*David McNamara is fouled by Ryan Taylor and Trevor Lee. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
BACK FOR a second stint as manager of the Éire Óg senior hurlers, Gerry O’Connor was very pleased as his side began their championship bid with a one point win over Clooney/Quin.
By Ross O’Donoghue
Every point will matter in the Group of Death and for Éire Óg to start with a victory under their belt is a big lift and step in the right direction for the Ennis club.
O’Connor was full of praise for his charges as they came on top against Clooney/Quin in what was one of the ties of the opening round. “It all came down to that last tackle by Aaron Fitz. It was unbelievable. And then the composure of our forwards to work the ball into Robert Loftus to get the score. They’re the fine margins. We were heroic in defence when we had to be,” he said.
Tactically Éire Óg have been praised with getting the edge on Clooney/Quin in this one. Central to their plans are Shane O’Donnell who chipped in with 1-1 of their overall 1-20 tally. “We were trying to get Shane into the game. You have to vary your game. You can’t be one-dimensional. It’s great when it comes off. You have to give credit to all the players. You work the ball to create a scoring opportunity”.
Standing out as an area to improve for Gerry and his management is the concession of three green flags. “We conceded sucker punch goals. We know what Peter’s going to do. You have to accept that he’s going to do damage. But the composure to work that last score was just fantastic”.
So far the Townies have started both campaigns on winning notes and have overcame strong opposition in each outing, the footballers prevailing over Kilmurry Ibrickane and the hurlers against Clooney/Quin, both sides which ironically wear the same colours.
Five championship debutants were blooded by O’Connor and his management in what was a sign as positive as commencing with victory in Cusack Park. The ex Clare joint manager will have to pause on planning with the panel for round two against Clonlara as focus switches back to football where Paul Madden’s men meet Kilmihil on Sunday.
He told The Clare Echo, “It’s all about us managing our squad as best we can to stay injury free. Obviously there’s a huge amount of players involved in football next weekend. We won’t see half of our team until Tuesday week. That’s the challenge that we have, but that’s the challenge that we’ve had for the last number of years. We’ll regroup. We’ll get back at it again Tuesday week with a full squad and we’ll prepare for Clonlara”.
