MacNamara says pride intact

MIKE MacNAMARA tried hard to look on the bright side after seeing his Clare team go under in Limerick yesterday, but it wasn’t easy.

“It’s the second year in a row that we played against Tipperary and felt we didn’t play as well as we could,’’ he said, alluding last year’s eight-point reversal in the Munster final.

This time it was much closer and with a bit of luck they might even have drawn the game. On reflection, the real positive was that they earned the respect of their supporters through an admirable show of character highlighted by the contribution of newcomer Colin Ryan and the impact of others like second-half substitute John Conlon.

It was especially important, he pointed out, to win back the public’s support after a poor League campaign.

“We have an incredible public in Clare. We have been trounced for a hundred years and still they show up,” he commented.

“In the last quarter of the game you would imagine that there were 25,000 of them there. To have them back on board is certainly a plus.’’

McNamara took special pride in the way that his team responded to a deteriorating situation late in the first half.

“We got a goal and a point from Diarmuid McMahon which gave us a real chance of turning in a performance which we knew was in us.

“Having said that, to lose in the Munster championship is always bitterly disappointing and hurtful. I know we did well in patches, but in general terms – particularly in the first half – they were well ahead of us.’’

Acknowledging the key role which young Newmarket- on-Fergus forward Colin Ryan played, the Clare boss said the challenge is to find more players of his standard.

“We must be finding people all the time,’’ he added.

“If we are a team that is going to contest Munster championships and All-Irelands, then we have to find the Colin Ryans, the James McInerneys of the world and the John Conlons.

“We have to find these fellows and get the team right. Having said that, we will present ourselves well in the qualifiers.

“I told you before we are not going to be playing in Division 2, so we will have most of the year off!’’

Meanwhile, team captain Brian O’Connell agreed that they paid a high price for being slow to settle at the beginning of the game, commenting: “The plan was not to give them a start, but obviously that didn’t work out too well for us. They got a good lead and after that it was a case of pegging back and pegging back.

“It was a game of two halves. We were six points down at the start of the second half and we could have come away with at least a draw. And, a draw would have been justified today.’’

And like McNamara, he acknowledged the significance of putting up such a gutsy display.

“In our own county we have been knocked and our heart has been questioned. That’s all we wanted out of today – to prove that we had heart and that we love playing for Clare – and that’s a joy for us to wear our jersey.

“When that was questioned we had to come out with answers.’’