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IT IS true to say that football in Clare again finds itself in troubled waters – this only a couple of weeks after real hope was floating around big ball country that a new era could be at hand.

The mood of positivity that wrapped itself around the county’s footballers came on the back of the county’s first McGrath Cup success in six years. Suddenly, in the wake of two very disappointing league performances against Carlow and Tipperary, the time for a reality check is here and now.

It’s going to be a very long haul back up the ladder for Clare football, probably one that won’t be achieved by many of the current generation of inter-county players.

And, it will take infrastructural change as well. No new trainer/man- ager/management team can wave a magic wand and wish away Clare’s football ills. The structures have to change whereby footballers in Clare are getting more games.

Success won’t come in the short- term – it will be a longterm thing and players and management should realise that. Looking at their history books might even teach them a thing or two, give them some confidence even, as they face into the Antrim game and sterner challenges that lie ahead against Offaly and Wicklow.

When John Maughan came to Clare in 1990, his first league game in charge was against Tipperary and Clare went down just as badly as they did last Saturday. They lost their sec- ond game too.

“We set ourselves the target of win- ning a couple of games in the league and we did that in the latter stages of the competition. It was the road to success,’ recalled Maughan.

Clare have to believe, even in the darkness of defeat to Carlow and Tipperary that they can go down a similar road. If they don’t Clare foot- ball will consigned to Divsion 4 for a while yet.

It’s up to the players, because there’s only so much that management can do. Many players were highly critical of the Paidi O Sé regime last year, wrongly blaming bad management for bad performances.

There’s been good management since November, with training up to five nights a week. Bad performances can’t be blamed on bad management now. It’s up to the players now.

ANY chance of making it out of Di- vision 4 rests on this game. Clare, simply, have to win and while the wider picture says that promotion isn’t a necessity this year, a positive result at the weekend is essential if interest levels are to be retained. An- ybody from a county outside of Clare may find it strange, but history has told us that Clare footballers leave a shaky football panel faster than rats SEN oare Sb ON Gb rears) oul Oy

But maybe that attitude is slowly evaporating and if so, then that’s more positive than any top two fin- ish in the league. Under Frank Do- herty, there has been application and dedication and while the results went right in the McGrath Cup, they haven’t followed suit in the league.

Clare were dealt two openers that tested their mettle. They failed both challenges. Should they go down against Antrim on Saturday, then the league is over and the backdoor TImsy ele

But Clare have already secured one advantage. Back in the bad old days of Clare football, the players felt al-

ienated by the board — and we’re not talking of a Cork breakdown here. Multiply that by ten. Simple things were overlooked. Player’s basic ex- penses were cast aside. They paid for their own boots. There was no water in the showers.

If the Cork boys were faced with those obstacles, they’d probably have followed the younger O’Halpins en masse to Australia long ago.

Anyway, the current crop don’t have those worries to occupy their heads. This week, the board made sure the Antrim game goes ahead on Saturday. Antrim made some moves to have it played on Sunday, giving their players the Saturday to make the journey. They don’t have that benefit now.

It might be a logistical advantage, but it’s an advantage all the same and Clare have to capitalise on that. Last week we said that Barry Grogan had to be curtailed if Clare were to stand a chance. He scored O-8 on Satur- day and cut Clare to ribbons. This week, we say Paddy Cunningham is the man to smother. He impressed when he came on against Wicklow in Aughrim and scored 1-3 in the sec- ond half — a game that Antrim won, signalling their potential — and he controlled the attack at the weekend when Kilkenny were hammered by

Antrim.

From a Clare perspective, the re- turned Ger Quinlan provides some needed physical presence in midfield but without the suspended Niall Con- sidine, the half-back line lacks some forward penetration.

Against Antrim, it mightn’t be such a bad thing. Clare will have to tight- en up defensively and for once, stand up and be counted.

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to judge this Clare team on Sunday’s perform- ance. Simply because of the early sending off of Clare’s David Barrett, the game was tainted as a real con- test and only came to life when Tony Og Regan was dismissed early in the second half to even up the numbers. Still, by that stage, Clare were al- ready 13 points in arrears so while the points were never in question, it was only a matter of how Clare would respond against the odds.

It was a pity really as the game promised to be a real test of both side’s progress to date and the fact that it was not a dirty game makes the three dismissals something of a joke. Unfortunately for the Banner, this was a missed opportunity that could have been beneficial going forward but with Laois next on the list, Clare might have to wait until the Limerick game in the Gaelic Grounds to truly evaluate their development.

