*Sam Meaney and Eoin Guilfoyle both miss the high ball. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
NEWMARKET-ON-FERGUS plan to utilise their four-week window ahead of the Clare SHC quarter-finals to work on ‘disappointing aspects’ of their third round win over Wolfe Tones.
A third successive win saw The Blues advance to the quarter-finals when they accounted for neighbours Wolfe Tones by eight points.
Although the game ended 3-17 0-18 in their favour, it doesn’t tell the whole story as they struggled for their large parts against the Shannon side and only secured the win with late goals from Colin Ryan and Éanna Crimmins when their opponents had John Guilfoyle and Liam Murphy dismissed on red cards.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Newmarket-on-Fergus manager Tomás Ryan said of their third round victory, “When it was fifteen on fifteen there was nothing in the game, very even. We knew they were going to come with a fight, it’s never an easy game with them. They put up a great fight but the sendings off took the sting out of the game and it was easy for us in the end because of that.
Their place in the knockout stages was already guaranteed before the clash with Wolfe Tones but Ryan insisted they treated the build-up the same as their meetings with Cratloe and Clooney/Quin. “Because of the fact that we were already qualified we didn’t think it would be hard to get lads focused but it obviously was. We started very slow. We did treat it like a normal championship match but I suppose that its always in the back of your mind that you are through and top of the group”.
There is plenty for the Blues to work on before their quarter-final tie. “We would be disappointed with aspects of the game and we have four weeks now to work on it. Colin Ryan is such an asset to us and his experience did show when he was introduced. It’s a new competition now, a lot can change in four weeks. We will knuckle down and work hard for four weeks and see where it will go”.
