*Lynda Daly in action. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
LOSING by ten points to Waterford in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior camogie quarter-final was a margin that didn’t do Clare justice, manager John Carmody maintained.
Despite producing their strongest showing of the year on the famed Croke Park turf, Clare exited the championship when they came out the wrong end of the 2-20 2-10 scoreline last Saturday.
For manager John Carmody the ten point gap was not an accurate reflection of the game with Clare leading on three different occasions in the first third of the quarter-final. “I suppose it’s really mixed emotions right now. First and foremost I’m really proud of the girls as It was a fantastic battling display and we got some quality scores but I just think that a ten point margin doesn’t do us justice in the end.
“We were right there midway through the second half and I thought that Waterford got a couple of vital decisions around that time. Particularly Áine O’Loughlin, she got whipped down and still got the pass away to Andrea [O’Keeffe] who got hooked but we felt that Áine was fouled for a penalty. That would have put us a point ahead at the time and I just thought that around that same period, they got one or two soft frees that pushed the lead out to five or six and suddenly the game was gone from us,” he lamented.
Returning to the quarter-finals has to be the target for Clare camogie, he stressed. “Regardless, I’m really proud of the girls. It was a fantastic display with huge work-rate and it’s still a very, very young team so the next step now is to get back to this stage again and try and close that gap even further and maybe even eliminate it”.
Annie Fitzgerald goaled just before half-time to make it 1-11 2-5 in favour of Waterford at the interval. “I was a big score for Waterford and really showed their experience. In fairness, it was a well worked goal and they took it well and it was a key score in the game as without it we would have gone in level at half-time,” Carmody outlined.
He continued, “We were still pleased at half-time as we felt that we’d every opportunity in the second half and I felt that we proved that point as entering into the final quarter, we were still there in the game and perhaps it was just that added bit of experience on the Waterford side that carried them through in the end. Niamh Rockett stormed into the game at that stage and Lorraine Bray from the middle of the field drove forward and got two brilliant scores. Look hat’s off to Waterford, they’re further down the line than us, they are real contenders for the All-Ireland and best wishes to them in the semi-final”.
Strength and conditioning has been identified as an area where Clare need to improve but according to the Kilmaley man, “That takes years. I mean you look at the fantastic Cork team at the moment, you can see when they run out onto the field how conditioned they are. So that takes years and our building blocks have only been laid about three years really, part of it winning that Junior All-Ireland with a lot of those young players when they were 18 and 19. They’ve committed hugely to Clare Camogie and when the senior team that were there broke up somewhat, we probably threw them in sooner than we had expected. And they’ve embraced it and are doing the right things. We’ve a good management team too so they’re well coached, their fitness levels are good and hopefully they can find another ten or fifteen per cent next year and progress it even further”.
Captain Áine O’Loughlin raided for two goals when leading by example in the quarter-final. “I’m delighted for Aine. Her form hadn’t been great up to this as she had picked up a back injury a few weeks ago and was struggling to get it completely right. I just rang her during the week and just said ‘ forget about form, Saturday is the day for form and by God, did she perform. She was outstanding so I’m delighted for her.
“We need more Aine O’Loughlin’s and Clare Hehir’s but I think they’re there. We had a few girls out injured this year and they’ll come back into the fold now going forward. There’s a panel of 35 there and about 20 of them Under 21 as well so the key for Clare Camogie is to keep this group together and to grow, take this on further now and ultimately make sure that we are back here again in twelve months time”.
