This article is from page 107 of the 2008-07-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 107 JPG
YOU can huff and you can puff and you can blow Cork down, but the problem, as Clare discovered on Sunday, is getting them to stay there.
Cork it seems, just don’t know when they are beaten. They refuse to recoginse the sensation. Clare tried everything. They built up formidable leads. They scored two goals. They leathered into Cork around the mid- dle and limited the influence of a stellar half back line.
But Cork would not go away. Ben O’Connor kept running and popping
over points. Cork made the game wider and more open. Gerald McCa- rthy released substitutes like Kieran Murphy and Neil Ronan to telling effect. They looked lost but Cork found a way. Some teams will not be denied.
Another chorus of the Banks was striking up outside, just as Clare manager Mike McNamara wiped his palm across his face. This one re- PO Rvaeltba
“I think it’s probably the most heartbreaking defeat I’ve suffered as a manager or indeed as a manage- ment team. Realistically, we left the
match behind us,” said McNamara standing in the tunnel under the old stand. “We should have at least snatched a draw in the dying stages. It would have been wonderful to have another cut at it. But that wasn’t to be. That’s for another day”.
Clare knew Cork would launch a major offensive in the second half. McNamara though felt his side could have adjusted their gameplan accord- ingly to stifle the rebels
“We knew they were come any- way, he continued. “They proved that last week. We probably predicted a change was going to happen around
half time or shortly afterwards. On the day we couldn’t manage them in the second half. We’d enough lead going into the second half to maybe slow it down, slow up the game a Iit- tle bit and we didn’t do that, and we paid a big price”.
Again Clare were guilty of poor shooting on Sunday, hitting 12 BLO LoE
“Tt’s something we’ll have to look at. It’s something that has destroyed our season, going back to the Mun- Ster final,’ said the Scariff man,
“We had 45 chances in the Munster Final and we only scored 42-44%.
Something the same again. But we’ll have to look at it again. We’ll really have to look at it as part of our game, which gave us major problems. If we can correct that then we’re a match for the best”.
Television replays later showed that Clare should have been awarded a penalty when Diarmuid O’Suillivan held Niall Gilligan’s hurley, prevent- ing him from striking.
But McNamara isn’t the type to offer up cheap excuses. He said, “Referees don’t win and lose games for you. But I suppose on days like today, you could look at all those things, if you want to make excuses. But realistically we were beaten by a very, very good Cork team in one of the greatest games of hurling I have witnessed. We really won’t bring the referee into it. On another day we might have got em’. But that’s not an issue. Christ, they’ve an awful job to do and who am I to criticise them”’.
And McNamara remained proud of the part his team played in an en- thralling contest.
‘“We’re very proud of the way the team played. We’re disappointed in defeat but someone actually had to lose that game today. I’m sure Cork would have felt the same as we do. They would have been heartbroken if we managed to get a late goal or the couple of points at the end”
“Its one of those days. Its one of the great days in Thurles. Its what ignites us all. I don’t know how ye saw it but I think its one of the greatest games of hurling its been my privilege to see. It’s heartbreaking in itself. We can only saw now that we hope that Cork team do themselves proud and do us proud by going onto greater Wenner eaciae
McNamara tipped Waterford man- aged by his “buddy Davy” to go all the way in September. Asked if he would like to give it another go next year, McNamara said, with a smile that suggested otherwise, “Oh I’m moving on. I have my boat and my fishing rod and you never know. Maybe they’II retire me. I’m not sure, I’m not sure”.
The ship may have docked for an- other year, but, rest assured, plenty on board will want the captain back.