*Darren Keane of Lissycasey. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
BACK TO BACK quarter-final appearances have been achieved by Lissycasey but this is a side teasing a major breakthrough.
The Clare Echo’s online coverage of the football championship is brought to you in association with The Shannon Springs Hotel.
Lissycasey Fact File
Management: Aiden ‘Horse’ Moloney (manager), Pakie Keane (selector), Jimmy Collins (selector), Danny Lynch (selector), Niall Fitzgerald (coach), Megan Downes (S&C).
Captain: Ryan Griffin
Key player: Aaron Griffin
One to watch: Michael Kelly
Fresh blood: Diarmuid McMahon, Aaron Killeen, Ewan Wragg, Matt Shea, Mikey O’Neill
Departures Gate: N/A
Treatment table: Mikey O’Neill (hamstring), Enda Finnucane (back).
Titles won: 1 (2007)
Last year’s run: Reached the quarter-finals where they lost by three points to Cratloe.
Schedule of games:
Round 1 vs Kilmihil on Saturday July 19th in Páirc Naomh Mhuire, Quilty at 16:00
Round 2 vs Doonbeg on Saturday August 2nd in Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown Malbay at 17:00
Round 3 vs Ennistymon on Sunday August 17th in Cusack Park at 16:00
Championship power ranking (1=weak/unlikely winners, 10=strong contenders): 9
For the past seven years, Lissycasey have advanced to the knockout stages of the Clare SFC, they’re fully intent on getting there again but it is try and replicate runs to the semi-finals in 2020 and 2021 that would represent progress for last year’s Cusack Cup winners.
Aiden ‘Horse’ Moloney is entering his third championship as Lissycasey manager. The three-time Clare SFC winning manager outlined, “There’s no doubt we’re hoping to make progress, we’ve been in the last two quarter-finals and we did well to get there, our squad is improving, it’s stronger with new lads coming into the panel and the likes of Matt Shea returning. Mikey O’Neill would have been a bonus but we don’t have him for the first round, Enda Finnucane will be a big loss but our panel is stronger. We’re hoping to make progress and another step, as a group we need to find another level”.
With an abundance of talent and youth in their arsenal, mixing that with the experienced heads of Shea, O’Neill, Aaron Griffin, Conor Finnucane and Ryan Griffin is key. “We have plenty of good footballers, we’re still relying on Matt Shea, Conor Finnucane, Aaron Griffin, the more older fellas on the squad to add the experience whereas we have a young team overall, you still need the maturity from guys in their mid to late twenties to add experience and strength”.
A breakthrough is not far away for the club crowned minor champions for the fifth time in 2024, a year in which they also contested the U21A decider. “I do think we should be making a lot of progress but the one factor we’re all waiting to see is how the new rules suit, we haven’t had a match or such where we’ve had our county players, we didn’t have our Clare U20 players for the first four games of Cusack Cup so the worry is how the new rules will suit us, we need the championship pace to really see that and if people have the mindset to think about new rules, can we implement them to our advantage and if we can we have the player to make it work”.
New rules have resulted in a return to long kickouts where Matt Shea becomes a powerful weapon for the 2007 champions. “Matt is definitely a big throw-in to us, he brings the physical strength which Lissycasey have been lacking, with the new rules midfield seems to be the end all and be all, if you win midfield you’ve a chance of winning the game, no matter how good the opposition is or your attack is if you can’t supply them with the ball from midfield you’re in trouble. The short kickout is not as prominent as it used to be, it’s now get it as far as you can and win the breaks and the midfield battle”.
Putting two points on the board in the opening round is the main focus, the former Clare footballer said as they prepare to meet Kilmihil at the same stage of the competition for the second year running, they had a fifteen point win when they clashed last year. “Top spot in the group would be great but getting a win in the first round to get our season up and running is the most important thing. Kilmihil will provide a good test, I know they’re locals and neighbours, they haven’t been at their best over the last couple of years but we always expect them to be very competitive”.
Tough games will also follow when they face Doonbeg and Ennistymon, he predicted. “Doonbeg is our second match, we expect to earn everything there, if we’re not at our best Doonbeg will turn us over, they have the potential to kick two pointers which are huge in the game, with the likes of David Tubridy they can kick from far out, if we allow that to happen it will put us under pressure”.
He continued, “we’ve Ennistymon in our last game, they have been major underachievers in the last few years, we’ll see how do the new rules suit them when they get their squad together. They have good strong athletes but they need to do more in front of goal, they are a team you wouldn’t like to meet later in the championship. We’re looking forward to the games and the challenges they bring, all the other teams will look at it the same way. If you don’t come out of this group you’ve no business playing the likes of Éire Óg, St Joseph’s Miltown or whoever the top teams will be”.
