Adare focused on winning Munster title, says Foley

IT’S ONLY the third senior hurling title in the history of the club but after a surprisingly easy win over neighbours Croom on Sunday, celebrations in Adare are on hold this week.

Reason? Next Sunday they face Tipperary champs Loughmore-Castleiney in the Munster Club semi-final and, as explained by GPA Allstar Mark Foley, ambitions are a little higher in the club this year.

“It’s great to win county championships,” Foley said, “but the novelty has worn off for us at this stage, this is our third title in recent years. We’ll be going out to give the Munster championship a lash next Sunday, that’s the aim now.

We’ve been there before, beaten in the first round, we’d like to do better than that this year but it will be a massive test. I’ve only seen Loughmore on television but they look good, very balanced, and they had a great win in their own county final followed by a good win over Erin’s Own.”

Coach Ger O’Loughlin, former Clare star of the 90s, was of like mind. “The major aim now is the club championship. People may not be thinking now but from a preparation point of view we need to put Sunday behind us fairly quickly. We have only six days to get ready, it’s very important that we regroup quickly because we’re facing a fast, youthful Loughmore-Castleiney.

“We won’t have Conor Fitzgerald (midfielder), he has a broken collar-bone so he’s definitely out, we also have two or three lads with calf injuries now too and they’re going to take a bit of nursing.

“Sunday’s win over Croom wasn’t as easy as it looked either. We lost our shape for the first 20 minutes of the second half, didn’t pick fellas up and allowed them back into it. There were elements we’re going to have to look at for next Sunday in the cold light of day. We’ll have to improve in certain areas, no doubt about that.”

O’Loughlin added: “It’s a good panel, and if they have no inhibitions, they could go further. A week to prepare is very short, however, but the bar for this team has to be set higher than winning county titles. They’re still a young side and they have the talent.”

Prime amongst that talent on Sunday was team captain Donncha Sheehan, scorer of a game-high five points.

“Our main aim at the start of the year was to restore some pride to the jersey,” said Sheehan. “We’ve won the county, now we must get ready for the next stage. We’ll enjoy this for a couple of nights but we’re back in training, regroup, take it from there.”