Injuries, red card mute Mulqueen’s joy

FOR Clare selector Louis Mulqueen, following Sunday’s emphatic Munster senior hurling championship win over neighbours Tipperary, it was very much a case of mixed emotions.

On the up side and after three years of first round defeats by Tipperary, there is the euphoria generated by this long-awaited win.

“A big change from the last two years. No more ducking and diving around Ennis,” he said.

Countering that, however, is the red card issued to team captain Seanie McMahon and injuries suffered by three other key defensive players, Brian Lohan, David Hoey and Gerry Quinn.

For Mulqueen, the sending off was almost unbelievable. “I’ve been with Seanie for many years now, five or six years with Joseph’s (his club) and the last two with Clare, and I have never seen him sent off before. He’s a gentleman on and off the field. A malicious blow wouldn’t be in his mentality.

“There was lots of jostling on Sunday, lots of throw-ins, and at one stage a Tipp player was swinging wildly but hitting his own man. The game was broken up, too much of that kind of thing, and that’s what happened in the McMahon situation.

“It was just a lot of pushing, flicks and digs, and Sean got involved, which is very uncharacteristic. From what I saw, it looked more like an accidental contact than a blatant pull across the head.

“Afterwards, he was very apologetic, very disappointed. He was happy that we won but disappointed at his own situation, especially being captain of the side. He was thinking of the worst thing that can happen to him, and even with a minimum of a month’s ban, he will miss the opportunity to captain his county in a Munster semi-final, a major disappointment in itself.

“But I think it was the getting a straight red card that most upsets him. It was totally out of character, a once off, and never to be repeated, I’d say. We’re hoping it will be treated as a minimum offence, but we’ll have to wait and see what’s in the report. From our point of view, the less that’s made of it the better,” Mulqueen said.

Whatever happens, it looks certain McMahon will miss the Munster semi-final date with Cork on June 8, but Mulqueen and his fellow selectors have even more worries.

“We picked up savage injuries yesterday. David Hoey is gone for the season. He suffered a clean break of the fibula in his leg, snapped in two.

“Gerry Quinn suffered a high tackle and elbow into the face and I was talking to him in the dressing-room afterwards and he didn’t know what day of the week it was. I was collecting up his gear when he suddenly collapsed, went into a bit of a spasm, suffering from concussion. He was rushed off to hospital and held overnight. He was released this morning but is obviously very shook. His nose is a bit rearranged.

“Brian Lohan is going around today on a crutch; when he crashed into David Hoey he injured his knee. It happened in the fifth minute but he played on. We were keeping a watching brief on him. I was worried about his mobility because it wasn’t great. But, warrior that he is, he disguised it well and played the full game.

“It’s the medial ligament and he’s going for scans now, but hopefully he won’t have to go for surgery tomorrow. One way or another, that’s four of our six starting backs in deep trouble for the semi-final against Cork.”

Not unlike the cloud under which Tipperary entered Sunday’s game in fact, given that they were missing three front-line defenders.

“Yes, it’s very, very similar,” Mulqueen said. “If we lose Brian Lohan, that’s the Phillip Maher situation; David Hoey is gone and that’s Eamonn Corcoran; and, technically, whatever we might be hoping, we’ve probably lost Sean McMahon.

“That’s two of our half-back line, maybe all three, and possibly our full-back. That would be a major loss, as Tipperary learned to their cost yesterday.

“Those are potentially four big losses for the next day, and it puts a dampener slightly on the ecstasy of winning.

“However, we hope Gerry Quinn recovers from the concussion in time, he’s the most likely candidate to recover, and depending on what the surgeon says tomorrow, Brian Lohan also has a chance of being available.

“Cork represents another big challenge for us. They ran us ragged in the league.

“They deservedly beat us in the league and that worries us because we thought we were up for that game. We just didn’t perform. They will be fresh coming into the semi-final, but the performance yesterday gave us great heart.

“Even in Clare, a lot of people doubted us, and maybe the players had niggly things in the back of their minds. But the passion they showed yesterday, the intensity, no number of training sessions will do that for you, and I believe they’ll carry that into the Cork game, which will be a big plus.”