*Dermot Coughlan in action for Clare. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CLARE’s third successive win in the National Football League sets them up for a real push at promotion to the second tier and they’ve been strengthened in their cause by the return of Dermot Coughlan.
Sprung from the bench on sixty two minutes in Sunday’s clash with Kildare, Dermot’s impact was immediate and he kicked two excellent and vital scores on Clare’s way to recording a 2-12 0-16 win.
Having fractured his foot in the club quarter-finals last September, Coughlan defied the odds to make an appearance in the county final but was forced off with twenty seven minutes played in their 1-10 0-6 loss to Éire Óg
His return to the field of play was a welcome sight and one he embraced after four months out of action. “I’m delighted now,” Dermot told The Clare Echo of his reaction to getting back in the county colours. “You’d be chomping at the bit there for the last few weeks after watching the boys and, look just delighted to get on the pitch today and get a win at home. It’s massive and hopefully sets up for the next few weeks”.
For the first half, his vantage point was in the stand, a position that Kildare wish he stayed in given the impact he made in the closing stages of the game. “It’s nearly easier playing the games than watching them but in fairness to the boys, they put in a massive shift there, they started really well and they put in as a great position. Kildare were always going to come back into the game, there is a strong breeze there but I suppose the main thing today is we showed great heart, we never gave in and ploughed away until seventy minutes and luckily we got two points on the board which sets us up nicely for the next three games but then again if we don’t capitalise on it then it will be no good come the end of the league”.
It was win number three for Clare under Peter Keane in the National Football League but for Coughlan it was their strongest display. “That’s probably been our best game today so far in the league just from watching the boys now, we’ve put in kind of fifteen to twenty minute performances but today I feel like even watching the boys in the first half they really dug in and put in what was nearly a fifty or sixty minute performance, if we can keep building on that and working hard to do what the boys are trying to set us up to do then we will hopefully have a successful year”.
He continued, “A win’s a win at the end of the day but it is nice to put in a performance like that. We have a new group there, a new management and it takes a while for things to click and even for what the boys are trying to do, lads to understand their game plan and implement it but it’s coming slowly week by week. Everyone’s putting their best foot forward, and in fairness that’s all you can do. We’re trying to build now for the next day again, we’ll watch the video on Wednesday night and look forward to next weekend in Sligo”.
Not alone did he kick two points but they were two impressive scores. “If they didn’t go over then Peter would be having a word in my ear but thankfully they did today, that is all you can do is do the best you can when you get time, there is a great panel there, the twenty six is changed most days and that will be the way for the next couple of weeks, it is great to have everyone pushing each other and there is a great bond there so we look forward to next week”.
Three of Clare’s final four scores came from Kilmurry Ibrickane men with Coughlan accounting for two and Keelan Sexton nailing the all-important shot on goal, both Daniel Walsh and Evan Cahill had their parts to play in creating the scores. “The chemistry was good for a finish there, we’re just lucky to be in them positions, Evan Cahill and Ikem Ugwueru made great runs for the last few scores, to get the head up when we’ve runners off the ball is something we’re really trying to work on and in fairness to Keelan he finished it well”.
