This article is from page 78 of the 2008-04-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 78 JPG
CLARE’S ladies football season be- gins in earnest this Sunday when the county team face their first acid test against Down in the Suzuki National league semi-final.
Clare’s performance in this game will be a good barometer as to whether or not further progress has been achieved this year in the devel- opment of the county panel. Should Clare win on Sunday not only will the team gain a place in the Division 2 final against either Waterford or Donegal (which will be televised live on TG4) but they will also be guar- anteed a place in Division | of the Suzuki league for the 2009 season as both finalists are automatically pro- moted.
Manager Deirdre Murphy has brought Clare a long way since she took over the reins in January 2006.
In 2005 Clare had failed to fulfil some fixtures but upon her appoint- ment Deirdre and her management team set about reversing the fortunes of the Clare county team and had success in winning the Munster Jun- ior championship and the 2006 Su- Zuki Division 3 league in her maiden year.
The aim for 2007 was to be com- petitive in Division 2 of the national league and to make every effort to secure the newly created Intermedi- ate championship or at least a final place. While they succeeded in their league ambitions they again came up agonisingly short of reaching Croke Park with again a single point semi final loss to another eventual winner ateatee
The All Ireland Intermediate championship title is the obvious fo- cus of Clare’s ambition in 2008 but Sunday’s game will be an important stepping stone in the development of the squad. Down operate as a senior county for championship purposes and have been mixing it with the best of Ulster teams at this level for a
number of years. While they will be favourites to progress against their intermediate rated rivals, Down will still enter this game with caution as they will realise that Clare are a team with ambition this year.
In their four games to date in the 2008 series Down have had good wins over Fermanagh, Tipperary and Longford while they drew away to Donegal. They’ve also scored a massive 12-54 in their four games to date in the current league so clearly they are ateam on form. Defensively Down have conceded 7-23 and Clare will hope to exploit their tendency to concede goals even when dominat- ing games.
Clare should have their strongest panel for selection on Sunday and it will be interesting to see the first fif- teen. Clare’s defence has been shaky at times but the return to the squad of Sinéad Eustace of Coolmeen and also the Banner’s Sarah Hoey mak- ing herself available for selection should help matters in this depart- ment as the season progresses. Vital to Clare’s success however will be a
fully fit Tammy Hehir and ex-Gal- way star Michelle Delaney is another player who could have a major influ- ence in determining Sunday’s out- come. She’s easily playing her best football in years and is really making an impression in the county scene this year.
Sunday’s encounter has all the in- eredients of a thriller with a big prize at stake for the winners and if Clare play to their full potential they have every chance of overcoming their northern opponents