*Cormac Murphy. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
BLOOD may be thicker than water but the villages of O’Callaghan’s Mills and Broadford are thankful that the lakes of Lough Gar and Doon Lough separate them as their East Clare derby rivalry is elevated to unprecedented heights in Clonlara this Friday evening (7.30pm).
With Group 3 rivals Scariff and Inagh/Kilnamona ear-marked as favourites to return to the knock-out stages, it makes this neighbourly opening showdown a relative four pointer in order to get an early leg up in the group.
Back to the blood though. No, not the type spilled on the battlefield but the fact that O’Callaghan’s Mills manager PJ O’Connell has two nephews playing for Broadford including debutante Eoghan Gunning, none other than last year’s Munster and All-Ireland Minor winning Clare captain.
“I have family involved with Broadford but that will have to be put to one side until after the final whistle.” the two time All-Ireland Senior medalist outlined with a wry smile on his face. “We’re looking forward to it, that’s for sure. To tell you the truth, our training has gone really well. We were poor enough in the Clare Cup starting off, I think we lost the first four or five games but we won the next three so we were happy with that as we finished the campaign strongly and got to look at a lot of players.
“We’ve lost players from last year but gained a few new ones too so overall we’re looking forward to getting going now on Friday as facing Broadford is going to be a tough battle. They’re our neighbours so there will be nothing between us and I’d say the team that simply wants it most will win it, that’s nearly how these derbies shape up,” he told The Clare Echo.
Agonisingly defeated by a single point by eventual champions Clonlara in last year’s opener, a subsequent slump against Crusheen meant that not even a final round barnstorming finish to pip Sixmilebridge couldn’t prevent the Mills from entering the relegation series. “We didn’t really turn up against Crusheen in Tulla that day and it’s one thing conceding points but if you’re leaking goals in club matches, it’s very hard to win a game. So we’ve put an emphasis this year on not leaking goals and hopefully that can give us a springboard at the other end to win games”.
Having shored up their defence, O’Connell and Co. are determined to go one significant step further this year as only the winner has a shot at quarter-final glory in the Mills native’s eyes. “All the teams are fierce even so in such a tight group, the key to getting out of it is probably to win your first game because you’ve two chances of reaching a quarter-final after that whereas if you lose that first game like we did last year, it’s very difficult to go back training and pick things up straight away again. So I think you have to treat it as a knock-out game.
“We’ve got some good young players, lads that I’ve been pushing to put themselves forward to get Brian Lohan to have a look at them as we feel that we’ve one or two good enough to make the Clare panel. So we’re trying to make the best of our young lads while also use the experience and leadership of our older players as we have Paddy Donnellan and Conor Cooney still leading the line. So we’re happy enough with where we are but I’m sure they’re thinking the exact same way in Broadford so it’s going to be a fair battle.”
After all, there’s nothing between them only water… and blood.
Management: PJ O’Connell (manager); Eugene McEntee (coach); Seanie McNamara, John Cooney, Fergus Donovan, Noel Nash (Selectors); Kevin Gaffney (S&C)
Captain: Aidan O’Gorman
Key Player: Colin Crehan
One to Watch: Darragh Moroney
Fresh Blood: Sean Boyce, Colin Crehan, Niall Melody
Departures Gate: Ciaran Cooney, Gary Cooney, Jacob Loughnane (abroad)
Treatment Table: Conor Henry (back)
Titles Won: 8 (1904, 1906, 1909, 1910, 1918, 1923 (as Kilkishen), 1932 (as Kilkishen), 1937)
Last season’s run: Q A rousing final round victory over Sixmilebridge wasn’t enough to keep them out of danger zone but they did stop the rot in relegation decider against Clarecastle.
Schedule
Round 1 – v Broadford at Clonlara, Friday 7.30pm
Round 2 – v Inagh-Kilnamona (Weekend of August 23rd-25th)
Round 3 – v Scariff (Weekend of September 6-8th)
