*Brian McNamara’s return has been a big boost for Kilmaley. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
COMPETITION for places in the Kilmaley side is “driving standards” within the team as they contest a first Clare SHC semi-final in seven years.
The Clare Echo’s coverage of the Clare SHC is with thanks to The Temple Gate Hotel.
Kilmaley face Éire Óg at 16:30 in Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg in the first of the Clare SHC semi-finals.
Selector Eoin O’Malley has said there has been a shift in focus since Brian Culbert’s arrival to Kilmaley. “Since Brian [Culbert] came in three years ago, the emphasis has been on the collective and that everybody was going to be required every day if we were to put consistency into our play. We can see that now in terms of the spread of scores and everyone really contributing and even in the Scariff match when we made a couple of changes, that probably highlighted the real competition for places that’s there now and not just the 21 or 22 players we’ve used in the senior championship but also some of the guys on our intermediate team that have been going really well too at the moment that on any other year would be getting a look in at senior level too”.
Performances have been lifted by the amount of players vying to get game time, he said. “The competition even within our training sessions is really positive right now and of course winning games obviously helps in that regard as in previous years we perhaps haven’t been able to bring that consistency. At the moment we have that and it’s creating that real competition for places, driving standards and hopefully we can keep building on that now. Obviously we’ve another massive game to come and it’s going to take a full twenty man effort again to try and win a semi-final”.
Big hurdles have been mounted from Kilmaley throughout this year’s run, Eoin noted. “When the draw was made, we were placed in a tough group from the beginning so that along with losing to Cratloe last year in the manner that we did, kept us on our toes from game-to-game. Since then momentum has helped as has beaten some teams that have caused us a lot of problems in recent years and have been very successful like Ballyea, Cratloe and the ‘Bridge.
“So that’s been huge to get over those hurdles and regardless of what club you are in Clare, Sixmilebridge are a major milestone. If you’re going to win a championship in Clare, it’s inevitable at some stage that you’re going to probably have to go through Sixmilebridge at some stage. And we were conscious of that that not only was our focus on winning a quarter-final which had been an issue for us in recent years but to beat a team like Sixmilebridge with the calibre of player, they have, the experience they have and the medals they have presented a huge challenge for us”.
Reflecting on their quarter-final, O’Malley pointed to the workrate shown by Kilmaley as a key factor for their 1-21 1-8 victory. “All year our focus has been on work-rate and we knew coming in against the ‘Bridge that we’d have to match them work-rate wise and I thought we did that for long spells. We started well which had been an issue in previous games this year and managed to get a few scores on the board which settled us. And overall probably the crucial score was that goal just before half-time from Tom [O’Rourke] as it gave us a really good cushion by half-time. That said, being the ‘Bridge we were also very conscious in the dressing room that we needed to be ready to weather any storm that was to come. It did come as they got the goal through David Kennedy but the maturity by the lads just to see it out was a major, major positive as well as the overall performance and work-rate”.
