Baker back on the beat to prowl the Clare line

ANTHONY Daly was the spearhead, the captain, collected the cups, made the speeches, but through all the Clare glory years of the 90’s, the real big man on the team — physically and in so many other ways — was midfielder Ollie Baker.

Rangy, powerful, Baker was more than your common-or-garden big-man banger, much more than your ordinary midfield fulcrum; he was an omnipresent, defensive cover for both lines, auxiliary forward for an attack more noted for its collective work-rate than its individual scoring punch.

He played on for as long as he could, but the effort of commuting to training from Athlone (Ollie is a Garda who was based in Ballinasloe, now in Clonmel), of rearing a young and fast-growing family, and of keeping the pounds off that giant frame eventually took its toll.