Banner bidding to grasp chance

It’s 20 years since Clare claimed only the second Munster senior football title in the county’s history and in theinterim, provincial final appearances have been rationed to the Banner County.

1997 and 2000 brought defeat but the chance to participate in a decider is apparent again for Clare tomorrow night in their semi-final clash against Limerick in the Gaelic Grounds.

“The panel and everyone in the backroom team have been looking forward to this game for a long time,” admitted manager Micheal McDermott. “With Cork and Kerry on the other side of the draw, it was always more favourable this year. It’s a big plus when we’re only 70 minutes away from a Munster final. But there’s a huge obstacle against Limerick as our record hasn’t been great against them in recent years. They won’t fear us but we’ve taken an awful lot of positives out of our league campaign despite not being promoted.”

McDermott has praised the contribution to the Clare squad of Dublin native Shane McGrath andKildare native Niall Browne, who have become affiliated under the parentage rule.

“You wouldn’t think they were outsiders, they have that Clare blood running through them. The parentage rule is something we have takenadvantage of. Shane has been a big plus this year and he’s a good character. The likes of himself and Niall Browne have shown tremendous commitment to training.”

McDermott is able to welcome back Enda Coughlan — who starred on the Kilmurry-Ibrickane side that claimed the Clare senior title last year — into the county setup for the first time thisseason as he is named at centre-forward for Sunday’s match. Coughlan is one of two changes to the side that lost to Wicklow in the last game of their Division 4 campaign in April as he replaces Graham Kelly who was ruled out after breaking his hand in training last Monday night. Elsewhere in attack Michael O’Shea comes in at corner-forward instead of Niall Browne.

CLARE (SF v Limerick): Joe Hayes; K Harnett, S McNelis, L Healy; M McMahon, G Kelly, John Hayes; G Brennan, G Quinlan; S McGrath, E Coughlan, A Clohessy; M O’Shea, D Tubridy, R Donnelly. Subs: T Burke, S Brennan, N Browne, D Russell, B Harnett, D Blake, S Haugh, J Dowling, M Foran, T Downes, T Ryan.