*Eoin Cleary. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
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CLARE’s senior footballers will be without their most experienced player for Saturday’s Tailteann Cup opener.
Former captain Eoin Cleary, a member of the senior side since 2014 has been ruled out after tearing his hamstring in the Munster semi-final defeat to Kerry.
Eoin was carried off with thirty four minutes played a fortnight ago during Clare’s 2-19 1-14 loss to the All-Ireland champions in Cusack Park. The Limerick based Garda was in huge discomfort leaving the field with concerns following the game that the severity of the injury could even hinder his involvement with St Joseph’s Miltown in the Clare SFC.
While the severity of the injury is not as bad as first feared, it is likely to keep the Miltown Malbay native sidelined for at least Clare’s guaranteed two outings in the Tailteann Cup.
He joins his first-cousin Dermot Coughlan on the treatment table. A groin injury has kept the Kilmurry Ibrickane out of action since March, missing Clare’s league defeats to Wexford or Sligo and he had not recovered in time to be considered for the Munster semi-final against Kerry.
Manager Paul Madden confirmed to The Clare Echo they have to plan without the influential Cleary for Saturday’s Tailteann Cup tie with Offaly. “It is a hamstring injury and he will be out for some time, he is not available for us this weekend. We are only focused on the Offaly game and we are not concerned on what happens after that”. He said it “will be some time” before Eoin is back in the reckoning for selection.
Cleary’s absence is of course a huge loss for Clare, not alone for his experience but the thirty two year old has continued to be one of the county’s most consistent performers.
Throughout Clare’s Division 3 Allianz National Football League campaign, the two-time All Star nominee was one of the side’s standout forwards and hit a tally of 1-32 in their seven games.
In June 2014, Eoin made his championship debut for the Clare senior footballers, replacing his good friend Jamie Malone on sixty one minutes when the Colm Collins managed side recorded a 2-8 apiece draw with Waterford in the Munster SFC quarter-final.
Six years later, Cleary was appointed as Clare senior football captain in January 2020, holding the role until Colm Collins’ departure at the end of the 2023 campaign. He took a year out from county commitments in 2024 when he went travelling in Sydney, New York, Portugal and spent the summer footballing in Chicago with Wolfe Tones.
