*Shane O’Donnell gets away from Ronan Maher. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
As the senior hurlers of Clare and Tipperary put the finishing touches to preparations for their meeting in the opening round of the Munster championship at Cusack Park on Sunday, there is general agreement in both counties that this is a particularly important fixture, the result of which will have a big bearing on how both counties will do in this season’s competition.
Unlucky not to have won the Munster title last year when they lost the final to Limerick after extra time, Clare will begin their challenge to go a step further this year with much the same panel as last year.
Eamonn Taaffe’s name will always hold a special place in Clare GAA following his goal at a vital stage late in the 1995 All-Ireland final, a score which played a big part in Clare ending an eighty one year wait for the national title.
The Tubber man has no doubt but that this is “a very important fixture for Clare and one that will make or break their season. They have to go to Limerick six days after their meeting with Tipperary and it would not be good going to the Gaelic Grounds after losing on Sunday”.
Taaffe believes that “Clare will be well up for Sunday’s game. I wouldn’t read too much into the league. The league has gone funny and I know the way managers are looking at the league. You are not too worried if you stay in the division so I wouldn’t read too much into the league campaign when Clare had a couple of injuries. Look Sunday is the big game”.
Confident that Clare will succeed, Taaffe admits to “a small bit of concern. David Fitzgerald will be a big loss”. He is confident that in his absence, others will step up. “Tony (Kelly) always loves championship hurling, Shane O’Donnell hasn’t let us down, John Conlon is coming into form and we have a good young fella coming in Adam Hogan”.
“Tipperary manager Liam Cahill has proven that he knows what he is doing, he is a fair operator. This is a big game for Tipperary also but if Clare are with them with fifteen minutes to go I believe that they can win. After their performances in last year’s championship, every team will be afraid of Clare this year and I do believe that Clare have enough in the tank to make a winning start”, he concluded
Tommy Dunne was part of last year’s Tipperary management, the 2001 All-Ireland winning captain was also part of Anthony Daly’s management with Dublin. He is also of the view that “this is a very important game for both counties.
“Get a bit of momentum early on and it takes off some pressure and gives confidence and belief. Limerick look very strong and its close to certainty that they will qualify so the fight is on to be one of the other two that will join them in qualifying for the next stage of the championship”, he told The Clare Echo
Toomevara’s Dunne added, “Tipperary have a bye in round two and that can work either way. If you win you want to be going fairly quick again. Last year we played Waterford in round one and lost and we played Clare a week later when they were having their first game. Look most teams are ready to rock and roll in the first game”.
“It’s fair to say that Limerick are the stand out team and all other counties are confident that if they reach their own potential, they will have a good chance of going through. If you can start with a win in your home game, you will have a good chance. Look the margins are fine”, Tommy said.
He believes that “there is a bit more confidence amongst Tipperary supporters but they are not getting ahead of themselves. Tipperary had a relatively good league campaign up to the second half of the league against limerick. There are definite positive signs”.
“Tipperary didn’t put too much into Clare’s league form. They will expect that Clare will show up in Ennis with a big performance. Kelly and O’Donnell are proven championship players and Tipperary will be wary of that and they will expect a big showing from Clare in front of their own supporters”, Dunne concluded.
According to two-time All-Ireland winner from 1995 and 1997, Conor Clancy “this game is as vitally important as their meeting was last year. Last year’s win set Clare up to go forward and gave the confidence and they performed really well after that. It’s a massive game. Limerick will be difficult. If you start with two losses, it’s a massive disadvantage going into last two. We need to get a result in the first one, it is critically important”.
Reflecting on Clare’s league run, the Kilmaley man said, “some teams place a higher priority in the league. We don’t know what training lads are doing during the league. Clare have been timing their performance for the championship and I hope it’s the same this year”.
The All-Ireland winning full forward added, “Guys have huge experience, some of those are championship players and when championship arrives, they are capable of performing. There was a lot of concern last year going into the first round, Players performed to a high standard, they have massive experience”.
“Tipp got some momentum in the league, they found a couple of players, they are making progress, Clare with a full team in the park will be a couple of steps ahead. It’s year one of the Tipp project, it’s early days”, Clancy said.
