This article is from page 87 of the 2007-04-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 87 JPG
RIGHT after the game, they were dancing like they’d just won the lot- tery. Inagh/Kilnamona upset the odds and Paddy McGuane was lost in a sea of celebrations. Just after the cup was lifted, he threw his mind back over a rip-roaring game.
“The goal scored by Brendan Long straight after Newmarket’s goal was vital as we were giving a message that we would not lie down against them. Our defence was tremendous to a man with our fast forwards com- ing into the game in the second half. A huge factor in our win was the training of the two squads together all year displaying the unity between the clubs.”He said the plans on how to tackle the final were made well in advance and the unity in the squad was a Springboard to Sunday’s suc- cess.
“On Wednesday night the two panels were training and Donal Ca- hir and I asked the Kilnamona lads to stay on for a few minutes to dis- cuss the Under 21C final on Friday evening and every Inagh man stayed to listen and offer support. The fact that Fergal Keane congratulated the Inagh mentors Noel Hehir and Tom Hogan after we won the C title on Friday showed the respect that now exists between the two clubs and the fantastic work that is being carried out by all mentors in the two clubs”.
Even though they had their eyes firmly set on capturing the title last week, they were taking it just one game at a time all season. It was an approach that worked.
“We took every game in the two erades as the next game to win. No talk ever took place about winning titles. The smaller clubs have players of the highest standards and when
they can join together, they can dis- play this quality. Just because a club is low on numbers does not mean they do not have players as good as those from the strongly populated clubs.”
He also paid tribute to the team they had just beaten.
‘Newmarket played their part in what I hope and feel was a great game to view and we applaud them for their brilliance as champions over the last three years. We modeled our- selves on their high standards and applied our own requirements to achieve the ultimate success. We still won’t get carried away bit I have to say well done to a fantastic bunch of men from the parish”.