This article is from page 63 of the 2008-06-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 63 JPG
TRACE a finger over 2007 and you’ll find that the season for Scariff could and should have held more promise. By the end of June, they had two wins under their belt — against Ogonnelloe and Smith O’Briens – and were mov- ing in the right direction.
Two months passed before the next round of the championship and by then, Crusheen, who had three points from a possible four, were standing in wait. A win would have given Scariff the edge to progress from the group. As it was, they ended up five points off of Crusheen in a low scor- ing game. It set up what was effec- tively a straight-knock out with even- tual county champions, Tulla. Scariff were blown away by 13 points and
the early promise of June had faded by the middle of September.
Strangely, three of those four teams now occupy Scariff’s group this year — Tulla being the exception – and the opportunity to apply the lessons learned towards the end of the group stages of ’07 presents itself.
It won’t be easy, though. Mark McKenna – one of the club’s finest hurlers before his recent retirement — was one of two selectors last year. Now, he has taken the reins from Ger Rodgers but McKenna points to the Clare Cup campaign to date — Scar- iff have lost five from five — and says securing a couple of early wins won’t be as easy this time round.
“Don’t get me wrong,” says McK- enna, “every team will be fighting to come out of the group and Scariff
will be no different. Since the draw, everybody’s been saying that every game for Scariff will be local derby and that’s true. It’s up to us to cope with that.”
In a sense, it’s how best they can cope with the pressure that comes with playing their neighbouring teams that will dictate whether or not they can go one step better this year.
Over the course of the Clare Cup, they’s used 25 players in those five games but not once — mainly because of injuries — have they been able to pick a team from their strongest ornate b
Last week, the treatment table was in full use. The likes of Pat Moro- ney, Johnny Colleran, Shane Corry and Michael Rodgers are all carry- ing worrying knocks so the fact that
Scariff have a bye in the first round could be of benefit.
‘We have the bare pool of players and in that situation, when you pick up injuries it tends to have more of an effect. So the break at the start of the championship is welcome. It will also give us the chance to assess how other teams are going in the group, SO We won’t complain about not hav- ing a game the first day out.
“On top of the injuries, Brendan McNamara and Martin Hartigan have both retired and a couple of lads have also gone to Australia. In a way, this will be as weak a Scariff team as we’ve fielded in a championship for a long time but that’s no reflec- tion on the lads that are driving the club forward.
“Being realistic, it’s going to be a tough group but we’ll fight for our survival. It looks like Crusheen are going to be the team to beat and looking ahead, you’ll have the rest of the teams in the group doing their best to advance with them.”