This article is from page 72 of the 2008-01-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 72 JPG
ONE MORE beginning.
Just like last year, a fresh dawn will fall over Clare next weekend when the county footballers and hurlers begin their season under new man- agement.
Mike McNamara gets the opportu- nity to lead out his county on Sunday when the hurlers take on the Univer- sity of Limerick and Frank Doherty gets a taste of inter-county manage- ment with Clare as the footballers come up against University College Cork on the same day.
While results this early in the year won’t count for much in the summer and while Sunday, mainly, represents the chance to wipe the slate clean, two wins would lift a cloud that has lingered since Clare left the national scene at the height of summer.
Last year was one of the poorest in for the GAA in Clare at All Ireland level. The Tony Considine reign will be remembered for the wrong rea- sons — the spats, the county board interference and ultimately, the poor results.
To be fair, it wasn’t all negative. Philip Brennan, Kevin Dilleen and
Brendan Bugler all represent the fu- UN Ken ;
Under Paidi O Sé, Clare started well but came undone after their sec- ond league game. The defeat against Waterford represented the worst day in Clare football history and the de- mise of football in the county was copper-fastened by the withdrawal of three key players shortly before that game.
Again, the emerging talent, in the form of the Under 21s 1s there and it’s now about transferring that to some- thing meaningful at senior level.
That’s why decent showings this
winter are more important than they normally would be.
Neither the Waterford Crystal Cup nor the McGrath Cup will tempt numbers to the terraces in any mean- ingful way, but a decent run in both competitions would shine some sun on the situation in Clare.
Only the die hards will come out of hibernation on Sunday and all will hope to claim they were there on day one of the revolution. It remains to be seen if the uprising happens, but right now, at least, the only way is up.