*James Curran in action with Podge Collins. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
ST JOSEPH’S Doora/Barefield are using the gap between round three and the Clare SFC quarter-finals to get injuries right with the possibility of Tom Curran lining out in the knockout stages said to be “fifty fifty”.
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A draw with Kildysart proved to be enough for St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield to sneak into the last eight of the Clare SFC following defeats to Éire Óg and Cratloe. Ultimately they had the better scoring difference than Kildysart to advance to the knockout stages.
Their clash with Cratloe was “a very close game,” according to Parish manager Donagh Vaughan. Enda Boyce kicked the winner for Cratloe as it finished 1-12 1-11.
Vaughan continued, “in all fairness in the first half Tom (O’Brien) saved a penalty and Cratloe had a few more wides but we battled very hard, it was a tough game and Cratloe showed their experience in the second half, fair dues to them they came out and went at it, they brought back the three point deficit fair quick, our lads battled away and we lost by a point in the end. We were hoping to win it and finish the last game on a high, it didn’t work out but a one point game in a very close group, we managed to squeeze in anyway”.
Diarmuid Ryan struck for goal three minutes into the second half which left Doora/Barefield chasing the game which they did, drawing level by the forty third minute and going in front on the fifty third.
Focus will be placed on maintaining leads during their preparation for the knockout stages, Donagh confirmed. “When we’re carrying leads we have to get better at holding onto them and adding to them, against Kildysart we were seven up at half time and we managed to let Kildysart back into it, they tried very hard and fair play to them because they’ve had a tough year and they are a great team but it is something we’ve to work on”.
Joe Rafferty kicked 1-7 of their 1-11 tally in the third round with Cratloe. “Joe was the forward on song, sometimes that is the way it goes, we’d all love if all our forwards were on song everyday but that is not the day it works out, Joe stood up, he bore the responsibility, he kicked 1-7, to get any further in this we need them all firing but we’re through, straight knockout and it’s four weeks to get the injuries right, try freshen up things and change what we need to work on, we’ll go at it again and it’s great to have our name in the draw”.
Chief among their injury concerns is corner forward Tom Curran, a panellist with the Clare U20s for the past two seasons. “It is fifty fifty, there’s a chance but it’s ligaments, it is the outside of the foot, he has been rehabbing for two months now, we’re hopeful, we’ll work away with him but it is still fifty fifty,” Donagh said of the chance of Curran lining out in the quarter-finals.
He told The Clare Echo, “it was some group, a draw with Kildysart, Éire Óg turned us over by ten but there was only five points in that game with four minutes to go, Cratloe have a never-say-die attitude, we lost today but we’re still there and that is what it’s all about”.
