This article is from page 34 of the 2014-08-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 34 JPG
ON ANOTHER day David Reidy would have been man of the match with 2-3 to his name from play.
There was that time in the first half when Shane O’Donnell returned the compliment paid to him a few minutes earlier, by putting a goal on a plate for his fellow Éire Óg Townie.
“I think the ref blew the whistle a small bit too early,” laughs Reidy at the memory of his own flash of the ash with a goal at his mercy only for the referee to call a foul on O’Donnell. “It doesn’t matter. The win was the main thing – it was a very good team performance,” he adds.
But it didn’t end there for Reidy – in the 59th minute he snaps a great ball on the shed side of the field and turns for the town goal with the net on his mind, breaking the tackle he’s in the clear and about to pull the trigger when the whistle sounds again for a jersey tug.
“A bit too early again,” he laughs, “but again it doesn’t matter. For me it was about winning and playing my part and to be part of it. It’s been unbelievable – just look at the crowd out there on the field. They’re fantastic, all of this is fantastic and it’s something that I wouldn’t have imagined at the start of the year.
“I was number 37 or 38 last year on the squad, trying to burst in and get into this team. It just wasn’t happening and didn’t happen for me, but I made it onto the senior squad and the extra training that I did pushed me
and I got the break. I think
I’ve taken that chance now.”
What about the goal? Your
part in Shane O’Donnell’s lat
est salvo against the Rebels?
“Once Shane is inside you
know there’s only going to
be one finish,” he says.
“It was an outstanding fin
ish, he took is few steps and
finished it into the back of the
net. You expect nothing else
from Shane. I knew if I could
get the ball into him he’d do
it. I knew we had the game
then. It was brilliant.”
As was David Reidy on his
first Munster final day out
– the three points, the cou
ple of goals that could have
been, his workrate around
the field. Everything, on a
perfect day for the under 21
class of 2014.