*Cormac Murphy of O’Callaghans Mills. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
HARD YARDS have been clocked up by O’Callaghans Mills in their march to return to the senior ranks of Clare hurling at the first attempt.
Relegated from the top tier by Corofin last September, The Mills are currently unbeaten having qualified for the Clare PIHC final where they will meet Clarecastle on Sunday next in Cusack Park.
A 2-22 0-15 semi-final win over Ruan sealed their place in the decider. Manager Seán Doyle was pleased that his charges have been putting into practice what they have worked on all year. “I thought the first half was very tight, we worked really well on bringing the ball out, we’ve a lot of work done on that, it worked today and hopefully it will in two weeks time because we’re looking forward to a big battle with Clarecastle”.
He told The Clare Echo, “We have an amount of work done, we’ve a very fit team with a lot of work done, we’ve brought back some of the experienced lads later in the year because we weren’t putting them through that, they are able to get through twenty or twenty five minutes and we’re looking okay. We have a big task ahead, it will be a great final, the Mills and Clarecastle two senior teams in the last few years”.
Trailing by a point on thirty one minutes, Seán Boyce struck for a major to give O’Callaghans Mills a two point lead heading in at half time. “Without a doubt it was an important score, it was probably a sucker-punch for Ruan, sometimes it is easier play against the wind than with it so for us we stuck to our plan as much as we could, Ruan created a lot of chances but we have a good auld foe back there at full-back (Conor Cooney) who kept their full-back line on top with two new young lads introduced beside him. We’ve brought young lads into the team this year, their legs have made an awful difference”.
Bodyke native Doyle felt it was a very strong collective effort from the East Clare side. “Fionn Hickey covered every blade of grass like he does in every game, he got on a lot of ball as did Cormac Murphy, they are two talented young lads, there is talent all over the field, Jacob (Loughnane) is a big presence, he can break ball and bring ball down to the other lads, we’ve a lot of work done on that”.
Of the four teams that reached the semi-finals, the Mills were the only unbeaten club, they’ll aim to keep that record following their meeting with Clarecastle on Sunday next. “We came through a tough group with Tulla who took us to a draw, Tubber are one of the best coached teams I’ve seen in a long while and they got caught the last day, Parteen/Meelick are another good side, we’ll take it as it comes, we’ll knuckle down for the next two weeks”.
