*Ikem Ugwueru in action for Clare. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
THERE are “no egos and agendas” within the Clare senior football panel according to new coach Peter Tormey.
Tormey who is part of Peter Keane’s Clare management said he has been very impressed since coming on board in November.
Clare travel to Sligo on Sunday and currently have two wins from three outings but will be looking to record their first victory on the road under Keane’s watch.
Speaking to The Clare Echo following Clare’s two point win over Fermanagh, he admitted he was unsure if their half-time lead of three points would have been sufficient to see them through. “At half time we were three up and we were wondering was it going to be enough, we would have been a little bit disappointed with our first half display overall, we had good moments going forward but at times we were porous at the back, the wind was quite substantial so you’d have been thinking was three points enough but in fairness to the lads they showed great tenacity in the second half and they did really well to get out with a win in the end”.
Having led by three points at half time, they fell one point behind by the thirty seventh minute. “We went from three up to one down and had a few chances, we had some bad turnovers at crucial times but in fairness Emmet (McMahon) kicked a few unbelievable scores at key times, he kicked some points to get us back in the lead and around that time the tide started to turn in the middle sector, we started getting our hand on the ball in the middle, we got down and dirty on breaks and in fairness you couldn’t fault anyone with the second half performance”.
Westmeath native Peter who managed Offaly outfit Rhode last season praised the performance of their defensive unit. “I thought in the second half our backs really stood up, in fairness to the two Cillians at the back (Rouine and Brennan), there was a few times they were left one on one and if they didn’t win their battle they were in trouble, we would be very happy with our second half defensively whereas we wouldn’t have been happy at half time, we talked through a few things we weren’t happy with in that sector and in fairness to them they came back out.
“Introducing Evan (Cahill) who is still only in Leaving Cert and he caught a few great balls when he came in, he gave us a little platform there. We scored 1-17 and in the second half our shooting efficiency went up to above eighty percent whereas in the first half it was just above fifty percent, in the first half we left a little bit out there and kicked the ball into the goalkeeper’s hands and were punished the far end but we did get cut open a little too much and too easily in the first half. We have plenty to work on now ahead of Sligo, we’re going there and they are on no points after losing today, we know it will be another big battle”.
On his impressions of Clare to date, the ex Roscommon coach stated, “They are very honest lads, they have no egos or no agendas, the minute you go there they always work hard and train hard, they are lovely footballers. We didn’t have the ideal start going to Antrim and not picking up points but since then we got back on the horse against Leitrim. We said earlier on in the week it was ‘moving day’ because we would either be going up the table or down the table, the thing about Division 3 is there is very little between a lot of teams, a lot of the games are dogfights and it is just about getting out with your two points and focusing on the next game, with seven games in nine weeks there’s going to be a lot of swings and roundabouts left even with four games to go. We knew ourselves that we had to get something out of this game because we’ve Sligo away and Kildare at home in the next two weeks, our focus now is to try push on and get two points against Sligo, it is a very short turnaround so we’re looking forward to it and it’s easier to go training during the week when you have a couple of points in the locker”.
Heading to Sligo this weekend, Clare know a win is needed to keep them in the frame for promotion, they are in fourth spot in Division 4 with the unbeaten pair of Kildare and Offaly ahead of them. “First and foremost you’ve got to get points to stay up first and then you’re looking up the table, you take nothing for granted because every game is a battle, every team is looking for points but your focus is getting promotion and getting two points, it’s game on game, our focus was Antrim then it moved on to Leitrim, then onto Fermanagh and now straight away the lads are going for recovery and trying to get the bodies right to push on into Sligo, we’re very happy to get the win, the lads showed great heart in the second half, only being three points up in half time, in the Laois Sligo game they were 0-14 0-4 up, they had a bit of a cushion and two weeks ago when we played Leitrim we had an eight point cushion, it wasn’t as much of a win today but we’re delighted to get out of here with a win”.
