WHEN YOU ARE at the helm of a side rooted in Division 4 of the league and are competing on the same provincial championship stage as two national heavyweights, you will take any breaks you can get.
Fortune smiled on Clare last October when they were tucked safely away from the marquee names that the Cork and Kerry footballers possess.
And they availed of that glorious opportunity to dislodge Limerick at the semi-final stage and nail down a place in Sunday’s Munster football final.
Their manager Michéal McDermott was immensely satisfied in the aftermath of that game yet the recent murmurings about potentially returning to a seeded format down south have left him exasperated.
“I’m totally against any seeding of any province. It would be very wrong to introduce it. When the Munster championship draw was made it brought a renewed vigour and relief for the three team on the side of the draw away from Cork and Kerry – ourselves, Limerick and Waterford. By avoiding two of the best sides in Ireland, it makes for a more inviting opportunity. To change that would be very unfair on counties.”
To those proponents of an abolition to the senior provincial competitions, he responds by painting a picture of contrasts to illustrate their enduring significance.
There was the unbridled joy he saw exhibited by his Clare players in the Saturday evening sunshine when they won their semi-final against Limerick.
And then there was the clear devastation he saw etched onto the faces of the Monaghan players when watching on television their narrow Ulster semi-final loss to Down.
“That brought it home for me when I saw the heartache and the pain experienced by those Monaghan players in losing their semi-final. It showed what it means to appear in a provincial final. It’s no different in Clare and that was shown in the joy and elation when we won our semi-final. We’d had enough hurt and pain. And the final now is something I’m really looking forward to.”
McDermott is a realist. He was on the sideline in Páirc Uí Chaoimh last year Cork dismantled his Clare team by 15 points. The bookmaker odds of Cork at 1/100 and Clare at 22/1 reflect the opinion around the country of how this game will unfold. Yet McDermott wants his players to embrace the occasion and replicate the grit they showed when defeating Limerick last month.
“It’s the first Munster final for everyone in our squad and it’s a huge challenge against a team that are probably favourites for the All-Ireland. We’re going to need the lads to play the game of their lives. It’s not about the occasion. It’s about producing good football and being able to perform on the day.
“The semi-final has brought us on. There were aspects of our football, particularly in the second-half, that I was very unhappy about. But the fighting qualities we showed at the finish told us a lot about those players. They showed real character.
“That was epitomised by David Tubridy who’d missed a number of scoring opportunities but still wanted the ball at the finish. He had the character to take on those last two shots and was rewarded with two points. You don’t want to have fear going into this game, you want to enjoy it. That’s what we intend to do.”
