O’Grady in fitness race for Limerick clash
Eyebrows were raised when manager Mike McNamara withdrew O’Grady at half-time but it has emerged the Crusheen corner-back damaged his hand ten minutes before the interval. X-rays revealed a break and O’Grady will have the injury assessed again later today before medics decide on a course of action.
McNamara admitted: “Gerry is certainly in a race against time to make the Limerick match. It happened ten minutes before half-time but it was accidental and there was no malice of any kind. He went to hospital from Limerick and the hand was put in a cast.
“It will be looked at on Tuesday to see if it is knitting or healing and if it’s not, a pin may be inserted. It’s in the back of the hand which gives him hope for the Limerick match.”
McNamara was basking in the warm afterglow of Clare’s first victory in the Munster SHC since 2003 and he paid tribute to his backroom team, who have done “incredible work” in preparing the players.
“My role is only supervisory really. They have incredible work done and we have had an awful lot of sessions.
“We put a huge effort into this. I’d say a lot of people saw it as more or less a foregone conclusion, I even heard odds of 9/2 available on Clare in some bookies, worse than stupid. I talked to a Limerick man on Friday evening and he told me the bookie next door to me here had odds of 16/1 on Clare to win by six points or more — I think he took it, at least I hope he did!
“But that’s the kind of stuff that was floating around. Realistically, we just had to win a match in Munster, it had gone beyond the beyonds, hammered year in year out for the last few years.”
No sooner had the cheers died down on Sunday’s victory than McNamara and his team – players and management – started preparing for the next encounter. That’s Limerick, less than three weeks away at Semple Stadium, Thurles.
Meanwhile, Niall Gilligan has revealed his delight after drawing level with the legendary Jimmy Smith on 20 championship goals for the Banner county. The pair are deadlocked at the top of the all-time Clare list after Gilligan’s superb strike against Waterford in Sunday’s game earned him a place in Clare hurling history alongside Smith.
Gilligan struck 13 minutes after half-time on his 50th championship appearance for Clare but the Sixmilebridge forward did not have personal glory on his mind as he raced through on goal.
“At the time we were three points up and I thought to myself, if we could get a goal here, it might kill the game and in hindsight, it did.
“It was game, set and match and it was a great boost for us at the time. It’s a nice accolade, of course it is, and my father would be good friends with Jimmy Smith.
“It came up in conversation between themselves because they often meet up at a friend’s house in Tubber to talk hurling and sing songs.”
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