*Shane McGrath gets to the sliotar before Gearoid Hanrahan. Photograph: Ruth Griffin.
FEAKLE treated their final round clash with Corofin as knockout and have adopted a ‘no more second chances’ approach.
A quarter-final tie against Crusheen awaits the East Clare side who reached the semi-finals in 2023. A second round loss to Kilmaley was sandwiched between wins over Cratloe and Corofin which saw them claim top spot in Group 2.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Feakle manager said the favourites tag which was placed on them prior to the Corofin clash carried a burden. “We were installed as favourites coming into this match and no one ever likes been put in as a favourite to win any match. Corofin are there on merit. They are a senior team, they came up from intermediate last year. They were always going to stand up and fight, they weren’t going to go down without putting in a big shift, so there is great relief for us that we have qualified for the quarter finals”.
He said Fiachra Donnellan’s green flag was a lucky one which made a dent on the scoreboard and arguably made their eight point win appear more flattering. “We had to battle, we always knew they were going to come at us. They were two or three points up before we got motoring. We had said to the lads, you have to be patient and things will work out if you work hard enough and be honest throughout. We did get the scores. We got a fortuitous goal towards the end but overall we were mature in the way we played. We got good scores and thank God it worked out”.
Losing to Kilmaley in round two made everyone sit up and realise no more mistakes could be tolerated, Conway said. “Knockout hurling started for us once we got beaten by Kilmaley in the last round, it was knockout today. From here on there are no more second chances and no more scoring difference, it’s must win”.