That’s in no way designed to dis- miss Laois who have been an emerg- ing side over the past few years. However, if Clare are to be taken seriously this year, they will have to put up a big score against the strug-

gling midlanders.

Laois manager Damien Fox has transformed their fortunes since tak- ing over last year. They completed their initial aim by winning Division 2 last year but despite some good performances, they went out in a dif- ficult qualifier group. Only six points separated Clare and Laois in Portlao- ise last year in the qualifiers but you also have to consider that Clare had WM ACCP eK emant-lam cw eetvu ues! by the weather.

Nevertheless, since then Damien Fox’s good work is unravelling all around him with the news that three dual players are opting for football over hurling this year. Cahir Healy, one of last year’s biggest perform- ers along with John O’Loughlin and Darren Rooney are gone but there is still plenty of talented youth emerg- ing in the county. LIT’s Willie Hy- land and UL’s Matthew Whelan should be well known to Clare due to their Waterford Crystal and Fitz- gibbon involvement while forward James Young is always amongst the top scorers of the championship each year.

Clare need to iron out a few prob- lems of their own first and despite the numerical disadvantage, Mike McNamara would have gained some added knowledge on his player’s ability to respond under pressure. In that regard, the full back line leaked

plenty on Sunday and were unable to deal with Galway’s full forward line which scored 1-10 from play. They also leaked another goal with a first half penalty. Changes were eventual- ly made and they looked more secure in the latter stages but they can’t af- ford to give the Laois forwards sim1- lar freedom on Sunday.

Further injuries to Brendan Bugler and Conor McMahon didn’t help matters while David Barrett will be suspended this weekend. With an- other six possible starters (Gerry O’Grady, Alan Markham, Diarmuid McMahon, Derek Quinn, Tony Grif- fin and Bernard Gaffney) still miss- ing for various reasons, it will be a test of the squad’s depth for the Laois game.

Nothing less than a victory will do however as Clare need to get their league campaign underway in a posi- tive fashion. Expect Laois to throw everything at Clare for the first twenty minutes but if the Banner can get on top early, they should look to repeat Limerick’s dismantling of the midlands side last Sunday.

That is if the referee allows fifteen players to remain on the field.

THE four-point losing margin cer- tainly flattered Clare, but Mike Mc- Namara gladly took it at the end of his debut league game in charge. An- yway, the result wasn’t of concern to Clare on this day, because winning isn’t everything in the earliest days of McNamara’s time at the wheel.

ed WaTompushiUN mm c-h0 Me mao orsl mm peel oe)me- 001 me McNamara told a posse of reporters after the game. “We were looking for character in players more than any- thing else today. We’re new and we’re on the road now and were looking for character and I think we found it.

“We went a little disjointed when we went down to 14 men. It was a new team, with new boys. An expe- rienced team would be able to cope with a loss like that. We haven’t that experience yet.

‘I would be extremely pleased with the manner of the performance and the character of the players. We’ll have to accept that it’s going to take a while to get a team game going. Individual performances all over the field were quite good, but you have to accept with Clare going forward that it’s going to take a while to put the team effort in place and play as a team, particularly this year when we have no ball-play done at all,” added McNamara.

Character then is going to be the template of McNamara’s steward- ship — his thesis being that only by throwing players in at the deep end will character emerge. Give me the boy and I’ll make the man could be- come a byword for McNamara’s first season in charge.

“We spoke during the week that if we all came through unscathed it

would be a miracle. If you put six or seven debutants on a team and five come through unscathed, you have a ereat day’s work done,’ McNamara revealed.

“We can take a lot of positives from it. don’t know what we scored but 3- 15 (3-17) or whatever, with five lads playing in the forwards who didn’t play league before. It’s going to take time to generate team play, team spirit and a team itself.

“We’re down the road now, we’re up and running and we can only look forward to getting better everyday. I’d be very surprised if the perform- ances don’t increase and the tempo doesn’t increase in Clare hurling and that players, individually and collec- tively, will increase their perform- ances,” he added.

Starting with Laois in Cusack Park this Sunday.

BY HIS own reckoning, this must be the year Galway deliver or his time across the border will be regarded as a failure. That Galway had enough in the tank to see off Clare on Sunday won’t send any tremors across the country, but condisering Cork’s cur- rent status, the time couldn’t be bet- ter for an attack on the super powers ome nlenabberee

Ger Loughnane come out of the dressing room on Sunday gushing about the present atmosphere in his new hurling home.

