*Conor Cleary. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
ST JOSEPH’s Miltown exited the championship at the hands of rivals Kilmurry Ibrickane in the quarter-finals by a margin of eleven points last year, they’re hopeful of closing the gap and claiming the bragging rights this weekend.
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St Joseph’s Miltown Fact File
Management: Martin Guerin (manager), David Talty (coach), Jim Marrinan (selector), Dylan Kenny (S&C)
Captain: Darragh McDonagh
Key player: Eoin Cleary
One to watch: Cormac Devitt
Fresh blood: Euan Reidy, Stephen Murphy, Ger Malone
Departures Gate: Sean O’Brien (retired), Eoin O’Brien (retired), Brian Curtin (retired), Kieran Malone (retired)
Treatment table: Jamesie O’Connor (foot), Cian Flanagan (shoulder), Paul Keane (knee)
Titles won: 15 (1905, 1906, 1916, 1923, 1925, 1927, 1932, 1949, 1953, 1959, 1985, 1990, 2015, 2018, 2019)
Last year’s run: Eliminated in the quarter-finals by Kilmurry Ibrickane
Schedule of games:
Round One vs Kilmurry Ibrickane on Saturday July 19th in Cooraclare at 19:00
Round Two vs Wolfe Tones in Lissycasey on Saturday August 2nd at 13:30
Round Three vs St Breckans in Cusack Park on Sunday August 17th at 14:00
Championship power ranking (1=weak/unlikely winners, 10=strong contenders): 8
Suffering a 2-15 0-10 loss to Kilmurry Ibrickane was “a freak result” compared with championship meetings of the sides, the most recent encounter prior to this was in 2021 when they drew on 2-7 apiece.
Derby games bring with it many extra elements, Miltown manager Martin Guerin explained. “I certainly hope it will be tighter but until the ball is thrown you never really know what is going to happen, you can do all the preparation you want but you’d hope we’d be competitive and give a good performance which would hopefully be enough to get us over the line but it is a derby game”.
Meetings of local rivals “brings extra focus, that is the biggest factor for us, you’re going to be prepared for this game no matter what. There’s never much between the teams bar last year which was a freak on our part but there’s definitely a familiarity between the teams”.
Liscannor native Guerin is in his third year over Miltown. “The target is to get out of the group, we’re not looking too far ahead and not any further than the game on Saturday”. Since the conclusion of the Cusack Cup, John O’Sullivan has stepped away as coach.
Clare SFC medallists Brian Curtin, Eoin O’Brien, Sean O’Brien and Kieran Malone have called time on their senior careers while experience continues to be provided in the guise of the Cleary twins, Eoin and Conor, Gordon Kelly and Seanie Malone in the heart of defence along with captain Darragh McDonagh while there’s plenty of energy offered from Cormac Murray, Oisin Looney, Micheál Murray, Cian Mahony and Euan Lineen.
Having both of the Clearys available for the first time of his tenure is a big plus. “To have two guys of that calibre and leadership that they give you, Conor was a big loss for us last year and Eoin the year before, hopefully we have them for duration of the championship, it is great for the younger lads to be playing and training with them, they give more direction to our play”.
“When I took over two years ago that was one of our targets to get more youth on the team, we were doing that and this year it has forced our hands a bit more, it is transition really and we’ve played a good few young lads in the Cusack Cup, we did okay and finished mid-table,” Guerin said.
He continued, “Maybe guys there the last there the last three or four years are stepping up to take leadership roles, that is what you want. They are stepping up but you don’t know until championship where you stand, the players will be tested”.
They are “hopeful” of making the quarter-finals for the third successive year. Looking at their other opponents in Group 3, he commented, “Wolfe Tones are a team that can put it up to anyone on their day, they won the intermediate football championship last year and played a great game in the semi-final and final, they have a pick and are very athletic, they are not a team to be taken lightly. I don’t think we’ve beaten St Breckans in the senior championship in the last four or five years, they’ve always had our number. It is a very tough group, there’s no easy group but ours is particularly tough. The first game will dictate for every team how they approach and what they need to do in the other games”.
