This article is from page 103 of the 2008-09-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 103 JPG
THERE were times when Kilmurry Ibrickane looked irresistible. The Wheel that they’ve used this past generation and more was turning nicely; Shane Hickey in his debut as permanent captain was having a blinder; Odran O’ Dwyer was charg- ing through tackles; Noel Downes was showing that fleetness of foot
and class that should have him as a fixture and fitting in Clare teams for years to come.
All this with a bench top heavy with Munster club medal winners. It looked as if Kilmurry could cruise to a comfortable victory, but somehow manager Micheal McDermott knew it would never happen.
“Wolfe Tones are a very good team and we knew it would be close,’ Mc-
Dermott said seconds after his side had weathered Wolfe Tones’ sec- ond half comeback. “We knew they would come at us in the second half — they were put out of the hurling championship last week and this is all that was left for them, so we knew they were going to give it a right lash. We showed a lot of character, a lot of fight and a lot of heart to hold out when we were reduced to 14 men.
That’s what championship football is all about.
“From our point of view the timing of the goal was superb — it gave us that little bit of breathing space going into the second half. It was a big turn- ing point when Declan Callinan got the goal. I’ve always said that when you get to this stage of the champion- ship it’s goals that win games.”
Now for Kilkee, something that
McDermott relishes. “We’re two very evenly matched teams. There’s nothing between us, which was proved when we drew in the first round. They seem to be a bogey team going back a few years, so hopefully the draw we got might eliminate that kind of fear. You are going to have a rip-roaring contest with two teams going hammer and tongs at each oth- er to try and to a county final.”