O’Doherty bids to complete final fairytale for Clare

LONG before Joe Canning, John Fenton and other hurling artists acquired cult status for their skill in taking line balls, a certain Michael Moroney from Crusheen was an expert at it.

He was a contemporary of Ger Loughnane’s and others, including Colm Honan, whose son Darach is a leading member of the Clare U21 hurling team which contests the Bord Gais Energy All-Ireland final against holders Kilkenny in Croke Park tomorrow.

The Banner County’s captain, Ciaran O’Doherty, is from the same club as Moroney, who won National League medals in 1977 and 1978 under the management of Justin McCarthy. And while it all happened more than a decade before he was born, he is well aware of the reputation he earned.

Growing up in the 90s, O’Doherty was caught up in the drama and emotion of Clare’s long-overdue winning of the Liam MacCarthy Cup. And like most young players of his generation, he would have ambitions of emulating stars like Brian Lohan (he plays at corner-back himself), Sean McMahon, Anthony Daly and Jamesie O’Connor.

“I suppose we were looking at ‘95 and ‘97 and wondering when our time was going to come,’’ he says. “Finally we got an occasion that we could come up to Croke Park and play Kilkenny in an All-Ireland final. It’s great.’’

For the squad and management team (headed by John Minogue and including respected former senior coach Cyril Lyons), it’s been something of a fairytale.

“I think the belief was always there. We didn’t really think about Croke Park or the final. We just took it game by game really. There is a certain belief in this Clare team which maybe past teams hadn’t.”

And, a lot of that is down to the management, he agrees: “Cyril would be the main trainer and John would be the wise man there in the corner. They work really well together and they are an unbelievable help to the team. They kind of instilled the belief in us.

“We played Kilkenny down in Nowlan Park (in an early season challenge) and that brought a bit of confidence to us. We played Cork down in Cork. We played a lot of teams away and we got good results out of them. It built up our confidence all the way along.’’

The game against the Cats, he recalled, was something of a “bruising encounter”, which he thinks Kilkenny won by a point or two. “They are the best. We played against them to see what we were like. It was a benchmark for where we are!”

A qualified plumber and starting a new job next Tuesday – “I was supposed to start Monday but I took it off” – he doesn’t feel that they are at a major disadvantage in not having any experience of playing in Croke Park. As reported earlier in the week, plans to have a workout on the pitch after last Sunday’s All-Ireland senior final had to be abandoned because of the amount of litter (and, reportedly, glass) on it after the pitch invasion. As it happened, he wasn’t in Dublin.

“I suppose Kilkenny know this place inside out by now anyhow. It will be my first time playing here and I think it’s the same for a lot of the lads. It will be a big occasion for us and it mightn’t be anything for them (Kilkenny) to play here again.’’

And, for all the euphoria generated by the county’s first ever Munster final (at the 12th attempt, in the 46th year of the championship), he says that they were brought quickly down to earth in the days following.

“That management is great for knocking you down to size anyway. It was good to come back. We knew where we were straight away,’’ he explained. “We said we would just put that in the back of our minds – something we can look on at the end of the year – and hopefully push on and progress.”

And, that’s what they achieved, beating Galway in a classic All-Ireland semi-final highlighted by Joe Canning’s remarkable individual scoring tally of 4-7. And, while the outlook might have looked bleak after the fourth of those goals, the Clare players had the mental toughness to overcome that setback.

“If that was two or three years ago we would always have lost it,’’ he says. “We never had that bit of luck or anything. Finally we have got it this year.

“Usually a Clare team would drop their heads or something like that when the goal would go in.

“We went back up the other end and got another score. We kept on pushing after that. The self belief in the team is unreal – the never say die attitude. That’s what we are about this year.!”

* Victory for Kilkenny will see them take another record from Cork, that of leading in the roll of honour for the first time. Currently, the two counties have 11 titles each. The Rebels had six championships won before Kilkenny won their first in 1974, but they have won five titles in the current decade.