David Tubridy: If you don’t believe you might as well stay at home back in Clare'
David Tubridy is in the form of his life — with his return of 1-15 over the course of a four-game run making him the League’s all-time leading scorer with a tally 22-415.
David Tubridy quickly cuts to the chase in explaining the Clare mindset as Colm Collins’ side face into what Kerry observers and neutrals alike think a mission impossible in Fitzgerald Stadium this Saturday evening.
“Kerry are a top two, three team in the country,” says the Doonbeg sharpshooter, “but we believe we can win. If you don’t believe you might as well stay at home back in Clare.” It’s a hugely positive narrative from Tubridy, from what has already been an upbeat year for a Clare side that cemented National Football League Division 2 status for a fifth successive year, while challenging strongly for promotion to the top flight for the first time in nearly 30 years.
But for 34-year-old Tubridy, it’s more than just talk and talking up the chances of creating what would be a shock to trump anything that has gone before in the history of Clare football. It’s his personal story of persistence in coming back from the brink and extending his inter-county career into a 15th season.
At the end of the truncated 2020 campaign he was restricted to appearances from the bench — five and 25 minutes of National League action against Fermanagh and Armagh respectively, before being a first-half substitute in the Munster semi-final against Tipperary — as Clare’s year ground to a disappointing halt.
In those games Tubridy just wasn’t himself — for the first time in a career that began under Páidí Ó Sé’s watch in 2007 he failed to score in three successive games, with his disappointment being compounded when Tipperary’s Evan Comerford saved his
second-half penalty in that championship clash in Thurles.
“I talked to a few players on the phone about retiring,” he admits, “but around Christmas the S&C coach Rob Mulcahy kept sending out the gym programmes for the new season. The reason I came back was the performance in the championship. I think we let ourselves down against
Tipperary. I didn’t want to finish my career with that game.”
For Tubridy, the Covid-19 factor also loomed large both on and off the field — he was struck down by the virus last September and despite winning the race to be available for selection a month later, he was running on empty.
“It really hit me hard,” he recalls. “I put down four or five bad days. I lost a lot of weight and I got no gym work in. I remember when I came back to training the first night my legs were gone after doing the warm-up. I wasn’t able.
“I just didn’t have the power in the legs that you usually have going into championship when you’re bouncing off the ground. The legs felt dead and I didn’t feel as strong as you should be for the championship. It knocked a lot out of me.
“I didn’t want to finish my career with that on my mind. Another thing was that with the family bar and restaurant closed [during the second lockdown] I had more time on my hands to get my body right, so it was a no-brainer around Christmas that I was going to come back for another year,” he adds.
Fast forward six months and Tubridy is in the form of his life — with his return of 1-15 over the course of a four-game run making him the League’s all-time leading scorer with a tally 22-415.
“I didn’t know I was close to breaking a record,” he says. “I didn’t even know what the record was.
“A journalist came up to me after the Cork game and said, ‘do you know what you’re after doing’. I hadn’t a clue. That I broke the scoring record didn’t really hit me until I saw it in the papers in the following days. But, it’s great to have it.”
But more than records, it’s Kerry that Tubridy and Clare have in their sights. “We have the belief,” he continues, “and the way the camp has been the last few weeks, the players are confident.
“All the players are buzzing and are raring to go, the game against Mayo really gave us the boost that we can put it up to the top teams.
“Down the years people have said that Clare are a 55 or 60-minute team and then falter away because they don’t have the bench. I think we’ve shown that we do have the bench this time. We’ve shown in the league that we finish strong.
“The younger lads have really stood up to the plate — the likes of Daniel Walsh came in for his first year and played really well; Gavin Cooney had a great league, while Emmett McMahon and Aaron Griffin came off the bench and landed some serious scores.
“The short run in will help us, because the momentum from the Mayo game will stand to us. It’s a good thing it’s coming up quickly, because waiting five or six weeks for championship like you used to drags it out an awful lot.
“Hopefully we can get everything right. It’s our kickouts; it’s opposition kickouts; it’s shooting efficiency; it’s the tackle count; it’s everything. You have to hit all your targets if you want to be beating the big teams.
“We are going down there very confident and hopefully, we can get the result.”
Tubridy is one of 10 survivors in the squad that played in the 2016 championship meeting between the sides in Killarney, but his Fitzgerald Stadium experiences go all the way back to his pre-teen years in the late 1990s.
“Dad [former Clare stalwart Tommy Tubridy] was a
selector in ’99 when Clare played Kerry there,” he remembers.
“I was supposed to be a water boy that day, but they wouldn’t let me into the pitch. I had to step on a football and watch the game over a wall.
“The year before Doonbeg beating Laune Rangers was a great day in Killarney. It was a great performance. Dad was on the sideline that day too.
“They weren’t given a chance, but they beat the former All-Ireland club champions and went on to win the Munster title. It shows you what can happen in a football game.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
