Gary Brennan: If Clare believe they’ve already overachieved, they will go no further

STEPPING UP TO THE MARK: Eoin Cleary and Gary Brennan of Clare. ©INPHO/Tommy Dickson

“I knew I could have done better, that it was not my ability or the quality of my game that had failed me, but my head…Losing always hurts, but it hurts much more when you had your chance and threw it away. I had beaten myself as much as Federer had beaten me…I had flagged mentally, I had allowed myself to get distracted; I had veered from my game plan. So stupid, so unnecessary. So obviously, so exactly what you must not do in a big game….had I played as if this were the first set and not the last I could have won it.” 

- (Rafael Nadal – My Story)

RAFAEL Nadal lost the 2007 Wimbledon final to Roger Federer in five sets. It marked an incredible five-in-a-row for Federer and a second consecutive final defeat for Nadal. The prevailing wisdom was that Nadal was getting closer, but he didn’t have enough to take down the World No 1, at least not here, on grass, at Wimbledon. 

Now, Clare and Derry might not be the perfect comparison for Nadal and Federer, but those words of Nadal’s came back to me as I thought about Clare’s prospects in today's All-Ireland SFC quarter-final against Derry. Two games I played in for the county stood out to me. The last time we got to this stage of the championship (2016) we never raised a gallop. Kerry were a better team and beat us comfortably but what hurt most was that we didn't fire a shot. 

We, as players, allowed ourselves to get distracted – by the talk around our win in Salthill the week before, by the occasion, by the opposition perhaps? The second game was the final round of the National League 2020 - Armagh at home. Beforehand, we knew a win would give us a real chance of Division One football for the following year, but defeat could mean relegation. As it turned out, with results elsewhere going our way, a win would have guaranteed promotion, but we faded in the last quarter and were beaten. 

Again, maybe Armagh were just a better football team but Colm Collins was livid that we didn’t at least check that out – we were running towards the finish line, hoping to get there first, but looking over our shoulder at what was behind us. Armagh sprinted right through it (and they’ve hardly stopped since). 

Clare head for Croke Park today with another unique opportunity before them. Seventy minutes from an All-Ireland semi-final, 30 years since we were last there. Many see this as their limit and, like the two occasions I mentioned above, the opponents will be strong favourites. Nadal spoke about him beating himself as much as Federer beat him. 

It comes down to this: what distractions might cause Clare to do the same, and have they learned enough from past experiences to avoid them?

The biggest hurdle is probably the reaction to the Roscommon victory. The nature of that win meant a real euphoria for Clare people afterwards, much like there was when we won at the same stage in 2016. On that occasion, we just had a week before facing into Kerry, and for that whole week, all the talk was about us. Pat Spillane stated on the Sunday Game that I was A shoo-in for an All Star and no matter where I went that week, it was all I heard. It made it very difficult to have the focus on what we were doing as opposed to what we had done. Clare have had two weeks this time around and the approach has been much quieter and well managed. By the middle of last week, Roscommon has been parked and the focus has been on the next step.

Next, is the level of expectation. There’s been quite a bit of loose talk about the opportunity for one of Derry, Clare, Armagh or Galway to be in an All-Ireland final, and players in any of those counties could be forgiven for dreaming. But there’s a lot of work to do before it can happen. In Clare, you will hear people joke about the double, but while there might be genuine expectation for the hurlers, the footballing side is said more in jest. Clare’s footballers must be immune to this. They must expect more of themselves than anyone else. If they believe that they’ve already overachieved, they will go no further.

And, of course, there's the opponent in Croke Park today. There’s a huge amount of talk about Derry’s system - how hard they are to break down, how you must get ahead to draw them out, how quick they are to break. All of these things are said with good reason, because Derry have been exceptional this year. But they are not the only team that gets bodies behind the ball. Colm Collins and his management team will have a plan devised for how they want to attack this game. I don’t anticipate them deviating much from what they always do. The focus will be primarily on themselves, avoiding silly turnovers, good shooting efficiency, doing well on their own kickouts – that won’t change greatly because of the opponent. Derry, like any other team, will do their best to disrupt it, but Clare need to trust their ability and stick to their plan.

For Derry themselves, there are potential distractions that need to be managed. They’ve beaten Clare already this year, by nine points and for the first time since the championship began, everybody expects them to win. There was an element of them being the hunter as they tackled the big three in Ulster. They need to avoid looking ahead and stay present.

I heard Limerick hurler Gearóid Hegarty being interviewed this week. He was asked about their upcoming All-Ireland semi-final with Galway. His answer? “I’m just focusing on training tomorrow night”. You could say it was his way of avoiding the question, but I believed him. The challenge for any sportsperson is to stay in the here and now, not to be distracted by the past or future, not to get lost in your head and to play on instinct as much as the game-plan allows.

“What I battle hardest to do in a tennis match is to quiet the voices in my head, to shut everything out of my mind but the contest itself and concentrate every atom of my being on the point I am playing. If I made a mistake on the previous point, forget it; should a thought of victory suggest itself, crush it”.

Nadal overcame his distractions. In 2008, he finally overcame Federer at Wimbledon. He led two sets to nil, but it took five to eventually see it through. He was 5-4 down in the last set and had to serve to stay alive. He was able to shut everything else out of his mind and concentrate every atom of his being on that moment. When Clare and Derry face off this evening, one team may be better than the other, but both will hope it comes down to that, and not them getting in their own way. 

The team that can stay present gives themselves the best chance of having a future.