*Tony Kelly. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
TONY KELLY was back on song and hitting the frees as Clare recorded their second win of this year’s Munster senior hurling championship.
Injury to Aidan McCarthy at training this week ruled the Inagh/Kilnamona man out of contention for Saturday’s win over Waterford and also resulted in captain Tony Kelly assuming the free-taking duties in his absence.
Placed balls in the county colours will not become a permanent aspect of his game, Kelly outlined. “It’s only filling in when Aidan is out. We are lucky that we have a few players who can hit them. Myself Peter and Rodge (Mark Rodgers). They’re an important part of the game”.
Reflecting on their thirteen point win over Wateford, the Ballyea man commented, “At half time we could have been down but for the goal and I suppose them going down to fourteen hurt them. They were on top in the second quarter but had a lot of wides. Half time allowed us to regroup and push Diarmuid Ryan up the field . We said we’d attack the game . When you have a man advantage you have to push on and I’m delighted we did”.
Two away championship wins at the Gaelic Grounds and Semple Stadium have seen Clare come back into contention in this year’s campaign. “We needed to win. We had to bounce back from the opening round defeat. We wouldn’t be happy with our performance in Ennis the first day out. We didn’t hit the heights for long enough. It’s all to play for next week. It’s in our own hands. Win we are in a Munster Final, lose we could be out. That’s the competitive nature of this round robin”.
Kelly himself had a vital role to play in kick-starting the move which led to Ian Galvin getting their first goal, Diarmuid Ryan finding David Fitzgerald who produced a moment of magic to flick it through to the Clonlara man.
That green flag was ultimately the difference as Clare held a 1-10 0-10 advantage at the interval. “Any team that are fit and physical who like to run the ball you have to track the runners. You could be tracking runners all day and it not come your way but when it does you just have to try get a hand or a hurley in. But you have to credit the lads with the sharpness then after we overturned possession and no better lad than Ian Galvin to bury a goal. It was a big score for us and gave us a cushion at half time”.
Clare must keep building on the momentum, Tony stressed. “Yeah today was just another step in the right direction. It only gives us four points though which isn’t enough. It will be a hectic week as we have only got tomorrow to look at the video and then it’s training Tuesday to be ready for Cork on Sunday. We need to continue this momentum and push on from here”.
