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*Kilmurry Ibrickane manager, James Murrihy. Photograph: Burren Eye Photography
WINNING THE opening round of the Clare senior football championship will give Kilmurry Ibrickane “room to manoeuvre” in their remaining group games.
A 2-10 2-09 win over St Breckan’s tees up Kilmurry Ibrickane for a return to the knockout stages with three teams to emerge from their group.
Recording an opening round victory was a big plus for the Bricks who had been dealt a blow in the lead-up to the game with confirmation that long-serving defender Darren Hickey would miss the remainder of the season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Manager, James Murrihy told The Clare Echo, “It’s the first game of the championship, you could see from the programme we had three or four changes, we’re down four starters, the group as a whole we’re dealt a body blow last weekend, Darren Hickey we’ve lost him for the year with an ACL injury, he is a massive leader for us, it really affected us and we probably didn’t train the way we would have liked during the week because of that but to be fair to the lads we dug it out. In the first game of the championship it doesn’t matter, it is all about the W”.
One win may be enough to see them through to the knockout stages. “It’s like everything else, at least now we have the room to manoeuvre, the other side is if we are honest with ourselves you want to be winning and topping your group to avoid the big dogs in the other groups if you can. The important thing is it sets up and hopefully all going well we can only get stronger from here on”.
On the injury front, a quad problem kept Aidan McCarthy out of their game but he is expected to feature for Inagh/Kilnamona against Scariff on Friday evening as they bid to stay in the Clare senior hurling championship.
Murrihy said, “Aidan McCarthy’s injury is week to week, now that we have the W we’re probably not in as an important position whereas Inagh/Kilnamona have Scariff to play and Kilmaley, they are playing knockout hurling so the hope would be to try get Aidan back on the hurling field first, I’d be hoping that within a couple of week’s time we will have Joe Campbell and Diarmuid King back which will strengthen us again”.
County players stepped up for Kilmurry Ibrickane, Dermot Coughlan kicked 1-02, Keelan Sexton had 0-05 to his name while Daniel Walsh chipped in with 0-02. “There is a level of expectation on them,” Murrihy admitted while adding, “Dermot’s quick thinking was particularly good”.
Another big plus was to see two championship debutants in their first fifteen. “Diarmuid Comber and Cathal Talty got their first championship starts, Josh Moloney is in his second year and we’ve changes made to the team by putting lads in different positions but like everything else and any other team be it hurling or football we have a lot to work on going forward”.
Neither Comber or Talty appeared too nervous when the team was announced on Thursday night, James said. “When we announced the team on Thursday night, they are two cool customers and nothing fazes them, for them to finish their first championship game and give a full sixty minutes it is a credit to them”.
Positioned in the stats box of Cusack Park, the windows appeared to fog up in front of Murrihy and Diarmuid Whelan throughout the game while the St Breckan’s box was crystal clear. It would suggest more hot air was emerging from the Bricks box, “You look at any other sport like rugby and you see where the coaches are, you see a lot more, when you see things from a height you may not see them down below, the natual reaction is to let off a little roar here and there, better off that the box is soundproof,” he remarked.
