Clare under no pressure against red-hot favourites Kerry

CLARE centre-back Brian Considine admitted last night that trying to man- mark Kerry’s lethal attack in Sunday’s Bank of Ireland Munster SFC would be counter-productive.

"The bottom line is we are looking for a performance against Kerry. Our supporters won't be expecting too much, so there won't be any pressure.

"Kerry are absolutely the form team in the country. We won't set out to try and man-mark them, because that would only see us tying ourselves up in knots," the Liscannor man admitted.

Now facing into his seventh full season, Considine admits there are more lows than highs to life as a Clare footballer.

The highlight for him was qualification for the Munster final of four years ago, against Kerry although he doesn't exactly have happy memories of the occasion.

Other than that, competing in Division One of the League and fighting off relegation has been the only other highs.

"Remembering back to the 2000 Munster final, we were going great at the start. I was full-back that year and I went out to take a sideline ball. I over-hit it, Johnny Crowley got a goal and it went downhill from there on. I enjoyed the day and there had been a great build-up. It was the first time that the football was at a high level since '97 and it was great to get a bit of profile."

Their League campaign this year wasn't the most promising, he accepts, with a few exceptions. Notably, they put up a very good display away to Donegal.

"Things started to look up. We had a good weekend away and had a good chat with ourselves. Since then we have been on an upward spiral. We have some good individuals; the problem is to get them to play as a team," he says.

"We feel we are better than last year and we would need to be. Last year we did not perform at all in the championship. It wasn't a great year for us."

The initial challenge will be to try and put in a solid display over the first 15 or 20 minutes. Looking beyond the game to the qualifier competition Considine hopes that, if they are involved, they will be better equipped than they were 12 months ago.

"It's a great opportunity for us. You could get a high-profile team or maybe get a chance of a run at it. That would be good for confidence."