*Crusheen’s Conor O’Donnell. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
DESPITE picking up a first round win in the TUS Clare SHC, Crusheen still head into the second round with “a little bit of nervousness,” manager Michael Browne remarked.
For the second year in a row, Crusheen came out on top against Newmarket-on-Fergus when recording a one point win in the first round.
Their victory ends a five year wait to win their opening contest in the championship. Their 3-18 2-5 win over Wolfe Tones in August 2019 was the last time they started a championship campaign on a winning note.
Wins that year followed against Feakle and Ballyea as they made it all the way to the semi-finals where they were outclassed by Cratloe.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Michael Browne acknowledged the Newmarket-on-Fergus tie “could have gone either way”. He explained, “The wind made it very tricky to get scores, both with it and against it. The Newmarket goalie had an opportunity at the very end but he was under pressure so it’s easy talk. Really and truly we’re delighted to get the two points but it was real touch and go right to the bitter end”.
Starting strong was a focus for Crusheen, Browne outlined. “We had worked hard on trying to get into the game right from the very start because Newmarket will do that to you as well if you let them. We had a tough spring and we’d an awful lot of injuries and we didn’t go well in the Clare Cup – we lost nearly all our games. It was a big effort physical, mental and emotional effort to try and turn it around and get ourselves to a place where we could even contest a first round of a senior championship”.
Their start was blistering as they hit eight points in a row and created a ten point lead. “Those eight points went over in a row. Another day, three or four of them could go wide. When it happens you take it. We had eleven wides in the first half of the county final last year”.
As Newmarket-on-Fergus attempted to claw their way back, tensions heated with a flare up causing a four minute delay, a break which Crusheen revelled in given that it took momentum from their opponents. “It was ticking the clock away a small bit, it was calming down the situation and it was giving us the opportunity to regroup and make sure that when the game did restart, we had people where they should be”.
Had the late strike from Padraic Guilfoyle went on target to give Newmarket-on-Fergus a share of the spoils, Crusheen would have been very frustrated. “We led for most of the game so in that situation if you let it go, you’d be feeling very aggrieved and very upset. We tried to control the game and thankfully we succeeding in doing it reasonably well”.
Sixmilebridge await in round two for the Blood and Bandages, four points separated the sides in the first round of last year’s championship. “I don’t know does it take pressure off really because we want to win every game. At the same time, there’s a little bit of nervousness going into round two, if you’ve lost round one. If things did go haywire in the second round having won round one, it would just mean you’d feel that pressure in the third game”.
