*Mark McInerney lines up a shot. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
CLARE holding their place in the race to win the Sam Maguire is “massive”, corner forward Mark McInerney has said.
Mark kicked 1-2 on Saturday as Clare ran out 2-20 1-9 winners over Waterford in the Munster SFC semi-final.
Fraher Field may not be a happy hunting ground for Clare football with previous losses in the senior championship plus the shock quarter-final loss in the U20 championship in 2021 when the Déise had a 4-5 1-9 victory.
Lining out at full-forward for the U20s on that evening was Mark who himself finished with 1-3, successfully converting a penalty. Whether Dungarvan is so tricky as a venue for Clare is open to debate but regardless McInerney seems to enjoy scoring there.
On his latest exploits, it was very much a case of “job done,” he admitted. “We knew it is a tough place to come down to and that Waterford would be up for this game, they put everything into it and we said we needed to work hard and the scores would come, thankfully they did and we got the job done”.
His contribution on the board was important in accomplishing this job. “A few of them were put on a plate for me now but it doesn’t matter who scores at the end of the move, it is just about putting it over the bar and trying to win the game,” he outlined.
Having started the first round of the league against Sligo, Mark found himself drifting out of the starting fifteen as the Division 3 campaign continued. Having got the nod for inclusion ahead of Cormac Murray and Joe McGann in the full-forward line for the championship opener, he was determined to grab the opportunity. “There is serious competition there and in the inside line there’s boys like McGann, Murray, Stack and Diarmuid O’Donnell who came on and kicked two great points, there’s massive competition so I know if I get the chance I have to work hard, do my best and hopefully that will be enough”.
Qualifying for the Munster Final and their subsequent appearance in the All-Ireland SFC rather than the Tailteann Cup “is a massive thing,” the University of Galway student noted. “We know we want to play the best teams to improve, we have a new enough team and the type of experience of those games will be vital for the lads. In this final, we want to give it everything we can because we believe we can win, Sam Maguire football is where we want to be”.
A two-time Clare SFC winner with Éire Óg, Mark’s club management of Paul Madden, Peter Cosgrove and Shane Daniels were among the first onto the pitch to congraluate him in Fraher Field as were his father Francis, Clare’s captain from the 1992 Munster SFC winning side and his family.
While Ciaran Russell and Darren O’Neill opted out of the county squad for 2024, the Éire Óg contingent didn’t diminish and actually increased with the additions of Gavin Murray, Éinne O’Connor and Darren O’Brien. “It’s always great to have a few boys with us. We lost a few on the panel from last year but have a few more coming in, it’s great and there is a savage buzz around the team no matter where lads are from, we’re all around the same age, it is very new,” Mark said.
In attack is where Mark proved to be most effective for the semi-final but he confirmed to The Clare Echo that there was a possibility that he was going to line out in goals for Clare, an event which almost occurred when Stephen Ryan picked up a knock in the first half. “We had a plan. If Stephen went down injured, we didn’t want to use up a substitution so the plan was for me to go in goal and kick it long,” he revealed.
Past goalkeeping experience is minimal, he said, apart from a brief stint in goals during his underage hurling career. “I did one training session when I was coming back from injury I ended up in goals, shot stopping wouldn’t be my forte,” the Ennis man flagged.
