Daly reminder to spur Clare in clash with Rebels

CORK footballers won’t need any reminder of what happened on their last Munster championship visit to Cusack Park, Ennis.

The year was 1997, and Larry Tompkins had just taken over from Billy Morgan as coach. The game looked to be heading Cork’s way, as they held a two-point lead going into the dying moments.

In the twinkling of an eye, however, it was turned on its head when Martin Daly slipped home a goal to give Clare a sensational 1-14 to 1-13 victory and leave Cork and Tompkins shattered.

A lot has gone on in the intervening eight years.

Larry has departed the scene and Billy is back in charge, while former Kerry stalwart John Kennedy is now in charge of the Banner.

“The 1997 clash always comes up whenever Clare and Cork get together and while it has no relevance to Sunday’s game, a mention of it before the match wouldn’t be out of place,” said Kennedy.

“The fact that we beat Waterford in the first round, the pressure is off and all on Cork to deliver. People may not realise it but we were under fierce pressure to win that game.

“We had come in for some criticism for going out to the Catskills Mountains (New York) for training and, coupled with a number of players being omitted from the panel, it put us under enormous pressure to beat Waterford.

“The performance wasn’t great but it was all about getting the result and we did that, but not before Waterford gave us a right fright.

“The one thing we took from that game was our ability to respond when danger threatened. We always had the facility to move up a gear and that’s a good sign of a team.

“However, that performance wouldn’t be good enough to beat Cork on Sunday. We are under no illusions about that.

“It will be a totally different style of game. Cork like to play a running type of game and that should suit our lads. Some of our better players like to run with the ball and hold possession also.

“If we are to have any chance we’ll have to match Cork in the possession stakes and I’m confident we can do that. There was very little between us last year in the qualifiers and hopefully we have learnt from that.

“Clare need have no fear of Cork. We have a reasonably good record against them in Cusack Park and it’s all about believing you are good enough to take on the best.

“Cork under Billy Morgan enjoyed a reasonably good league campaign and played some great football in a number of those games. Despite what people may think, Clare have improved on last year’s form, despite the loss of a couple of very experienced players.

“While Conor Whelan, Timmy Ryan, Brian Considine and Donal O’Sullivan are huge losses, it’s not that their absence has come out of the blue. We knew well in advance that they would be missing and we’ve had time to readjust.

“You must remember too that the Clare county champions Kilmurry/Ibrickane are the current Munster club champions, and that Clare have beaten Cork in this year’s provincial minor championship.

“I’m hoping those results will spur our lads on Sunday. But if we don’t up our performance and compete with them, we won’t be in the game, let alone win it.”