*Cliodhna Blake. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
WITH A PLACE in the quarter-finals of the TG4 All-Ireland intermediate ladies football secured, Clare manager Wayne Freeman was upbeat on how they have fared to date.
A 4-22 0-05 win over Wicklow sealed their passage to the knockout stages. Anything other than a Clare victory against the Division 4 side would have been a major upset in ladies football circles.
Freeman told The Clare Echo, “Obviously with Wicklow in Division 4 and us in Division 3 we would be seen as favourites coming into this fixture but things can easily happen where you underestimate the opposition and we’ve slipped up in the group stages before like last year when we got overturned by Louth at home. We certainly didn’t want that to happen again so we really focused on today”.
Indeed Freeman was the Louth manager last year when the Wee County overturned the then Evan Talty managed Clare in Cusack Park so he was conscious of the need for home advantage to count in their quest to advance to the quarter-finals.
He said, “Our preparation was really good and it showed out there. I thought we were excellent. We’re in really good shape and I’m delighted with how we are progressing. I think we are moving really well”.
Receiving an impact off the bench was a target for Clare in the second round, something Wayne maintained was lacking in their 1-17 1-12 first round win over Offaly. “Last week we didn’t get the energy from the bench that we wanted. We spoke about that during the week and today the five girls we introduced really played their part. Emma Healy got the last score of the match with Megan Downes assisting so that’s another positive. We managed the game a lot better and with improvement comes better game management which I always say is an important attribute of any successful team”.
Clare can top Group B if they are successful over Tyrone this Sunday, the tie takes place at 2pm in Pearse Park, Longford.
