This article is from page 101 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 101 JPG
ANOTHER step along the way to bringing Clare closer to claiming a spot in their second successive AlIl- Ireland final. That’s the way Clare are regarding this win over Antrim. While it’s the common sense ap- proach of one game at a time, there is no denying that the true wish is there to rid the ghosts of last year’s final defeat at the hands of Derry. Winning the Division 2 league fi- nal was a significant step on that re- covery ladder and now securing the semi-final spot has Clare’s top side another rung on the way with just 60
minutes and Laois between the Ban- ner and that second last spot with the last step obviously being Deirdre Murphy taking to the first step of the Hogan Stand on September 14.
‘“That’s the hope and dream but the team will settle down now to prepar- ing for that challange’, according to team manager Colm Hanley. “We were happy with the performance at the weekend but what has been better is that we have had more of a chal- lange on the way to this semi-final and with every outing we have im- proved as a unit”.
Antrim put up a stiff challange to the Banner on Sunday and had just one point between the teams with just 10 minutes remaining. “Yes it was a real test of the team’s charac- ter but they have steadied themselves this year and in sticking to the game plan don’t panic and have hurled clever out of the tight situations this year. That’s what really seems to have stood to them since last year, we have learned the hard way to hurl to the end and never give up. With still room for improvement and the squad still not fully fit this for the moment is a nice place to be in.”