“It’s brilliant,” he says. “It com- pares to anything I have ever been involved in before. They want to suc- ceed. These are really, really great Feels

But there’s a proviso.

“T still think we need something defensively, someone like Ollie Can- ning. I still think he could do a great job for Galway. But I am delighted to see Ger [Farragher] back. I said

to them all in the dressing room that he’s an example to all of us. He spent all of last year on the sideline and was up in the stand for the All-Ire- land quarter-final against Kilkenny and never came on. He could have walked away or he could have sulked. We spoke to him last October. We told him the talent he had and what he had to work on. He worked so hard over the winter and you see the results out there today.”

Like his old colleague Mike McNa- mara, Loughnane also had an opin- ion on refereeing.

“The problem is you can do any- thing you want with your body but any little tap with a hurley and you’re going to get a yellow card. And when you’ve got one, then it’s very easy to get the second. Referees are under fierce pressure. I thought Seamus [Roche] applied the rules as they are now. It’s not Seamus or any other referee that’s at fault. It 1s the peo- ple that are making these rules. They are going to destroy the game com-

pletely if they keep going like that. There will be no physical contact in it whatsoever.

“Seamus did nothing wrong. He is going by the rules. He has some guy up in the stand watching him and he has to try and not lose too many points. I understand he starts off with 100 points and then they are deduct- ed as he goes along.”

Galway’s poor end to the game and Clare’s late flourish also left him dis- appointed.

“People will go away and say Gal- way, Jesus, they gave away all their scores in the last few minutes. This is One monkey we’ve got to get rid of and we’ve got to get rid of it in the league. We have to face someone when it’s level with ten minutes left and we’ve got to fight out of that situ- ation and win the game. Unless we do that, you can’t really say that Gal- way have arrived.”

THE 14th annual Clare Community and Sports awards were held in the West County Hotel on Friday night with a large crowd of over 300 peo- ple in attendence. Organised by the Clare Vocational Education Com- mittee, the ceremony rewarded vari- ous people from all aspects of Clare society who excelled in their particu- lar fields in 2007.

The biggest winner on the night was Clooney’s William Loughnane who along with his award for his Special Olympic achievements was also presented with the Overall Per- sonality of the Year award. William won six gold medals and a bronze in six different disciplines for Gymnas- tics in last year’s Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai and has deservingly received many accolades and awards since for his momentus accomplishments.

In all, 17 awards were presented during the night. Tulla hurler Brian Quinn won the hurling award for his part in Tulla’s first county champion- ship win in 74 years and the subse-

quent run to the Munster final. Cathal Hill picked up the football award for his impressive displays in Lissyca- sey’s double winning season. Claire Commane’s player of the match dis- play in the All-Ireland junior final as well as being Clare’s top scorer in the championship saw her win the cam- ogie award while West Clare Gaels captain Marie Kelly was presented with the Ladies Football award after leading her side to the All-Ireland Junior Club Final.

Other sporting winners were the Ennis Ladies ‘Team for their National Senior Cup win, Avenue Utd School- boys for their domination of the local Soccer scene, Veronica Colleran for her victories in cross country, Derek O’Connor for his record breaking point to point season, Christopher Ryan for his achievements in swim- ming, Marie O’Connor for her five medals at the World ‘Transplant Games and Louise Woods who picked up the Young Sports Person- ality award for her talents in a multi- tude of sports.

The community awards went to Fr Donagh O’ Meara for his involvement

in Kilkee, Seamus Spaight for his contribution to Meelick GAA, Joe Garrihy for his work in Lisdoonvar- na and John and Emma Hanrahan for their tireless work in Labasheeda.

IT WAS the biggest celebration in Lissycasey GAA club history – the night they honoured the storied year that was 2007 when they swept away the major honours in Clare senior football.

Of course the high came when they annexed the senior football title for the first time, a success over Eire Og that was followed two weeks later a maiden victory in the Cusack Cup when they beat Doonbeg in a tem- pestuous encounter.

And there was more – 2007 also saw Lissycasey win the Minor B championship and Division 5 league, the medals for which were also pre- sented on the night by guest of hon- our, double All-Ireland winner with

Galway and Tuam Star, Jarlath Fal- lon. The 2006 O’Gorman Cup med- als were also presented.

