*Pearse Lillis takes on Tommy Walsh. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
A MEMBER OF THE CLARE FOOTBALL TEAM for seven years, Pearse Lillis has stressed the importance of the county improving their record in Munster.
Lillis turns twenty five year this year but is already a stalwart of the Clare senior side. He’s come a long way since making his first start against Sligo in Division 3 of the Allianz National Football League back in 2016.
He made his championship debut that year, starting in their 0-16 0-13 win over Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds. However in the eleven Munster championship games he has played in, the Cooraclare man has only tasted victory on four occasions.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Pearse noted the importance of their one point victory against Cork. “It’s great to get a win in Munster, we’ve underperformed in Munster in the last few years, it’s great to get over the line in the end”.
Now seventy minutes away from appearing in a first Munster final, the UL graduate is determined they grab the opportunity. “Of course (we want to be in a Munster final), we’re aiming for that and beyond”. He added, “Limerick will be a different challenge again, we’ll get ready to play them”.
Losing to either Cork at the weekend or Limerick in the semi-final will see Clare end up in the Tailteann Cup rather than the All-Ireland series, Lillis is in no doubt as to which competition he wants the county to be appearing in. “People were saying that we’d be in the Tailteann Cup if we lost and that’s not where we want to be and it’s not what we aimed for at the start of the year, we’re a step closer to staying in the All-Ireland”.
Fresh from the relegation to Division 3 of the National Football League, the secondary school teacher at Coláiste Muire Máthair noted that they needed to bounce back when it came to championship. “Cork had beaten us twice this year, it was up to us to learn from those losses and final beat them”.
Whether it’s wing forward or wing back, Lillis has been to the fore for his county and it was in this middle third that Colm Collins and his management targeted diluting Cork’s influence. “Especially when it started raining and was getting wet, it was a battle at the end and it became about who wanted it more, thankfully we won today”.
