*Harvey Cullinan returns to the Clare side. Photograph: Natasha Barton
CLARE’s soccer side will trek to Mounthawk Park in Tralee this Sunday to face the Kerry District League in the team’s final group game in this season‘s Oscar Traynor inter league competition.
Clare must win by a two goal margin and hope that Limerick District League beat the Limerick Desmond League, a game that is set to take place at the same time. Should those results come to pass then Clare will be through to the next phase of the competition.
Newmarket Celtic duo, Harvey Cullinan and Shane Cusack who missed Clare’s last outing against the Desmond league, are available for Sunday’s game but Lifford’s David Keenan is ruled out due to injury while Jack Kelly and Liam Buckley are not available this week as they are away as is Tadhg Noonan who missed the last outing due to injury.
One of Clare’s most experienced players, Eoin Hayes, is a doubtful starter due to injury and should he fail to recover in time, he will be a huge loss to the side.
Clare manager Donie Garrihy accepts that his side is facing a difficult assignment but says “that’s what you expect at this level”.
The Clare squad trained on Tuesday night and they will meet again on this Friday to finalise preparations for Sunday’s must win game.
They travel to the Kerry venue boosted by wins by both Avenue United and Bridge United in the FAI and Munster Junior Cups in recent weeks.
It goes without saying that this is a hugely important outing for the Clare side and they will be looking to Conor Mullen,, Scott Kirkland, Jack O’Halloraan, Brian O’Connor and Dean Hegarty to lead their challenge.
The Kerry players know that a win for them will see them progress in the competition so they are sure to be fired up for the challenge on their home patch.
