*Doonbeg’s Darragh Burns. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
FIVE YEARS have passed since Doonbeg last contested the quarter-finals of the Clare senior football championship, a club with a rich history the Magpies are hoping to take flight in the opening round.
In the recently concluded league campaign Doonbeg took it game by game and didn’t look beyond the next fixture. Team manager John Keane has said they will follow the same template in the championship.
“We are in a very difficult group which includes the defending champions. Right now our full focus is on the opening game which is against Ennistymon and we are not looking past that fixture”, he told The Clare Echo.
There have been some changes to their management team this year, John continues as manager as does former Kilkee and Clare player David Russell as team coach while Megan Downes continues as their S&C coach. The trio of Kieran O’Mahoney, Padraig Gallagher and Conor Whelan have bowed from their roles as selectors.
Having struggled with injuries in recent years, Joe Blake retired from playing at the end of last season and he was immediately brought into the selection committee while Brian Behan, a member of the current panel has also been added to the selection committee. Because of injury he is unlikely to be fit for Saturday’s opening game.
The dominant force in Clare football throughout the sixties and seventies, it’s been fourteen years since the Jack Daly cup last spent the winter in Doonbeg. They have fallen on lean times in recent years and have struggled to make the knock out stages. Last year they were relegated from the Cusack Cup (division 1 league).
There are signs that they are on an upward curve and last week they won the O’Gorman Cup for the third time when they defeated Kildysart in the final.
David Tubridy who, last year, called time on a glittering inter county football career will lead their attack. He told The Clare Echo, “we have had fair battles with Ennistymon down through the years. We have a young team and we had a poor league campaign this year but since that finished I believe we have come on in leaps and bounds. Look, like all clubs, we cannot look past the first round”.
Tubridy a publican in Doonbeg continued, “the championship is very competitive and with groups of four the opening game is extremely important. For a few years we have struggled in our opening game, a draw last year and we lost the year before. A loss in the first round puts you on a back foot. You will be thinking of the sessions you have done and wondering if you did things right. Hopefully we can get past Ennistymon who have been knocking on the door. In club football in Clare, everybody knows everybody. Ennistymon have had a lot of underage success and they have a lot of young players coming through. We know what we are going to be up against”.
A number of players who have just come out of minor have been added to the panel for this year’s campaign and they will be hoping to gain valuable experience. Ahead of the weekend’s opening tie there are injury concerns for Eoin Tubridy and Luke Conway along with Brian Behan and it will be nearer match time before a final decision is made as to whether or not any or all will be available
Management: John Keane (manager), David Russell (coach), Joe Blake (selector), Brian Behan (selector), Megan Downes (S&C).
Captain: Kevin McInerney
Key Player: Cian O’Mahoney
One to watch: Darragh Burns
Fresh Blood: Shane Bermingham, Colm McMahon, Robbie Burns.
Departures Gate: Joe Blake
Treatment table: Luke Conway (shoulder), Eoin Tubridy (hamstring), Brian Behan (groin)
Last season’s run: Didn’t get out of the group, beaten in the preliminary quarter-final by Lissycasey.
Titles Won: 18 (1955, 1961, 1967, ‘68, ‘69, 1972, ‘73’, 74,1982, ‘83, 1988, 1991, 1995, ‘96, `98, ‘99, 2001, 2010)
Schedule of games:
Round 1 v Ennistymon (August 3rd)
Round 2 v St Joseph’s Miltown (August 17th/18th)
Round 3 v Cratloe (August 31st/Sept 1st)
