McCartan’s mighty Mournemen prove they are learning all the time

FOLLOWING his classy display against Kildare, Martin Clarke refused to accept RTÉ’s man-of-the-match award.

When RTÉ asked Clarke to come out of the changing room for the presentation and short interview, which is screened on The Sunday Game, he declined. By way of an intermediary, Clarke informed RTÉ that he wasn’t the man-of-the-match, and that he wouldn’t be accepting the award.

While Danny Hughes was my personal choice for the individual award, Clarke was a very close second. The former Collingwood recruit made something happen on almost every occasion he had the ball in his hands. But it was only when I came home on Sunday night and watched the game again that I really noticed three incidents which were most untypical of the An Ríocht star. His run of errors began with an off-target shot which he booted into Hill 16. The free-kick that he miscued in the 72nd minute was from about 40 metres, but it was still well within his scoring range. Martin Clarke would have been angry for wasting an opportunity that would have put Down three points clear. He was also probably livid with himself for getting dispossessed by Hugh McGrillen in the 69th minute.