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*Éire Óg manager, Paul Madden. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
ÉIRE Óg’s senior footballers brought the intensity in their opening outing of the Clare SFC but their manager insists they’ll need to improve on the scoring front if they are to reach the levels they are capable of.
Crowned back to back champions in 2021 and 2022, the Ennis side lost their title by means of a penalty shootout to Cratloe in last year’s semi-final. Since then they have come back with a bang and recorded a 0-10 0-8 win over Kilmurry Ibrickane in this year’s first round, the winning margin is won that could certainly have been higher.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Éire Óg manager Paul Madden said, “It’s a championship which has come upon quite quick after all of the toos and fros with leagues, Clare’s All-Ireland run but we’re delighted to get started and we were delighted to get started coming into today before we ever played a game, we knew it was going to be a massive challenge, Kilmurry Ibrickane are a serious outfit and they are one hundred percent still in the championship race and we said that no matter what the result today, whoever won or lost, both teams are still in the championship afterwards.
“For us we asked the lads for that bit of hunger that they talked about at the end of last year when we felt we weren’t fully at the races in a couple of games and subsequently went out, we asked the boys to show us that hunger and I thought from the get-go we won fifty fifty challenges, we turned over a good bit of ball, we coughed up a good bit of ball but I thought our hunger and our effort was there, for me effort, hunger and attitude trumps everything else, the football will look after itself”.
Overall the Townies kicked nine wides, four of which were their first four attempts on goal but once they settled, they kicked four points in a row to take a lead that they would never relinquish. “If I’m honest and I said to the boys there that this is round one, we billed it only as round one and you never know what way you are, I will say that I was hugely disappointed with our efficiency today, I reckon we had thirteen or fourteen wides, eight or ten of them were chronic, I mean chronic, unforgivable really but the first day out you are going to get that, they had a couple of wides and shanked balls but it’s the first day and I think teams will find their feet, teams have won round one in the championship and never done anything after, teams have lost in round one and gone onto bigger things. We’re delighted to get going, we picked up a few knocks which we have to look after over the next couple of days, as a club we’re starting a minimum of a six or eight week period so it’s important that we’re grounded which we will be because I’ll make sure of that, we’re focusing on the next game”.
Madden was pleased that his side won the majority of the fifty fifty battles but he pointed out, “We lost some too because Kilmurry Ibrickane are a good squad but from my perspective that means more to me than anything else when you’ve lads that are willing to dive into that ball but mother of God we did butcher what felt like a hundred chances in that game, I thought we should have been out of sight to be fair and we had chances, they didn’t, we had goal chances and misplaced passes, balls going to ground and I’d put it down to a step up in competitiveness from where we were in the Garry Cup, intensity and the first day out but we have to iron that out because we won’t win another game against anyone if we don’t get those scores the next day but I’m very happy”.
For round two, they will be facing Kilmihil on Sunday at 15:00 in Cusack Park where a win will confirm their place in the knockout stages.
