This article is from page 66 of the 2011-01-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 66 JPG
THREE games in as many weeks – three victories and a final to look forward to this coming Saturday. No wonder it’s all smiles from Clare manager Micheál McDermott after the Waterford bogey is laid to rest.
Eyes are still fixed firmly on the league opener in Páirc Sean MacDiarmada in Carrick-on-Shannon on Sunday week, but suddenly, with news having come in that Kerry have beaten Cork in the other semi-final, it’s a clash with the 36-time All-Ireland winners that looms larger on the horizon.
“I know it was only in the month of January in the McGrath Cup, but it was important as regards our development,” he says. “To be playing Kerry in the final is great and we’re looking forward to it. Playing Waterford and now going on to play Kerry is great preparation for going away in the first round of the National League.
“It was important to have an away win under our belts. What happened last year with Waterford beating us twice and even beating us five times out of the last six, it was important that we beat them. They’re a proud bunch of players and it’s been quoted locally and nationally that we down in the bottom rung of the pecking order in Munster at the moment and they want to start climbing that ladder again. That’s why beating Waterford may be the start of that climb.”
And, while victory is all-important, McDermott is quick to point out that the quality of the performance is just as significant. “What pleased the management most was our support play and the football we played,” he says.
“It didn’t yield scores all the time and the final pass went astray, but our support play was another notch up on what we produced against UCC and CIT. We seem to be moving in the right direction. The workrate was fantastic by the whole team. When we defended we defended in numbers. When we attacked we broke with numbers. Ger Fannin got on the scoresheet from wing-back, Gordon Kelly got up the field and was unlucky not to score. It’s great to see players prepared to have a go and have no fear of going out and trying to play good, open football.
“The new lads who came in and played their first game with the county have been training away, but they were under pressure. Coming into the county, they want to do well for Clare. Niall (Browne) started well and worked really hard and played a prominent part in some of the moves, while David (O’Connor) showed his natural scoring instincts when he came on. He took his goal very well – even though it was a tap-in, it was a quality score because of the amount of hands it travelled through on the way within a 30 second period.”