Time for the lads to deliver, says Daly

THESE are tense times for Clare manager Anthony Daly.

From the day the championship draw was made, June 5 has been etched in the mind of the man who captained Clare to their two All-Ireland wins in the 90’s.

Unlike last season, when certain games were targeted, the League would be taken very much as it came.

June 5, that was the day, the only day. As it happened, Clare made it all the way to the League final, didn’t acquit themselves well, but no matter.

Tomorrow was always the target. Now, the preparations are complete, the team named, everything that a manager can do is done.

All that’s left for Anthony Daly is to sit back and wait. And worry.

“You can’t help it, after last year. We thought we were right too, but things went wrong. You have to keep reassuring yourself that the work has been done, that you’ve picked the right team. It’s all down to the players now.”

It’s worse than being a player. But Daly wouldn’t trade his spot on the sideline.

“I’d rather be doing this than just going to the match, this way I feel I can get something out of them. It’s natural to be worried, picking the starting fifteen was a hugely difficult task, positionally we had so many options which is an advantage in a lot of ways. But it also makes it more difficult.

“Hopefully we’ve got it right, but even the likes of Brian Cody or Sean Boylan have their worries going into big games.

“Even Mick O’Dwyer, he should be immune to it at this stage, but I bet that with a few minutes to go last Sunday, he was worried. But then Laois got the break and got the win.”

“I’d settle for that. I’d take a one-point win in an absolute disaster of a game. That’s the bottom line, a win would take a lot of pressure off.”

Still, even with the level of expectation in Clare, Ken Hogan is probably under even more pressure with Tipp, a theory accepted by Daly. “Yeah, that’s kind of a Man United type job, but it’s not so handy in Clare anymore either, since Loughnane won it!”

So, manager’s work nearly all done, only a little tweaking here and there remaining, it comes down to the players, to the Clare forwards particularly. Niall Gilligan has been ploughing a lonely furrow for some time, doing the bulk of the Clare scoring.

Tomorrow is time for the rest of the Clare forward line to live up to the undoubted potential they possess. Daly concurs: “Big-time, you can’t be talking about potential forever, the chips are down now, the lads have to deliver. There’s only one player making his championship debut, and I expect Barry Nugent will be able to step up.

He’s a fine cut of a man and a fine hurler also. Everyone else has to do their job too, and I think they will. All the hard work has been done. It’s time to bring it all to fruition.”

There’s been a lot of talk that the Gaelic Grounds will suit Clare better than Thurles would have and/or that it will suit Tipp less. Daly disagrees.

“I would have said the same before the Tipp/Limerick games, but Tipp looked better in Limerick, 1 to 9 they’re a good, strong, solid unit, but they were under more pressure from the Limerick forwards in Thurles, out wide especially. The Limerick forwards didn’t get that same latitude in the Gaelic Grounds. Having said that, Limerick should suit our own defence, which I like to think is just as tight.”

The prize for the winners is massive, not just a place in the Munster final, but a guaranteed slot in the All-Ireland quarter-final, with the loser having to face the qualifiers.

“It’s huge, I can’t even contemplate the qualifiers. The aim is just get a win any which way and avoid the other route which could be treacherous.

“The easiest way to avoid that is to get the win. I have my worries, yes, but I have no doubts, we can have no room for doubts; we have to be ready for this game, have to play with the old intensity, we have to fight like demons. “If you’re not ready in Munster, if you take your eye off the ball for even a split second, you can be blown away. It happened to us last year, against Waterford. We’re determined that it won’t happen again.”