority of those involved in the squad will have something to prove on Sunday.

“Of the 33 lads we have in the panel, 25 or 26 of them have never contested a senior final for Clare. So that’s something. They’ll want to mark their first final with a win.

When I got involved I made it clear that I’d try and use as many lads as possible in the games and I think I’ve lived up to that – so we’re making full use of what’s available.

“There have been debutants and there have been lads that people might have thought weren’t good enough to make senior footballers. They’ve come in and done well. But we re learning a lot.”

Is he close to his team make-up for the league?

“I’d say we’re 90% sure of it now. A lot of the team that will start on Sunday will feature in the league. We might be without one or two lads against Limerick, but the team you’ll see won’t be too far off the mark.

“We have tinkered around with it from game to game and we’ve had to because we’ve got a small pool of players compared with other coun- ties and that brings positives and negatives. If we pick up injuries, we won’t have the reserves but lads get close to one another, they work well together and they know one another’s game. If you’ve a big pool of players, sometimes guys can shy away from things. They can duck down. That doesn’t happen with Clare.”

So far, the Doherty tenure has been a success. Getting something tang!- ble to go with the positive start is the next step.

CLARE and Limerick prepare for the McGrath Cup final with some striking similiarities. Both took the competition relatively seriously, nei- ther have played county opposition to date and a number of players have featured for both sides to date.

On Monday, the game was ten- tatively scheduled for Cooraclare pending the week’s weather and an- other home game for Clare should give them the advantage they need to take the honours.

The McGrath Cup may not be a sparkling, blue ribband competition on the bigger scale of things, but ask any of the Munster Final winning team of ’92 when they first started to believe they could make an impres-

sion and they’ll bring you back to the little-known All Ireland B title they captured before they won Munster.

That’s why Sunday’s match with Limerick is important. For all the players Frank Doherty has tried out and for all the information he has gathered, a medal from a tourna- ment that has so far thrown Clare up against well prepared — though physically weak — college teams, would not only be reward for a hard winter, it would tilt the confidence settings to the required level entering the league.

For the most part, Clare have been impressive over the past three games. Against UCC in Miltown, they start- ed well and kept the lead throughout the hour and in fact, they’ve never trailed a team in this competition.

Against LIT in the quarter-final they continued their composed, hun- ery attitude and strolled home in the second half. The thing is, they’ve yet to be put to the test late in a game. Should Limerick provide that test and should Clare come through it, then the signs are good for the league.

At the very least, Limerick will bring an added physical challenge for Clare. So far, Limerick have been highly experimental in their ap- proach to the competition but their forwards will have more consistent quality than anything Clare have come up against in 2008.

Against LIT in last weekend’s semi final, their full-forward line of Ger Collins, Ian Ryan and Johnny Mur- phy all impressed.

Clare, last Sunday, were caught

once or twice with swift moves through the centre. Gordon Kelly at centre-back may not the most physi- cally imposing of players, but he is Clare’s most consistent defender. His reading of the game is superb and he broke up several CIT attacks. The feeling here is that he will grow into the position.

The pattern of Clare’s play has now developed. Short at the back and long once it reaches midfield. With Frank O’Dea’’s effective distribution it’s a decent approach. And inside, there are options. With their height, Timmy Ryan and Colm Dillon pro- vide depth and width, though it now looks like a straight choice between the two with Ryan expected to shade it. In the corner, David Tubridy has been exceptional and the second

corner needs to be filled. Elsewhere, David Russell will be accommodat- ed and can fill a number of positions and Doherty is now beginning to see the pieces click.

Expect Sunday’s starting line up to be Clare’s strongest to date, though they are expected to be without a player or two. With Garry Brennan, Greg Lyons and John Hayes all due back for the league, competition for places is developing.

Mickey Ned O’Sullivan has already stated that Limerick are interested in taking the McGrath Cup across the Shannon. They won’t do that, but they’ll provide the required chal- lenge for Clare who next week will have Carlow on their minds.

SIMON MORONEY’S demand for the Munster Council to extend it’s full-time administrative capacity came to light in March 2007 in his third annual report to the provincial ruling body.

In presenting his report to delegates at the Munster Convention in Ballyr- after House in Lismore, Moroney outlined his vision for the fture that included the employment of a full- time assistant secretary.

In appealing for backing for this proposal, the Inagh man pointed to the increased pressures placed on him as secretary, which made it nec- essary for the council to come into line with both Leinster and Ulster that had put assistant secretaries in jo tleen

“The biggest single change which occurred in 2006, is the automatic presence of the provincial secretar- ies on the membership of a number of busy national committees — e.g the Competition Control Committee and National Infrastructure and Safety Committee,” he told convention.

“This is a most welcome develop- ment insofar as it enusres that the

provinces are immediately up to date on national issues and party to key decisions which can affect their own provincial activities.

“It allows for harmonisation of fixtures and uniformity in practices across provinces. However, this de- velopment does mean _ necessary absence by the provincial secretary from base for several days every year. There needs to be continuity at base and this challenge must be ad- Ore ethereb

“The staffing level in Munster, sim- ilar to Connacht is considierably less than in both Ulster and Leinster. Too much time as provincial secretary is spent on routine administrative mat- ters.

“The Council as an organisation must develop an inbuilt capacity to deal with changes — e.g. key staff changes over time, with serious disruption. In order to develop this capacity a Deputy Secretary is re- quired.

‘This person will have responsibil- ity for duties assigned to them from time to time — e.g. match arrange- ments, accounts etc., together with the management of affairs of the Council while the secretary is away

in Croke Park or on leave.

“A Deputy Secretary will also pro- vide continuity and perhaps a poten- tial successor when the erm of the secretary ends. It is prudent to plan ahead. I therefore make a specific recommendation, and seek the ap- proval from Convention to proceed immediately with its implementation on the adoption of the report, that the secretary proceed to manage the recruitment and appointment of the deputy secretary at a level consistent with similar posts in both Ulster and Leinster.

“The costs associated with the improvement will be borne by the Council and should not be out of line with that obtaining in the other councils,’ he concluded in his direct appeal to delegates.

However, delegates didn’t back his the secretary’s proposal — a move that set in motion a chain of events that have led to his resignation.

SPAN e DS ee Eli iael ance secait-leleye speech to Dail Eireann in 1992 sprang to mind. In that speech he famously quoted from Othello when saying, ‘I have done the State some service, and they know it, no more of ere

Simon Moroney could have used the line last Thursday night when he announced his own resignation — he has done GAA in Munster some great service over the past four years, something he is proud of.

“It was a great job to have and I was delighted to serve in the position,’ he

says. “The province is very success- ful on the pitch, but I feel that you have to have a similar standard off the pitch.”

“I’d like to think that I contributed to getting to that. I loved the job and I was the first Clare man in the job and only the sixth Munster Council secretary since the position was cre- ated in 1901.

“I thought I put a very good struc- ture in place. The headquarters wasn’t there when I came into the job and I was the first secretary to move into new headquarters.”

“I set up good systems there — it’s not very exciting stuff, but we have

a good financial system, we have a very good development grant system set up with clear guidelines. I would have said that the Munster Council was very well administered in my time there — that’s the first and fun- damental requirement of a good sec- retary,’ he adds

‘“We’ve been very fortunate that we ve had very little controversy and I would say that the ship was steered quite well over four years. The record will show that.”

“My successor, coming in, I would like to think will certainly have a system and a structure there that will be relatively easy to follow.”