*Aaron Griffin breaks through the Waterford defence. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
AARON GRIFFIN finished with five points from play as Clare’s senior footballers sealed their passage to the Munster senior football final.
It is the first time in eighty seven years that Clare will contest successive provincial senior football finals. The statistic was not lost on Griffin moments after helping his county advance to the decider which will take place in Cusack Park on May 5th.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, he stated, “It is the first time in a long time that Clare football has been in back to back Munster football finals, we’ll have another crack off Kerry in two weeks and hopefully do better than the last time we were there”.
An unused substitute in the 5-14 0-15 Munster final loss to Kerry last year, Aaron admitted that they have been eager to face off with Jack O’Connor’s side to give a better account of themselves. “100 percent, that was the target from the start of the year. I know in the league we tried to get straight back up to Division 2 but it didn’t work out so our full focus now is on trying to get in a good performance against Kerry in the Munster final and give something back to the supporters”.
Reflecting on their commanding semi-final win over Waterford, the Lissycasey forward said, “It was good work, lads are doing all the hard work outside and trying to get the ball into us, I’m just trying to make runs and get away from my marker, it was a good win in the end”.
Recording the fourteen point win was made all the more impressive given that Clare have struggled against Waterford in Dungarvan with previous defeats in 2007 and 2010. “We know they’ve been very tight, Waterford beat us in the U20 down here, the last time we played them in senior we only beat them by a few points in Cusack Park so we know it is a tough venue for us here so it is great to get over the line”.
Though he has yet to collect any silverware, Aaron who made his first senior appearance for Clare in 2021 will still earn plenty of plaudits for his display over the weekend. Whether it is enough to catch his sister Louise who is part of the Clare intermediate ladies football side recently crowned Division 3 league champions, remains to be seen. “I’ll have to step up now but we’ll look forward to two weeks and take it one step at a time,” he remarked of the extra motivation.
