This article is from page 69 of the 2011-02-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 69 JPG
CLARE MANAGER Ger O’Loughlin hit every ball on the sidelines on Sunday, an clear sign of the pressure piled upon his shoulders in particular, after the flooring disappointment of the Limerick performance and the increasing closeness of this tie as well.
However, Clare’s fortune to have survived this tricky test despite letting slip an 11 point lead, playing into the breeze with only 14 men for almost the final 20 minutes and enduring some dodgy decisions from the Ulster officials, was not lost upon the Sparrow who appeared much more relaxed when exiting the dressing room afterwards. Relaxed and relieved but still not wholly satisfied with the display.
“It was one that was badly wanted. If we had come away today without the victory, the shop was closed so I’m delighted now that we got the win but a lot of the time we looked like a second division team again today and we have an awful lot of work to do.
“We have a huge amount of work to do to try and improve but I’m delighted that we got the win and it might just get us shaped up again for the rest of the campaign. They showed great heart I thought but basic elementary mistakes are costing us big time.
“They had a big physical presence I thought there today and notwithstanding they were missing five or six of the guys that played yesterday in the club semi-finals so we’re lucky to get out of it with the points and I am realistic to know that we have a huge mountain to climb but at least it might take a bit of pressure off everybody after last week.
“There were plenty of snipers out there for us so at least we are back on par and we just hope that we can improve on what we saw again today. We showed heart but our touch and everything leaves a lot to be desired.
“Our problem in Clare is that during the week we don’t have somewhere to really train and we are reliant on clubs to get pitches and with the weather the way it has been, our actual training sessions have been confined to Lee’s Road more or less which is showing out in the games we have played really. So hopefully with the stretch in the evenings, we will be able to get a bit more hurling in over the next couple of weeks but we badly need it. I’m not under any illusions that that performance today will do either.”
So after the nadir of the Limerick, how did he pick his troops off the canvas and prepare them for the trip to Belfast?
“Well I think being truthful about it, When we regrouped and we chatted it out on Wednesday night, we knew were a bit better than what we showed against Limerick anyway because we were an embarrassment in Cusack Park last week.
“Also it didn’t reflect on the work we had done because we had prepared very well in the winter programme. We had done an awful lot of gym work and then fitness work in January and we had played eight matches so it was the last thing I was expecting. But I just thought that we threw in the towel too early last week.
“When we didn’t get the early scores, they got scores out of some of the play that we had in our forward line.
“When we didn’t put our chances away, the ball came down and they got the penalty from a mistake and we have watched the video a couple of times and again you couldn’t imagine how poor we were with basic stuff.
“Again it showed out there today. When we were in a comfort zone and we could have moved on and pushed it on, we made life difficult by conceding soft scores.”
However, in the end, the result was all that really mattered and O’Loughlin was happy to have overcame this perilous test and look forward to the rest of the campaign.
“That result might get a bit of confidence back in the team. We had to grind out the win there today and with three or four minutes to go, I might have had a different speech for ye and I’m glad I didn’t have to use it. But look, we’ll take it and we are delighted with the win.”