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*Kilmaley captain, Mikey O’Malley. Photograph: Ruthie Griffin
ANY OF THE TEAMS in Group 4 are capable of qualifying for the Clare SHC quarter-finals, Kilmaley manager Brian Culbert believes.
Kilmaley strengthened their chances of making a second quarter-final in four seasons with their fully merited 1-22 1-17 round one victory over Newmarket-on-Fergus.
Culbert, a native of Sixmilebridge is of the view that anyone of Kilmaley, Newmarket, The Bridge and Wolfe Tones are contenders to make the last eight. “I said beforehand and I still believe that any two out of the four in our group came come out of it still because I’d say all three matches are going to be a battle like that”.
In their round one victory, Kilmaley never trailed Newmarket-on-Fergus and led for forty minutes in the contest. The sides were level entering the final quarter but Kilmaley struck for an unanswered 1-4 as the Blues began to lag.
Reflecting on the tie, Culbert stated, “What a battle so we’re delighted to come it because you just don’t know when it comes to first rounds. I’ll be the first to admit that I was petrified about this game as you’re really uncertain of what other teams are like and what they’re going to come with in the first round”.
He told The Clare Echo, “We spoke all week about how hard this was going to be but it’s not actually until you’re in the middle of it that you realise how hard it actually is so I think it took us a long time to settle. Newmarket were awesome in the first half and worked us off the field and made it so difficult for us so Ii actually took us to regroup at half-time and commit to work harder as it was just such a battle”.
Conor Cleary’s major which put Kilmaley seven points clear on fifty six minutes in what was the score ot seal the win. “With ten minutes to go, it was still level so the goal probably the score that gave us a bit of life to see out the rest of the game. Conor is a true leader and had been unlucky in the first half that a lot of ball was just falling out of his hand. So we knew that it just needed to stick and in the end so many scores came off him in that second half and obviously that crucial 1-1 to get us over the line. We had previously worked hard to build up a five point lead and then Newmarket hit us for five points in a row but we just had to dig in and try and stop the rot. It was just so hard to win ball in that middle third because there was just so many bodies there”.
Heading from Páirc na Gael in Ruan to Clarecastle, Kilmaley now face a Wolfe Tones side on a high after downing Sixmilebridge in round one. “Shannon for us is going to be the same or even harder and we’re really going to have to improve again if we are to match Wolfe Tones the next day”.
