On a Clare day
It doesn’t seem like 11 years since that famous incident near the end of the Munster senior hurling semi-final win over Cork that kick-started their surge to glory in 1995. But it is.
In the dying moments of that match, with Clare trailing by a couple of points, McMahon suffered a game-ending collar-bone injury. But as the Banner had used their full complement of subs, McMahon couldn’t be replaced. So, rather than come off, he made the move to corner-forward, where it was hoped he would at least make a nuisance of himself and keep a Cork defender busy.
Of course he did a lot more than that. Ignoring the pain, McMahon forced a last-minute sideline ball against no less a battler than Timmy Kelleher. From that sideline came the goal that beat Cork, the win from which Clare never looked back en route to an incredible All-Ireland championship winning summer.
Fast forward back to the present. Cork and Clare go head to head in 10 days in a Munster semi-final. Can history repeat itself? Can Sean inspire Clare to another famous win?
Back then he was just a colt, fresh-faced and frisky, one of a number of young guns who brought Clare back to the pinnacle of hurling; now, well, the features are still unlined but the mileage is on the clock, and McMahon is one of the senior citizens on a new-look Clare side.
Not that this means too much.
“I certainly wouldn’t say it gets easier as you get older,” he admits with a laugh. “But I’d never be too relaxed. The day you’re relaxed is the day you might as well write it off, and I’ve had that experience as well. It is better to be a bit on edge.”
He is on edge, more so because he knows that, for Sean McMahon, these days are running out. “You appreciate it more at this stage. When you’re a young fella you think it will go on forever, you can never see the end. As you get older, you do, but there’s no point thinking about that now. You just have to concentrate on the here and now and take it from there.”
The here and now. 1995, 1997, 1998, the years when they had Cork on the rack, made them suffer, the years when Sean McMahon was lord of centre-backs, have passed. The last three times the two sides met, 1999, 2003 and 2005, the Rebels have proved the masters.
The worst of those defeats also happens to have been the most recent. In August last year, in the All-Ireland semi-final, with just over 20 minutes to go, Clare had Cork in a vice. It wasn’t just that they were six points ahead, it was the way they were playing. Four points on the trot to start the second half, Clare were rampant. Then it fell apart.
Cork outscored them nine points to two — to win by one.
The defeat hurt, as did the criticism suffered afterwards, but McMahon makes an interesting point about it all.
“I don’t think Cork got the credit they deserved for the way they finished last year. They kept plugging away when we were on top, then they got their own period of dominance. Very few teams will dominate for the full 70 minutes, but when you get your chance, you have to take it.
“In fairness to Cork, they did that, got their chance and took it. It was crucial too that it came right at the end. It was very disappointing, I wouldn’t pretend otherwise, but I think Cork deserve credit too.”
It was Oscar Wilde in A Woman Of No Importance who suggested that to lose one parent looks like misfortune, to lose both looks like carelessness; what of Clare then? Having lost that six-point lead to Cork in their last championship match, they picked up the pieces, had a good run in this year’s League, and qualified top of their group, going straight into the semi-final where they met high-flying Limerick.
They shook them around like a rag doll, led by eight points with only 13 minutes to go.
And lost.
“Yes, and then Limerick got on that roll. I’ve always felt that there’s no team like Limerick for driving it home when that happens, and that’s compounded by the fact that it’s very difficult to turn it around once you have become complacent, you can’t just switch back on.
“That’s not to take away from Limerick in any way. They too kept plugging away even when things weren’t going well for them, tacking over the odd point. It was disappointing again, yes, but you must give credit to them also.”
What Sean didn’t mention, by way of excuse, was that for the previous two weeks and with an eye to next weekend’s championship match, manager Anthony Daly had stepped up the intensity of Clare’s training programme.
There were several heavy sessions, including one on the Friday evening before that League semi-final. That too was a factor in those final 13 minutes, in extra-time time especially.
Overall, however, it was a good League for Clare, with a few new faces introduced, and several others stepping up their game and shouldering more responsibility.
“Management made the conscious decision to give everyone on the panel a start in the League, give everyone a fair chance, and they did that. By and large everyone played pretty well, and that has increased the options in the panel.
“I think everyone now feels they’re in with a shout of playing.”
Most impressive has been the emergence of a powerful and potent forward sextet. One of those is Sean’s cousin, Diarmuid McMahon.
But Diarmuid began his hurling life in defence. Centre-back was where he played for his club, Kilmaley, and he was a good one, heir apparent, if ever one was needed, for the county. But the cousin wasn’t about to relinquish that position just yet, so Diarmuid found himself at midfield, wing-forward, centre-forward, even further up, as the management team tried to find a slot for his obvious talents.
It’s taken a couple of years, but finally they’ve managed it. Diarmuid McMahon is now an outstanding ball-winning, hard-running, defence-destroying scoring wing-forward.
Cousin Sean is impressed: “He’s worked very hard and has a fantastic attitude. To me now he’s a top-class forward, well capable of playing in the backs or midfield also. He’s a central man for us now, has developed into a fantastic player and a great leader as well. He deserves full credit for it. It would have been easy for him to say, ‘Look, I’m a back, I don’t want to play in the forwards’, but he didn’t.”
Put Diarmuid alongside other established players like Tony Carmody, Tony Griffin, Niall Gilligan, Barry Nugent, Alan Markham in his floating role, any of Andrew Quinn, Fergal Lynch, Declan O’Rourke, Daithí O’Connell, James McInerney, Jonathan Clancy, and well, you have a potency up front, a lot of forwards well capable of testing any defence.
“Most of those lads have been there for a year or two. They’ve all stepped up to the mark, you can see it in their performances. Lads are working hard, getting their chance, taking it. The real test will be Cork on May 28.
“We just want to win the game, but to do that, it will probably have to be a tough match, a battle. Cork look to be the complete team, very fit, athletic, but they have physical strength as well all over the field, in the right places especially.
“But there’s too much made of the physicality thing. Just because a fella is over six foot doesn’t mean he’s going to be better. Look at the hurler-of-the-year last year, Jerry O’Connor, JJ Delaney another year. Having size is one thing, but there’s a lot more to it than that.”
And will there be hang ups after last year’s semi-final collapse?
Definitely not, says McMahon.
“You don’t draw on anything that’s gone before, it’s a different match, you just concentrate on the here and now. What we were doing 10 years ago wouldn’t do now, you have to do things differently, and in 10 years’ time, that will have changed again, that’s the way the game is going. The preparation is very different, as is the way the game is played. But that’s a good thing. It’s very competitive still, a lot of teams are in with a real shout this year. It’s still a great spectacle.
“Obviously you look at the lessons of last year, try to improve on that, but you take every game on its own merits, try and win it. At the moment Cork are the benchmark for everyone — they won the last two All-Irelands, are probably favourites to win the third.
“If you can beat Cork you know you’re up there with the best, but even in Munster, any team is capable of beating the other. Just because you beat Cork wouldn’t mean you’d win your next match either. We know we’re going to have a huge battle against Cork, we’ll just take it as it comes after that.”
Yes, time has passed, all too quickly, and some things have changed, not least the Cork/Clare relationship in Munster, with respect now very much a mutual thing thanks in no small part to the efforts of Seanie McMahon.
One thing has not changed, however — his appetite for the fray.
“Ah yeah,” he smiles, an anticipatory glint in the eye, “probably won’t have too many more years. I’m just going to go and have a go again.”
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