Cats refuse to take Clare for granted

SEMI-FINAL hurdle successfully negotiated, reigning All-Ireland champions Tipperary toppled, next obstacle on the Kilkenny rehab agenda, after last year’s disappointing loss of their All-Ireland title, is equally daunting: another major Munster challenge.

Clare, so impressive in the way they dismissed beaten Leinster finalists Wexford, probably even more imposing in the way they ground out a result against Galway in their semi-final, having struggled early on, are now all that stand between Kilkenny and final vindication. Even after their heroics on Sunday, however, none of the Kilkenny players were taking anything for granted just yet.

“Yeah, big one, scary one”, says centre-back Peter Barry. “They’re a big team, strong, keep coming at you in waves. And they have a big feeling for it, 2002; the intensity that was there in that game against Tipperary, Clare play like that all the time, and we’re going to have to match that.”

One of the many positive aspects of Sunday’s game was that, despite the incredible pace at which it was played, there wasn’t a malicious stroke throughout. In fact, even as everyone in the near 60,000 crowd remained riveted on the titanic on-field struggle, it’s nice to know that down there, in the heart of the heat, some of the gladiators themselves even took the time to enjoy it. “’Twas good, was it?” Barry enquired, glad to be told it was better than good. “O’Meara said to me at one stage, 'some game isn’t it’, and he was right. Your tongue would be hanging out, but he was right.”

Will such lightness prevail on All-Ireland day, against Clare? Perhaps, because these are all decent guys, good sportsmen. Nevertheless, there is that bit more at stake again now the next day, a place in hurling history, as opposed to a place in the final, and Clare do have that hard-earned recent reputation for bearing down, and hard, on the big day.

“You hear Ger Loughnane on television, Clare have only lost once in 11 times in Croke Park, and that’s some record”, corner-back Philly Larkin agrees, before going to state Kilkenny’s own claims. “We know we’re up against it, but sure it’s fifty/fifty on the day. We were beaten badly by Galway last year and we had to get back into an All-Ireland final to prove ourselves. You have to win an All-Ireland final, nothing else counts, so we were fired up as a team. We were in six semi-finals in a row, only one All-Ireland to show for it, that’s not enough, you don’t want to finish with just one medal. There is pressure there, yes, but you’re under pressure going out in every game, you have to produce the goods or you’ll be called ashore”.

The James Stephens’ stalwart certainly did that on Sunday, as did centre-forward Henry Shefflin, a man who combines size and silk, skill and strength, to the same deadly effect as one Seanie McMahon, the guy Henry will likely face against Clare. Likely, because even after his heroics on Sunday, Shefflin is still taking nothing for granted: “I could be on anyone, but any of the Clare backs are just marvellous defenders. There’s no team picked yet, no-one knows where they’ll play, or even if they will play. John Power is playing great stuff in training, mad to be in there, so there’s a lot of pressure on me. Three weeks to go now, and anything can happen between now and then, lads can get injured. There’s no-one playing in any position yet, this is a 20-man game now. Brian Dowling has come on in games and got the crucial scores, Jimmy Coogan did it in this one. Jimmy did his cruciate last year, was out of action for a long time, worked away in the gym, came on in this one and got 1-1. Doesn’t matter who does the business, once we win, that’s all that matters. We’ll just keep our heads down now, keep training, see if we can step it up a bit more, to beat Clare”.

Last word to team captain Andy Comerford who explained that, for Kilkenny, this isn’t so much a championship as a mission: “We came up here last year and our guard was down, Galway sniped us, shot us down. All-Irelands are a funny animal, a lot of things have happened in All-Ireland finals down through the years, a lot of twists and turns. We’ve experienced two losses, we’ve experienced a win, so we know both sides of the coin. And we know it will take another good performance now to beat Clare”.