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*Keelan Sexton. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
PLEASED to be back in the Clare SFC semi-finals, Kilmurry Ibrickane are adamant that they cannot afford to be as wasteful if they are to remain in contention to lift the Jack Daly.
Four wins out of four have Kilmurry Ibrickane preparing for a novel semi-final clash with Kildysart on Sunday in Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg (15:00).
Though pleased to be a ninth semi-final in eleven seasons, Enda Coughlan was left frustrated with the chances left behind by the Bricks in their two point quarter-final win over Doonbeg. “We got a tough test in fairness, we’re happy to come out of it but I wouldn’t be overly happy with our performance”.
He told The Clare Echo, “We’ve created loads of chances in games, I’ve been saying it that we can’t miss as much as we’re missing and expect to win games, we’ve been lucky in a lot of games, we’ve been creating a lot of chances but we’re not scoring them, we had eighteen shots in the first half and we only scored seven, we can’t get away with that, the further you go you will not get away with it, we were very lucky to get out there”.
Doonbeg kicked six points in a row to draw level which left Kilmurry Ibrickane slightly relieved when Daryn Callinan kicked the defining two pointer in additional time. “We looked like a beaten docket, we were lucky enough to turn it around, we won one last kickout that we had no right to win, Conor Kearney won it and set up Daryn Callinan for the two pointer so we were very lucky to get out of here with a win”.
Callinan kicked a goal on forty minutes, his input of 1-2 from the bench effectively won the game for the Bricks. “That is what he can do, that is what we need out of him, he is well able to score, in other games he may have to start and that is the way it is, it is horses for courses, I’ve said that to them, he is a good man to bring on when things are going good or bad, he knows where the goalposts are”.
Goalkeeper Ian McInerney was forced off with injury during the second half. “He is carrying a little niggle, we’ve a couple of more injuries after today, every club is getting them, it is the nature of it, we’ll see what we can do for two weeks time,” Coughlan said.
According to the former Clare footballer, they have “loads to work on, last year we got pipped by a point and you don’t get a chance to work on those stuff, we’ve two weeks to try and work on stuff, we’ve an awful lot to do after today”.
For the second year in a row, the Bricks finished top of Group 3 with three wins from three, they came close to repeating their run of last year where they had a one hundred percent record in the group stages before exiting at the quarter-finals. Enda said there was no psychological hang-up on quarter-finals for the side. “I think if we scored the chances we missed in the first half then we would have won the game, they were very economical and hadn’t too many wides, it is all about putting the ball over the bar in football, you can have all the possession you want but ultimately it comes down to who wants it the most and who can put the ball over the bar”.
“This is a quarter-final, it is going to be tough, you’re not going to walk through any of these games, we could see the two on Saturday how close they were, it was always going to be tough and we knew that, I was happy we created chances, Eamon Tubridy made three one on one saves, if they go in you see out the game easy, they didn’t and to be honest we were lucky,” he added.
