Tomás Clancy: ‘My time with Cork, I wouldn’t trade it. I absolutely loved it’
Tomás Clancy’s Cork commitments are no more after the 30-year-old last week called time on his inter-county career. His hand was forced, to a large extent, by an injury which has plagued him over the past year and a half.
Tomás Clancy is no longer chasing a date.
He might kick football this year or he might not. He wants to, of course, but if he’s not ready to do so in the months ahead, so be it.
Whenever he does step back onto a GAA field, it will be in the colours of his native Fermoy. Cork commitments are no more after the 30-year-old last week called time on his inter-county career.
The choice was not entirely his. Clancy's hand was forced, to a large extent, by an injury which has plagued him over the past year and a half - and one he continues to try and overcome.
The first sign of trouble surfaced during Cork’s Super 8s fixture against Tyrone in July of 2019. Clancy lasted a mere 12 minutes that Saturday evening at Croke Park.
His Achilles tendon had been troubling him in the run up to the game, but more a pebble in the shoe than anything remotely debilitating. But what he wasn’t aware of as he stepped onto the pitch at Jones Road was that inflammation of his Achilles was compromising his calf, the latter giving way early doors against Mickey Harte's side.
There followed a winter of saline injections and rehab programmes. He’d return to the starting Cork line-up for Rounds 4 and 5 of last year’s Allianz League. The latter fixture, against Derry, would prove his last at inter-county level.
As the country went into lockdown, Clancy was back at square one with the problems in his leg.
“I probably wasn't giving it the respect it deserved, I was always chasing a date,” says the half-back.
“Last June, I got a platelet-rich plasma injection, where they inject you with your own blood. I did eight weeks of rehab after that. I was hoping to be back for the early stages of the club championship, but knew I wasn't right so pushed it out a few more weeks. I wanted to play the Bandon game, and hit all the markers I was supposed to hit in advance of that game."
Fermoy’s Cork SAFC Group C encounter against Bandon on the opening weekend of September was to prove a significant turning point for Clancy’s injury story and his Cork career - neither for the better.
“There was no one around me when it happened. We lost the ball in their forward line and I was just turning with the play. It was like (being hit with) a golf ball into the back of my calf. I actually thought someone did it. I hopped back up, looked around, but couldn't see anyone.
Subsequent scans showed a grade three calf tear and grade two Achilles tear.
“Normally, the tear is horizontal across the muscle. This tear went straight down, all the way from my calf to Achilles. The surgeon said he had only seen two or three such tears ever.”
Another rehab programme beckoned for the two-time UCC Sigerson Cup winner, the double tear endured on the Glanmire field ruling him out of Cork’s winter Championship campaign. And when Croke Park confirmed in December that county, rather than club, would be run off first in 2021, he knew his journey in red was at an end.
At the same time as the GAA was unveiling its master fixture plan, Clancy couldn’t walk half an hour without having to sit down because of discomfort in the affected leg. Turning 31 this October, 2021, irrespective of injury, would likely have been his final chapter with Cork. That he did not get to sign off on his terms was tough to swallow.
“When they announced in December they were going with intercounty first, I knew it was over, even though I probably didn't want to admit it to myself.
“I knew deep down I wouldn't be 100% at all this year and that if I pushed myself [to get back for a date later in the year], I would have been doing myself more harm in the long-term. I'm a year and a half trying to get this injury right. I do want to play for another few years with the club, I don't want it all to end very abruptly. My focus now is getting this right so I can continue to play for Fermoy.
“I asked myself hard questions [before deciding to retire]. Since I've done it, a bit of pressure has eased off me.”
Reflecting on his eight seasons with Cork, Clancy has only fond memories, even if silverware was thin on the ground. And it is a mark of the man that he picks out last November’s Munster semi-final win over Kerry as one of the “highlights” of his intercounty existence, despite the fact that injury meant Clancy was absent from Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
“I know I wasn't involved, but seeing the lads beat Kerry was unbelievable. That was a real highlight and a really proud moment for me - to see how we have progressed. Just to see where we were, where we went to, and how we got back up.
“I was delighted for the lads that we were able to turn it around because we were down in a dark place for a nice bit. We were in a low place and we had to start from scratch from a cultural standpoint. There's an unbelievable team there. They will definitely continue to progress. My time with Cork, I wouldn't trade it. I absolutely loved it. Inter-county is a great addiction to have. It offers so much.
Ian Maguire arrived on the Cork scene the season after Clancy. The midfielder described the departing half-back as “a great leader and friend”.
“In 2019, he marked Seán O’Shea in the Munster final, got dropped for the Laois game, and was then asked to mark Ciarán Kilkenny against Dublin and Peter Harte against Tyrone. That’s a testament to the player he was. That mightn’t be obvious from the outside but trusting Tom Clancy with a number one priority in three big games – that’s the regard he was held in. He can hold his head high.”
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