*Alan Sweeney battles to win the ball. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
LITTLE mistakes came at a big price for Clare’s senior footballers in their three point loss to Louth, manager Peter Keane said.
Louth ran out 2-17 2-14 winners over Clare in O’Moore Park on Sunday, the Leinster champions led by eight at half-time and entering the final ten minutes before Clare made them sweat for victory.
The defeat, Clare’s fourth in a row ends their campaign for 2025.
On the field, mistakes once again proved costly got for Clare in allowing Louth to take control of Sunday’s game. “There is plenty of talent there, it’s just that little mistakes cost us in games and these are things that need to be cut out and eradicated. If that can be done there is a bright future,” Keane said.
Manus Doherty’s black card sixteen minutes into the game was a major talking point in Sunday’s game.
Speaking to The Clare Echo about the decision, the Clare manager stated, “When you are on pitch level, it’s hard to know whether or not it was a black card. It did seem to me it was but I am not going to shoot the referee on it, when you are a distance away from it. It did feel harsh and we suffered as a result, they got something like 2-4 from it in that widow. Look at the margins, we lost be one score and that was a very difficult window for us. That said we hurt ourselves around that period too, little sloppy passes, they hurt us”.
Louth’s experience was a decisive factor, he felt. “They are a team on the go for three, four or five years now. They came out of Division 4 into 3 and held their place and got into 2 and held their place,. They are Leinster champions and deservedly so, they put up a great performance and they are no bad team. I have to say I am totally proud of the lads and the way they went at it, yes we were in a bad place at half time, eight down but only a kick of the all in it at the end and if we had a little more time we would have got something from it”.
Praising his charges for the manner in which they played in the second half he said, “one thing I have found out about these lads all year, they have tremendous, tremendous heart, they never give up. Sometimes things don’t go their way but they don’t give up. From the very first challenge game we played this year they have showed that, they never die”.
Captain Cillian Brennan missed out on Sunday’s tie through injury. “It does hurt when there are injuries but it’s about building a squad and getting as much depth as we can into the squad. You need everybody and everybody to be fit”.
The Clare boss went on to say, “I feel we have progressed and improved as the year has gone on and one would like to think that the players would feel the same”. Concluding the manager said “it’s for lads to continue to develop and the club championship is their next step”.