Master of ceremonies on the night was former club secretary, Seamus Hayes, while each medal presenta- tion to members of the senior team took place to a backdrop of footage from Lissycasey’s march to the Jack Daly Cup.

Over 400 people attended the func- tion in The West County Hotel, with the county board represented by chairman Michael O’Neill, vice- chairman Johnny Hill and secretary Pat Fitzgearld.

A special presentation was made to former county board chairman, Michael McDonagh, while county final referee Michael Talty from Kil- murry Ibrickane was also honoured

with a presentation.

THE College championship season began in earnest last week when the Fitzgibbon and Ryan Cups got un- derway. Top of the bill was undoubt- edly the clash of WIT and UL in the so-called Group of Death which also includes last year’s winners LIT.

Despite being a dour affair played in less than favourable conditions, 2006 champions WIT came away with all the points with Kilkenny senior panelist TJ Reid the hero scor- ing O-7 in their O-11 to O-6 victory.

Clare were well respresented in the game with Conor Cooney (O’Callaghan’s Mills), Patrick Kel- ly (Clarecastle) and Ger Griffey (Clarecastle) all starting for the win- ners while Peter O’Brien (Ogonnel- loe) was introduced for UL midway through the second half. The Lim- erick side also had to do without the services of the injured Brendan Bu- gler (Whitegate).

In Group B, CIT were four point winners over last year’s finalists NUIG but the Cork side were far more impressive than the 1-16 to 1-12 scoreline suggests. Newtownshan- drum duo Ryan Clifford and Cathal Naughton did most of the damage se- curing I-13 between them and NUIG had no answer to the forward power, especially after losing their captain and centre-back Martin Ryan after only 15 minutes.

Five Clare players were on show for the Galway side with the O’ Donovan twins Domhnall and Cormac return- ing to action after Clonlara’s narrow defeat to Tommy Larkins and the NUIG side also included Cian Dillon (Crusheen), Colin Ryan (Newmar- ket-on-Fergus) who scored five frees and his clubmate David Barrett who managed an impressive tally of four points from play.

In Group C, UCC secured a com- fortable 0-16 to O-8 victory over the Garda College with Sixmilebridge’s

Aidan Quilligan heavily prominent from centre-back. The Garda college depended largely on Eoin McGrath’s (Waterford) frees but the Banner were also represented in the side by Brendan McMahon (Crusheen), Kevin Dilleen (St Josephs Doora/ Barefield) and Eire Og’s Barry Nu- gent who grabbed two points.

In Group D, UCD easily accounted for UUJ in their 3-18 to 0-10 point win with Kilkenny’s Maurice Nolan amassing 1-10 of that total.

This week’s fixtures sees poten- tiallty the game of the group stages when WIT host 2007 winners LIT on Wednesday. Between them, these sides have dominated the prestigious colleges Cup in recent years with WIT winning three and LIT win- ning two out of the last five Fitzgib- bon titles and a cracking game is expected.

Holders LIT who knocked out Clare

in the Waterford Crystal Competi- tion a few weeks back have a host of inter-county stars with Joe Canning (Galway), Niall Healy (Galway), Willie Hyland (Laois) and Shane Maher (Tipperary) in their ranks. Davy Fitzgerald’s side is also well represented by Clare players includ- ing Enda Collins (Killanena), Gary O’Connell (Wolfe Tones), Jonathan Clancy (Clarecastle), James MclIn- erney (Newmarket-on Fergus) and Bernard Gaffney (Newmarket-on- Fergus) who are all expected to fea- Ub Ken

Clare midfielder Jonathan Clancy is one of the most experienced in the LIT side having won two Fitzgib- bon medals in three years. Winner of a Higher Education All-Star last year in their run to the title, Clancy feels that despite the loss of several key players this year, the potential of the Freshers coming through this

year makes them a strong candidate to complete a successful defence of their title.

“We lost Jackie Tyrell, Kieran Murphy, Shane McGrath and Conor O’Mahony. These lads were starting even on their county teams so there was a gap there all right but I think we have enough young players com- ing through to fill the gap.

“I think the squad is good enough to win it again. We have a lot of strong players still there, a shell of a panel of seven or eight that were there last year and a lot of new lads coming in and we seem to be bonding well to- gether.”

With the benefit of a game last week, WIT have the chance to se- cure top spot with a win on home turf on Wednesday but they will be up against it against a well marshalled LIT who made a clean sweep of the HIgher Education honours last year.

