*Niall McMahon is one of the dual-players chasing senior glory on the double. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
TO HAVE QUALIFIED for successive Clare SFC finals is of great delight to all involved with Éire Óg most especially their diligent manager, Paul Madden.
Madden led Éire Óg to Clare SFC glory last season, the first time they claimed the Jack Daly since 2004 when he was part of the senior panel. To be back in the decider is where they want to be, “You can’t ask for more, we’re into a final and it’s where you want to be, we have to be happy with it”.
Now in his sixth season in charge of the Ennis outfit, Madden was adamant that they needed to demonstrate that they were champions in their semi-final meeting with Corofin. “It needed to be. At half-time we weren’t overly happy with where we were, we were slightly ahead but it was very even-steven in the first half, we didn’t executive everything as we should have, our kick passing wasn’t great and shot selection but you have to hand it to Corofin too they won most of the fifty fifty balls in the first half. At half-time we said to the lads they could up the ante and drive on or surrender the title, in fairness to them they dug deep in the second half”.
How Éire Óg are working for each other off the ball is a striking aspect of their play in this year’s championship and it’s very rewarding for the manager to witness. “The first mantra of a team is that they work for each other, we said it at the start of last year and we said it before every training session game that if you outwork the guys that you’re playing you have a chance, if you don’t and maybe we saw it in the other semi-final result, workrate and everything is key”.
Not alone did Éire Óg’s defence not give away an inch in the second half against Corofin but they didn’t cough up a score, a statistic that hadn’t dawned on Paul when he spoke to The Clare Echo. “I didn’t realise we didn’t concede a score in the second half, that’s impressive in fairness. The defence starts at number fifteen, we got some turnovers there, I’m very happy with the second half and to be in a county final. If we had won 0-03 0-02 in the worst game known to man I wouldn’t care because for the next two weeks it will be about being in the final”.
Undoubtedly, Gavin Cooney’s goal on forty three minutes gave them a solid platform from which Corofin would fail to come close to. “We got a couple of good scores at the start of the second half to push us ahead, I thought when we were 0-08 0-03 up we started to control it a bit better, there was a brilliant move for the goal and a great finish, we worked from back to front and I thought once the goal went in, maybe we looked more comfortable and their passing though it was under pressure wasn’t executed as well as it was for them in the first half. When we got the cushion it helped”.
