This article is from page 39 of the 2011-08-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 39 JPG
ON SATURDAY evening, Andrew Fahey becomes only the sixth goalkeeper to have represented the county in an All-Ireland final in the last 20 years. That’s an achievement in itself really but Fahey isn’t one to rest on his laurels, especially with an All-Ireland medal at stake.
“When we won the Munster championship it was a great thing. To win a Munster medal is super and it’s a huge honour to get one. An All-Ireland was the next step and thankfully we beat Galway but mostly it’s a team effort. It’s great to be part of the team but definitely it’s a 34 man effort. We have great guys over us, we have great players who are great triers, they is a good bond there and hopefully on Saturday, we can get over the line and bring back an AllIreland to Clare.
“When you have guys of the experience we do have, it is a great help and other fellas naturally drive on from that. The last day we went two goals down against Galway and it showed the character of the younger fellas to get us over the line and it means that we have another game to look forward to.”
However, when reflecting on All- Ireland’s past, the Whitegate man immediately turns to the great goalkeepers that made the 90s and 00s a great era for netminders.
“When you are playing out in east Clare, there aren’t too many that want to play in goal and you would be naturally left in that position if you happened to make a few saves and that. But growing up, watching the likes of Davy Fitzgerald, Brendan Cummins and Damien Fitzhenry, you would always watch them carefully in games and the way they are able to make those saves and the distance that they were able to strike the ball. I always wanted to be a goalkeeper and thankfully it seems to have worked out so far.”
Now to create some goalkeeping history himself, starting with Sunday’s intermediate final against the Cats when Clare take yet another step into the unknown.
“Kilkenny will be good, I’ve never met a Kilkenny team yet that is bad so it will take a lot of hard work. They have a lot of players and names but it’s also good that we don’t know much who we are playing. A great thing against Cork was that we didn’t know too much about them, it was the same against Limerick and Gal way and hopefully similar against Kilkenny. We don’t know a whole pile about them but if we focus on our game, it’s a plus and hopefully we will be able to deal with whatever they throw at us.
“The big thing in games like this is that you have got to be able to work hard all over the field. You have to make sure you get off to a good start. We got off to a bad one against Galway but we came back and showed the character we had in the team. We know it’s going to be a battle and if every man can win his own position and hopefully I can keep them out as well, we should be able to get over the line.
“I don’t think the occasion will get to us. Every game we have improved but more importantly we should enjoy the occasion because All-Ireland finals are what the game is all about.”
Hopefully it will be the first of many for the county Under 21.