Experienced Banner men still hungry for more
IT seems like a long time ago but only a month has elapsed since Clare suffered a bloodless NHL loss to Galway after a soulless display that had knives being sharpened for the hosts in Ennis.
Afterwards, manager Anthony Daly, inspirational captain of two All-Ireland-winning teams in the glorious 90’s, was downbeat and disheartened. He wasn’t alone.
“The doom and gloom around the county after that game was incredible. Fellas were telling me that Colin Lynch, Frank Lohan, Brian Lohan and Seanie Mac, were all finished,” he recalls.
Five weeks on, back at the scene of that crime, Clare face All-Ireland champions Cork, with every chance of cementing their place in this season’s NHL final. Some of the major figures in that transformation? Brian and Frank Lohan, Colin Lynch, Seanie McMahon, four guys who were with Daly through all those glory years. Has-beens? Far from it.
“These fellas have savage dedication. They have looked after their bodies as well as possible. People talk about age but look at Paolo Maldini for AC Milan, he’s three years older than all these guys, but he was fantastic during the week. Maldini has looked after himself, the way these fellas have done. I’ve told Brian Lohan, if there’s a better full-back in Clare, I’ll play him, but there isn’t at the moment, not the way Brian is playing. Look, it’s not exactly as if we’re churning out new talent.
“I watched a number of the Clare minor training sessions this year, with Jamesie (O’Connor) and Tommy Guilfoyle in charge. They were brilliant sessions, with loads of ballwork, and yet they were beaten by Tipp and lost heavily to Waterford. I’m not saying that to be critical of the youngsters, they did their best, but as long as the lads are the best in their positions, I’ll pick them.”
Perhaps that was one of the problems in some of Clare’s earlier games, that two of those four were not in their best positions. Lynch and Frank Lohan were being tried up front. The experiment worked occasionally, both are top-class hurlers after all, but midfield and corner-back is where they made their name for Clare. With their reinstatement has come a return to form, for them and for Clare.
“We’ve reverted a bit, I suppose, and that seems to have had a positive effect,” Daly admits. “We’re still experimenting at centre-forward with Diarmuid (McMahon), it’s not his natural position. What can I do, if I don’t have six top-class natural forwards? We have to experiment, though the boys do look happier back in their old positions.”
Ironically, Frank Lohan will be missing tomorrow, (business commitments), along with outstanding forward Tony Griffin who is winding up his studies in Canada. Lohan will probably be replaced by Brian Quinn, another veteran, but due to a number of factors, niggling injuries and local U21 championships, the Clare side won’t be named until just before throw-in. Cork, by contrast, named their side early in the week, and though it contains one major surprise, erstwhile corner-back Pat Mulcahy (man-of-the-match in the loss to Kilkenny last week) named at centre-forward, it is probably their strongest available fifteen at the moment.
Corner-back Wayne Sherlock and wing-forward Timmy McCarthy are both long-term injury concerns, centre-back Ronan Curran is tied up with football but with Cian O’Connor coming in at the back, Graham Callinan of the Glen at wing-back, John Gardiner moving into centre-back, Neil Ronan again starting at wing-forward, this is a serious-looking Cork selection.
“Cork have made no secret of the fact that they’re using the League for experimentation, to find one or two extra players from last year, but having lost to Kilkenny last Sunday (Cork’s first defeat in the 2005 League), they were probably disappointed at the way they played.
“I’d say they’ll be coming to Ennis very determined to win. I don’t know how interested they are in reaching the League final, I’d have my doubts about that, but I have no doubt that they’ll want to win this Sunday.
“The guys from last year’s championship fifteen won’t want to slip any further, while those on the fringes have only two games left now to make an impression. We know Cork will be up for this game, but it’s a game we want to win also.
“For the time of year, I’d be happy enough with the way things are going, though it’s early yet. Still, it’s better to be winning than to be losing, it does our experienced players no harm, because they’re level-headed enough to know it won’t mean anything come championship, and it does the younger fellas good to get in the winning habit against the bigger teams.”
They don’t come any bigger than the reigning All-Ireland champions; it should be a good day in Ennis, for hurling fans.
: D. Og Cusack; B. Murphy, D. O’Sullivan, C. O’Connor; G. Callinan, J. Gardiner, S. Og O hAilpin; T. Kenny, J. O’Connor; N. Ronan, P. Mulcahy N. McCarthy; B. O’Connor, B. Corcoran, J. Deane.
: D. Fitzgerald; B. Quinn, B. Lohan, G. O’Grady; A. Markham, S. McMahon, G. Quinn; C. Lynch, B. O’Connell; B. Nugent, D. McMahon, C. Plunkett; T. Carmody, N. Gilligan, A. Quinn.
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