This article is from page 101 of the 2008-11-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 101 JPG
TWO years back, the vista for Clon- lara — even from the most optimistic club patron — couldn’t have seemed so bright.
A fantastic intermediate experience last season backed up by champion- ship and league success this year paints a picture of a club who are destined to stay around competing for more honours for the years to fey neler
And on Sunday, the significance of winning the Clare Cup wasn’t lost on the club’s manager, Jim Gully.
“To be honest about it, there was no real pressure on us going into it. We’d won the county final and that was the major achievement, but in the back of the minds we knew that if we won the Clare Cup as well, it would really copper-fasten the year.
“On top of that, it was great to beat last year’s county champions and having beaten Newmarket again in the semi-final, we knew that nobody could say it was a lucky year for us.
“Tt means that there should be some real recognition for the year now, which is great. Hopefully we’ll be
mentioned up there with the best clubs in the county now and that’s where we want to be.”
The success also ensured the sea- son would end with a sweet taste.
“We were on a bit of a downer after the county final, knowing that we’d be playing in Munster the week after and we weren’t fully tuned in for that game.
“Maybe that’s why we lost but things just didn’t go right for us on the day. SO we wanted to put that right and we knew that the Clare Cup would be a good opportunity to do that.
“But the last two years have been absolutely marvellous and to go out and complete the double has just been the icing on the cake.
“It was our sixth game in six weeks and our seventh in eight weeks and all of those have been important and hard games. But I think that actually stood to us in the end. For the last 20 minutes, the lads stepped it up and you could tell they’d a lot of hurling played. They were sharp and focused and we owned the game in the last few minutes.”
He said defining moment of the game came just before the break,
when Tulla goaled to put themselves in a strong position in the second- half. Even at that, though, Gully knew that if Clonlara could get back into the game, they had the winning mentality to see them through.
“The goal gave Tulla a cushion. It came at a good time for them and not only that, you could say it was the most important score of the game because it really brought them back into things.
“It gave them that bit of belief and that’s vital to any team. They’d missed a few frees in the first half and in a way, that allowed us to be closer to them after that goal.
“But once we got close to them, I knew we’d win. I had faith in the lads and in fairness to them, they pushed on and never looked back.”
Aside from completing the double, the club secured a €4,000 cheque thanks to the win (Tulla, as runners- up, will receive €2,000).
“We haven’t fully decided how were going to use the money, but there’s talk of a player’s fund.”
Considering the season they’ ve just had, it would be the least they de- serve.