*Cooraclare manager, Martin Daly. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
MANAGING is “ten times more stressful” than playing according to one of Clare’s greatest forwards Martin Daly.
Daly is in charge of the Cooraclare side that take on Corofin in Sunday’s Clare IFC final. The reward for the winners is a return to senior football, Cooraclare were relegated in 2021 with Corofin dropping down this season.
A Clare SFC winner with Lissycasey in 2007, Martin told The Clare Echo preparing for a county final as a manager brings a lot more headaches than as a player. “It is ten times more stressful to be quite honest. It was a lot easier as a player, I loved playing, if you prepare well as a player you are looking forward to getting out there and performing because you know you have worked hard and you and the team have the work done so you can’t wait for the match.
“As a manager, it is totally different, you never feel you have enough done, you are always questioning if you have got this right or that right, is this match-up proper or should this player that we’re not starting be starting, you are always questioning everything and then when the game starts you can make changes but you can’t go onto the field, grab the ball and stick it over the bar, you have to be hopeful that your players do it so I won’t lie it is very stressful as a manager, I was very nervous for the quarter-final, for the semi-final and I’m sure I’ll be very nervous for the final”.
This is Daly’s third season over Cooraclare who reached quarter-finals in 2023 and 2024. “When I met the top table the first day their future goal for the club was to get back to senior where they feel they should be and traditionally always were. We had a lot of rebuilding to do, no different to this year, we have a lot of youth brought in, we lost a lot of players due to injuries and emigration, we have a very young squad. You are always hopeful and your target is of course to get to the final of every competition you are in but I think we’ve done really well this year, it has gone very well and because of that getting to the final is something we deserve, was it something we thought at the start of the year being realistic probably not but we’re there now so let’s see what we can do on Sunday”.
Overcoming Naomh Eoin in round three after shipping a heavy 4-16 0-12 loss to Corofin was the turning point in Cooraclare’s season, he felt. “We had a very bad outing in the second round against Corofin, Brian Mc(Namara) had come home on the Thursday night before the Naomh Eoin game, we had him back which was a big lift but I think for us to see where we really were, we knew Naomh Eoin were going to be strong, they were county finalists last year and semi-finalists the year before that, they are a proper seasoned team, for us to feel what direction we were going in we needed a good performance at least that day and we got that which lifted lads a lot, Brian being home was a big injection too”.
There hasn’t been much emphasis on their previous clash with Corofin ahead of Sunday’s final. “It has been referenced that they gave us a nice trimming and that we need to be on our A-game if we are going to compete with them at the weekend, it hasn’t been referred to a whole pile at training, we just knuckled down after that game, we zoned in and said because we had Liscannor beaten the first day and we knew three were coming out of the group, we were already in a quarter-final so we fully prepared for that, the Naomh Eoin game was going to be part and parcel of that, since then we’ve zoned in on that and took each game at a time, now it happens to be Corofin next”.
Aaron Townsend remains an injury doubt for the Milesians while ex Clare defender Micheál Garry has been sidelined with a long-term injury.
It will be a youthful Cooraclare side that takes to the field for the county final, Daly noted. “I hope they do grab the game and give it everything while they have an opportunity to win it, it is a fifty fifty chance, the good of Cooraclare getting up is they have a lot of youth, our oldest player starting is Pearse Lillis at 28, Brian Mc is only 22, we will have eight or nine U21s starting, the future for the club if they all stay is very bright, it would be great to see them get up to senior again because I feel if they continue on the vein of training they have been on and the dedication they have shown especially this year I feel they have a great chance of staying up there and having a good future up there”.
Cooraclare have the tag of underdogs wrapped firmly around them as they bid to win the intermediate title for the sixth time. “When you’re dealing with this age-group, they live on a lot of confidence and we’ve had a lot of confidence over the last few games, the team as a whole really did under-perform against the Banner now they did make it very tough for us, they know that performance won’t work against the likes of Corofin who have been in a county senior semi-final only a couple of years ago, a senior team for three years so we’re under no illusions who the favourites are but I think the underdog tag might suit Cooraclare but they have not been fazed by it, they have worked really hard over the last week and there is a great buzz around the parish, it is good to have that and despite the hype they are zoned in and focused on what is ahead, knowing a massive job and performance is needed”.
As the curtain raiser to the senior final in Cusack Park this Sunday, the experience is something Cooraclare’s young guns can benefit from. “A lot of the guys played in a Minor A final in Cusack Park a few years ago, the following year they went to a Minor A semi-final, a lot of great work has been done by the likes of Declan McMahon, they are used to semi-finals and finals, they have been part of big days in Cusack Park before but it is different when it comes to adult football, the day before a county final is all a brilliant experience to get into Cusack Park, a lot of hype around it, them days are all learning”.
