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*Clonlara captain, Colm Galvin. Photograph: Ruthie Griffin
EMERGING from a competitive group can see Clonlara “take off” in the knockout stages of the Clare SHC.
TG4 cameras roll into town on Sunday to broadcast the meeting of Clonlara and Kilmaley in the Clare SHC quarter-finals at 16:45.
It’s a fourth quarter-final in as many years for Clonlara but their last win at this stage was in 2023, a year in which they went on to win the Canon Hamilton for the first time since 2008.
Securing a draw with Inagh/Kilnamona in round three secured their passage to the quarter-finals. “That was a massive contest so it was great to get something out of the game. As I’ve said repeatedly, the aim starting out is to avoid any relegation danger and the second is to get to a quarter-final so thankfully we’ve passed both of those in a famous group of death,” manager Donal Madden reflected.
An All-Ireland winner with Clare’s minor hurlers in 1997, Donal felt Clonlara’s campaign could really take shape now that they are on of the last eight teams standing. “I just thought that if we got out of the group that things could take off for us so we’re buzzing now to be honest.”
According to Madden the side that is able to beat Inagh/Kilnamona in the knockout stages will be the team that lifts the Canon Hamilton. ”One thing we didn’t want to day was for others to be doing us favours so we worked particularly hard today but let’s be honest Inagh/Kilnamona are a serious, serious team and whoever beats them will probably be crowned county champions”.
He added, “We got off to a brilliant start and went seven or eight points up but then we didn’t sustain it so that’s something we really need to look at and why it happened. Look, we played some rally good hurling in patches but the biggest thing for me today was that we came out here and performed. In the last two games, we didn’t really perform and if we didn’t again today ultimately we would have been out of the championship. So to get through off our own backs was important and makes all of us proud. We fought back well at the end when the game looked to be getting away from us but of course that’s not the first time we’ve finished strong as we did that against Barefield and Ballyea. So these are great guys and they never give up. The leadership shown by Iano [Ian Galvin], Diarmuid [Stritch], John [Conlon] was exceptional and I think we’re only going to get better if we can get everyone back from injury”.
