McNamara: we had to put up a performance
“We had to put up a performance in Munster,” said McNamara. “We’ve been close to a disgrace in Munster for a long number of years. For those of us who came up in the old school, the old way, Munster was our ambition, it was the pride and honour. We’re proud to be part of the tradition of Munster hurling and we had to put our best foot forward today. We had to. We couldn’t let it go down the line any further.”
Having seen his side beat the Munster champions by nine points, McNamara wasn’t lacking credibility. He made his name on the ferocious sessions he inflicted on the Clare team of the nineties. It was hardly surprising he put the big win yesterday down to hard work on the training field.
“We trained for this game as if it were an All-Ireland final, we had to do something to get out of the hole we were in,” said McNamara. “Clare hurling had been in a bad way and even the supporters were deserting us in droves, so we had to come up with a big performance. We trained as if it were an All-Ireland final because we had to. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s more in us, but that’s something for another day.”
Yesterday was notable for the application of the Clare forwards, who made it difficult for Waterford to clear the ball time after time.
“That’s the key to success,” said McNamara. “If you don’t have your forwards working then you can’t win matches, particularly big matches. We spoke to the players about that, we spoke about the one lost cause, the ball that can change the whole course of the game.
“We spoke to them about that for the last month – that every ball was vital, that every ball had to be won, and as you can see, that was the way they approached the game today.”
And the goals? When the Clare attack weren’t bottling up Waterford backs they were rampaging to 2-26, a hugely impressive total in any context. McNamara acknowledged the green flags were a bonus.
“To match the likes of Waterford, Kilkenny and Cork we have to score goals. Funnily enough we haven’t been scoring them – even in training we’ve been missing goals – so it’s a pleasant surprise to get them on the day.
“Goals change the course of matches. We got the goals at the vital times, but if it happened the other way around, who knows.”
The win sees Clare through to a local derby against Limerick on the first weekend of July. McNamara smiled at the prospect: “There’s always a bite in Limerick-Clare games – we can go back 12 years to the famous game, and maybe that could be avenged. Who knows, who knows.”
Who knows indeed. Only a month to go before we find out.
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