No football and hurling hierarchy in Clare, says Ikem Ugwueru
Clare defender Ikem Ugwueru said he's enjoying taking on a greater leadership role in the Banner panel. Pic: ©INPHO/Natasha Barton
Ikem Ugwueru says the Clare footballers never feel like they are being overshadowed by their hurling counterparts, despite the Banner winning last year's All-Ireland hurling title.
Ugwueru, who started the Munster final against Kerry at centre-back, sees the appointment of manager Peter Keane as a sign of their rising status.
"We know most of the hurlers too," said Ugwueru.
"They're some of our good mates. There'd never be a hierarchy, if you can say it like that. I don't feel like we ever think about the hurlers overshining us. They're in their own battle. We're in our own battle."
Clare lost the Munster decider against the Kingdom by 11 points. Ugwueru thought their defence didn't adapt quickly enough to close the space which allowed Kerry score four first half goals. The team felt like they let down Keane against his native county. "But he keeps instilling belief into us," said Ugwueru.
"Even after (the Munster final), he's still telling us that it's still down to us that we can achieve anything that we want to achieve. That's the kind of man he is. He will never let a result like that define the year or define him."
The Éire Óg Ennis man made his Clare championship debut in 2023. Two years on, partly due to the high turnover of players in the Clare panel, he's one of its more senior members.
"Football has been going where I've been enjoying it," he said.
"It's a challenge every year. You might have a different manager, different group of players. We don't know after this year if the same bunch will be there again. And that's another challenge that I'm looking forward to experiencing.
"And also leadership roles as well. This year, after losing the 11 players that we did last year, I'm somewhat of a senior player now that I never would have thought I'd be. It's just embracing that as well.
"And also showing the youth that you can come through with your best efforts and you never know where you could go. And that's also why I'm part of the SuperValu campaign as well, just to show lads that are not from Irish backgrounds or that have never played the sport before that you should just give your best effort and you never know where you could go."
Ugwueru, the first black man to play football for Clare, has been part of SuperValu's campaign to promote diversity and inclusion in the GAA for the last few years.
"I was selling an old pair of boots that I had on Depop and one fella actually texted me; he wasn't even trying to buy the boots," he explained.
"He was just texting me to ask for tips about football. Because he didn't know how to contact me but he saw my page on the website and he texted me saying that, 'oh, I saw your ad for SuperValu. You've really inspired me. Do you have any tips for gym, fitness and obviously how to be a good defender?' That meant a lot to me."
Reaching the Munster final qualified Clare for the Sam Maguire group stages where they will play Louth, Monaghan and Down. In their two previous attempts, they finished bottom of the group and failed to progress. "We're going to try and change that this year," said Ugwueru.
That challenge begins this weekend against Down at Cusack Park, where they won all of their Division 3 games this year.
"We take massive pride in playing at home," he said.
"Getting those home games, you can't take them for granted. You don't get many of them.
"We've won all of our games at home (in the league) and we're planning to continue that. The support that we get from Clare supporters is massive and they do a lot for us behind the scenes. Us playing at home, we do it for them really.
"They'll see us on the street, they'll come up and tell us good luck and that we should keep going and that we're doing them proud. Things like that, it stands with us."
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