This article is from page 69 of the 2011-03-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 69 JPG
PADDY VAUGHAN’S era as the new Clare hurling captain finally began in earnest just over a week ago when he led his side to a narrow yet crucial victory over Antrim. Now with fingers crossed that his injury problems are firmly behind him, the Crusheen clubman is hoping to steady the ship and maintain Clare’s course for the Division two final.
“I had missed all of the Waterford Crystal competition and the Limerick game but it was great to get a full game against Antrim because it was a good tough match. So I’m just looking forward to playing the next few games, getting through them alright and hopefully getting the points on the board as well.”
Vaughan was speaking at the launch of the Sixmilebridge Road Hurling Championship on Thursday which he attended alongside fellow county team-mates Fergal Lynch and Diarmuid McMahon, two other experienced members of the trip up North that Vaughan reflected on further.
“By the way we played in the first half, we should have be more ahead at half-time but they got a goal and a point just before they went in. Then halfway through the second half, we were down James [McInerney] due to the red card but it showed a lot of heart for the lads to battle it out and get the win in the end because if you’d had lost that game, you’d have been in a uphill battle to try and qualify out of the group.
“You needed experience for Antrim anyway because it was always going to be a tight game. Antrim are one of the stronger teams in the division so if you’d lost two points to them, themselves and Limerick would have been favourites to qualify.
“But we got through it with the win and over the next few weeks, the team is just looking to build up a bit of momentum and get the winning feeling back.”
Next up for Vaughan’s men is another away trip, this time to the other Cusack Park in Mullingar to face Westmeath – a team that scored the highest total against the Banner in last year’s league campaign (3-15).
“You’d be hoping to improve our performance against Westmeath but I suppose it’s funny in Division 2 because every team seems to be beating each other in the first two games. Even last week, Westmeath had a good performance against Limerick before losing out in the end but we’d be just hoping to continue on from last week’s win and build on that this Sunday.”
Finally injury free for the first time in over six months, Vaughan like Clare will be hoping to avoid any further set-backs this Sunday.