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*Crusheen defender, Luke Hayes. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CRUSHEEN still have a chance of making the knockout stages of the Clare SHC but only if they beat a fancied Clonlara by three points or more and Sixmilebridge overcome St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield.
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Group 1 is far from undecided ahead of the final round of games in the TUS Clare SHC with three teams battling it out for two places in the quarter-finals.
Clonlara have two wins from two but are not in the last eight as of yet with Sixmilebridge bidding to record successive victories and Crusheen knowing their future is in their own destiny if they can upset Clonlara.
Matters should have been much easier for Crusheen who would have cleared up such confusion if they defeated The Bridge in round two. However their return of eleven wides in the first half on a day when Sixmilebridge were minus the services of Seadna Morey, Cathal Malone, Colm Flynn and Barry Fitzpatrick proved very costly when slipping to a 1-20 1-17 loss.
Reflecting on the tie, Crusheen manager Michael Browne stated, “We had a lot of wides in the first half so when you look at the result and see that there were only three points between the sides in the end, if we had scored even half of those it would have been enough. But look there are days when they go over the bar and days that no matter what you do, they won’t”.
He said, “We had no idea of the injury problems that they [Sixmilebridge] had and it just goes to show how strong a club they are that they were able to replace the big players they had to cover for so effectively and in the end they ground out the win and you have to admire them. We’ve no complaints, the better team in that second half won because when the game was there for both sides, they were just able tov find that extra gear. Being only a point down with the wind to come, we should have been able to master and get on top from there. And we tried and we tried hard but it just wasn’t to be. I think we both wanted it and were hungry for it as demonstrated out there with some hard hits on both sides. So I’m really proud of the lads but disappointed for them that they couldn’t get the result”.
Injuries were an issue within the Crusheen camp, he admitted. “They’re a mighty bunch of lads and we had injuries too as Ian O’Brien and Cilléin Mullins were carrying injuries into the game and then Breffni [Horner] had to come off through injury and Breffni is a key forward and we still managed to come back at Sixmilebridge so it shows the heart that they have. And I’m so sorry for them because they put so much effort into this but that’s sport and you have to learn to accept the defeats along with enjoying the victories along the way”.
Improvement is essential if they are to overturn Clonlara, the former Clare selector acknowledged. “We still have a chance so let’s see if we can improve again for the next day. Clonlara are a fine team but so are the ‘Bridge and there was very little between them when they played in the first round so based on that it should be close again between ourselves and Clonlara. I mean there were stages there that we looked like winning it so I don’t see why we should be going in downhearted against Clonlara so we’re just going to have to prepare as best we can and keep the fingers and toes crossed and see what happens”.
