This article is from page 99 of the 2008-09-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 99 JPG
TOMMY ‘Tubridy is more accus- tomed to big days than any man involved with the Doonbeg senior team. He goes back all the way to the 1972 minor county final win with Clohanes, while in his playing days in the black and white he won seven county championships.
Now, he’s one game away from guiding the Magpies back to the big
day for the first time in seven years — the longest ever gap in the long village between county final appear- ances since they started blazing their trail in the storied final win over En- nis Faughs in ’55.
However, Tubridy has known his share of disappointments too and was taking nothing for granted at the end of their facile enough 2-11 to 1-5 quarter-final win over Ennistymon. Instead, he sounded a somewhat pes-
simistic note.
“It was a good win, but I was dis- appointed with the performance overall. We have to up it if we’re to progress to the final. That’s how I feel about it,” he said.
‘“Ennistymon put it up to us at vari- ous stages of the game and I’d have to say that I’m disappointed with the performances of some of the players. The goals were vital for us and at the end of the day they were the differ-
ence for us. We have a few injuries and hopefully they’ll be cleared up before the semi-final.”
Liscannor await in that semi-final — a team that was dismantled by the Magpies in their final group game by Ce Leone noen
It suggests easy pickings in the penultimate round, but Tubridy is taking nothing for granted. It’s no wonder as Doonbeg have lost their last three semi-finals — to Eire Og in
2004 and ’06 and St Senan’s Kilkee heey
“We had a big win over them the last day. They conceded a few soft goals but that won’t happen the next day. It is really up for grabs and that’s the way we’re looking at it.
“We’re getting ready for a tough one. Playing Liscannor is always a tough game for Doonbeg but we’ll be up for it.”
A lot done, but more to do.