*Tristan O’Callaghan is put under pressure by David Clifford. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CLARE are targeting a return to Croke Park as they bid to prepare for a first-ever Tailteann Cup campaign.
Goalkeeper Tristan O’Callaghan has excelled in Croke Park already this year, delivering a man of the match display in the Sigerson Cup final helping the University of Limerick win the title for the first time.
He’s now determined for Clare’s footballers to get to Jones Rd as they find themselves competing in the Tailteann Cup and not the All-Ireland series.
O’Callaghan told The Clare Echo, “We’re going to try set a marker and target going as far as we can in it, we know as a group we want to get back to Croke Park, that is where every player wants to play, our ambition is to play there, we will strive towards that and we will take every game as it comes, there’s a lot of good teams in the Tailteann so we will take it one game at a time”.
Stephen Ryan’s unavailability led to the St Breckan’s man regaining the number one jersey for Clare’s 2-19 1-15 Munster semi-final loss to Kerry. “It was a tough battle throughout, it shows we can nearly put it up to the best in the country at the moment, once we gel as a team we’re quite good, a lot of patches of that was very good, there’s a few things to work on over the next few weeks and we’ll be back and hopefully go on a bit of a run in the Tailteann Cup and see how it goes, it is a pity today wasn’t our day but we go again,” he reflected of the defeat.
After falling three points down inside the opening four minutes, Tristan felt Clare grew into the game. “We did a lot of things right, they got three on the bounce in the first half then we settled their purple patch and got into the rhythm of the game, one or two things didn’t go our way which is natural and that happens in games, we went in at half time and we hit reset, we knew what we had to do. We got it back to five points if not four, if you get a turnover and kick another score then there’s only a goal in it and it is anyone’s game”.
At the beginning of the second half, Clare struggled to win their own ball and conceded 2-1 without reply. “They are the margins, we have to go back to the drawing board and see why we couldn’t win those balls or where it didn’t go right. We will work at it, we’ve a lot of good lads, we’ve a great management behind us and a lot of good lads in that dressing room who really care about Clare football, we showed it for parts today. We’re obviously very disappointed but we have to move it again”.
Getting back between the posts for his county had been an aim of the Doolin netminder this season. “When you’re playing you just want to play football and that is the main goal, it is a privilege to play with your club and your county, I love it as much as anyone else, we’re all here because we love Clare and we love Clare football and we love a lot of people in it”.