In Group B NUIG have to beat DIT to stay in this year’s competition and because they retained the majority of last year’s team, they should have too much for the Dublin side. In Groups C and D , the Garda College and UUJ are in a similar predicament when they take on Connaught Hurl- ing League finalists GMIT and St Pats respectively, both needing wins to survive.

This week also sees the commence- ment of the Sigerson Cup, third level football’s premier competition. The full results and fixtures are as fol- O45

FOR years, a Clare tradition has swept through St Munchin’s College, one of Limerick’s main rugby nurs- eries. Keith Wood, Anthony Foley and most recently, Clonlara’s current Irish international Marcus Horan have all graced the rugby fields for the school.

It continues to grow and develop and this week, ten Clare players will line out for the school in the quarter- final of the Avonmore Mile Munster Senior Schools Cup quarter-final.

They take on strong Cork opposi- tion in the form of Pres but according to Clare’s Donal Madden, part of the backroom team, they’ll hope to re- turn with their cup hopes still alive.

“It’s never easy going to Cork and taking on Pres in their own back yard and we’ll have our work cut-out, but we re confident of coming away with a result.”

There’s further influence seeping through the college as all bar two of the Junior side, who are taking ad- vantage of the backdoor system, are from Clare.

The side went down to PBC at Clif- ford Park last Friday, but it’s not the end of their involvement in the com-

petition. That game threw up one of the most entertaining games in schools rugby all year in what was a forward-dominated contest — one they eventually lost by three points, eee

It wasn’t until mid-way in the sec- ond half that PCB pulled away, when the pack set-up a scoring opportunity that they took full advantage of.

That game was also noted for the impressive play by the Ryan triplets. Evan and Gavin both play in the sec- ond row while Darren operates as scrum half with all three doubling up on their sporting interests and play- ing football and hurling for Meelick.

The three form part of the 13 Clare players who started that game.

Their father, Ray, 1s yet one more Clare link in the Munchins chain and he lined out for the school, playing for the senior side in the early 80s.

And there are further Clare links to this year’s sides with a strong rep- resentation from the county on the backroom teams of both the senior and junior sides.

SSE See UbbetcamevenUCe ome: Mech tlm oO! tremors through Miltown on Sun- day. The understandable elation of the McGrath Cup campaign brought back a certain confidence in the team, demonstrated by the large sup- port in Hennessy Park and for 40 minutes, the players responded with an accomplished performance.

An old trait then made an unwel- come reappearance. The self destruct button was a feature of past sides but the new regime seemed to have elim- inated that element in January.

However, in an incredulous ten minute period, Clare went from two points up and a one man advantage to a five point and two man deficit. The referee has to take a large por- tion of the blame due to his card hap- py manner but as Clare slowly lost their initiative, their gameplan and composure also disintegrated before the new managemnent’s eyes.

Clare manager Frank Doherty was one of the last to leave the dressing rooms at Hennessy Park and it was easy to sense from his demeanour he was still trying to get to grips with

what happened on the field.

“Personally, I’m totally disappoint- ed. Now is not the time or place to analyse the game and we will leave that until Tuesday night and address it then. I’m not one for roaring or shouting but the cracks are still there SO We ve got iron out that situation.”

This was Doherty’s first competi- tive defeat as Clare manager and having equalled last year’s com- petitve record of four victories in January alone, everything looked to be in place for a home victory. The dismissals were top of Doherty’s list of ailments, severe refereeing deci- sions which he felt ultimately cost his side all two points.

“The first sending off was harsh enough. It was Conor Whelan that actually fouled inside and Gordon Kelly didn’t lay a finger on the Car- low man. So Gordon got sent off in the wrong I felt, very much so. Maybe the referee got it wrong. He went in and consulted with the umpires and they said it was number six but the second [sending off] was harsh as well. At the same time, I have been a stickler on discipline so to a degree, we shot ourselves in the foot.

‘From being five minutes into the second half and in control we let it slip. Unfortunately David Tubridy missed that free but there are days like that.

“We probably should have gone on to win the game | felt. Not being dis- respectful to Carlow or anything but I felt we were in control. They had a man down and they had to push on and would have left gaps at the back but there you go.

“That’s the harsh reality of football and maybe it’s a learning lesson for our lads and we will just try and sort it out next Tuesday night.”

With a trip to Tipperary on the cards in six days time, lessons will have to be learned fast.

It’s best to write this game off as a one-off blip. Next Saturday should tell a lot more about Clare’s position in 2008.