McMahon looking for summer pointers

It’s only mid-March, the third round of the league, but as Clare get ready to visit Cork in Páirc Uí Rinn this Saturday evening it’s a game that could have added significance for later in the year.

So says former Clare multiple All Star and double All-Ireland winner Seán McMahon, who casts his mind back to his own days.

“I remember another game in Cork against Cork, 1999, when Jimmy Barry-Murphy brought on all those youngsters, a closed-door challenge game on a fine Friday evening. I think it was in May, coming close to the championship, and Cork were absolutely flying. I can’t remember how it ended up but you knew after that game that Cork were going to be a serious proposition.

“That’s what these games are about, getting ready for championship and looking ahead, if Clare beat Waterford in the first round in Munster – and I’m not saying they will, no-one knows how that will go – then they meet Cork in the semi-final.

Saturday evening is probably the only time they’ll meet before then so in that sense it takes on added significance. I wouldn’t be putting huge store on it as regards getting the win but I’m sure both managers will want to see a good performance. If you were to meet in the championship later on then it’s better that it was in a situation where there was nothing between ye in the previous meeting, rather than being badly beaten.”

Conditions will be much different come championship of course, but no matter, says Seán, this is still an opportunity for the two teams to check each other out, especially given that the sod in Páirc Uí Rinn at the moment is as good as it is anywhere in the country: “That’s what you want. Whatever about the weather – you can have heavy rain at any time – what you hate to see is a mud-bath.

“Having a good pitch gives you a far better chance and if it’s as good as you say, it will suit both these teams.

“The championship won’t be starting for a few months by which time the ground will have firmed up, conditions will have greatly improved, but I think you’re still going to get a really serious game on Saturday.

“Hopefully we’ll get a good crowd travelling from Clare too, though the days when, even for the league, the N20 was chock-a-bloc with banner-flying Clare cars are long gone.

Nevertheless there’s a groundswell of support starting to build for Davy Fitz’s side now, the excitement palpable.

McMahon went on: “It is, but people were disappointed after the loss to Waterford (opening league round in Ennis), not because of the result, because we know Waterford are a lot better than people are saying, but because of the performance.

“We knew they were capable of a lot better and that’s why it was so important to get the win against Galway last week. They were under pressure but they delivered and people came away from that one feeling a lot happier about the team. If they can put in another performance like that now, get a result in Cork, it would be great.”

All bodes well for the 2013 season though: “I think the entire championship is looking very finely balanced now.

“Kilkenny are still that bit ahead, when they’re at full strength – though they don’t make it easy for anyone even now, when they have so many out injured. But Clare and Cork are both improving, so are Waterford and Limerick, and it isn’t as if Galway, Tipperary or Dublin have gone away either. It’ll be a good championship, a good year, and hopefully Clare will have a say. The Waterford game is the big one, the first hurdle, but anyone can beat anyone else now in Munster.”