This article is from page 90 of the 2009-06-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 90 JPG
IT’S a case of “beware the wounded animal’ this Wednesday for Clare as first round victims Waterford travel to Ennis in search of revenge. Clare certainly rode their luck in a last gasp 1-12 to O-14 victory over the Deise in Fraher Field, Dungarvan in April but with a back-door system in place for the first round losers, it al- most seemed inevitable that it would be Waterford to re-emerge as Clare’s opponents for this week’s semi-final.
As the last meeting between the sides demonstrated, there will be little between them on Wednes- day and really it is all about which side has learned the most from the last encounter. Despite edging that game, Clare didn’t perform to their
undoubted potential that night but perhaps that can be put down to first day nerves and the incessant rain that made conditions quite treacher- O)USd ere
However, Clare’s biggest dilemma this year has been their tendency to play more as individuals rather than as a team, a somewhat inevitable re- sult of being the best players at their clubs. It is particularly up front that this has hurt Clare as individual greed to take on a shot overrides the need to find a team-mate in a better position, resulting in a total of fifteen wides in the first game. Still, Clare have had eight weeks to rectify that fraility along with tackling (excuse the pun) the problem of needless in- discipline that almost cost Clare last ebeslemelULM
It is envisaged though that the per- sonnel may stay the same for Clare this week, with perhaps only a few alterations to positions. That said, main forward Conor McGrath needs more support in the scoring stakes if Clare are to survive here as Wa- terford will be targetting the Cratloe player after his 1-7 haul in the quar- ter-final. Daire Keane did chip in with two storming points from the wing but they need the likes of Gary Guilfoyle, Aaron Considine, David O’Halloran and Eoin Hanrahan to share the load.
Waterford’s half-forward duo of Paudric Mahony and_ Brian O’Halloran were the chief cause of concern for Clare in the quarter-fi- nals, scoring three points apiece and they tacked on a further 1-6 between
them in the play-off against Limerick at the beginning of May. That added to the leadership of Martin O’Neill who almost singlehandedly beat GUE Tcceeyn We eve s0Ue, sLN0Ur: clei elo dom clen ond half display in Dungarvan, scor- ing eight points makes Waterford a dangerous opponent, particularly as they will need no motivation to take on Clare after their previous meet- ing.
Still, with home advantage, the confidence gained from the last game and the huge carrot of playing in a Munster final, this is a unique opportunity that Clare cannot afford to pass up. And in the right frame of mind, they should grasp that oppor- tunity here.