*Mark Rodgers gets away from Chris Crummey. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CLARE star Mark Rodgers has said he is “not too concerned” and is optimistic his injury from Sunday’s Allianz National Hurling League final is not too serious.
Rodgers hobbled off with forty eight minutes played during Clare’s 2-26 3-20 win over Dublin in the Division 1B final. He had been in scintillating form prior to this, scoring 0-12 and having one hundred percent accuracy from placed balls.
Though his movement was restricted after picking up the injury, Mark was hopeful it would not derail his championship involvement. “I’m not too concerned at the moment, we have a couple of lads that went off early with knocks”.
Picking up a seventh win in as many games leaves Clare in fine fettle for championship, the Scariff attacker felt. “It is brilliant to get the result here, we used the full extent of our panel, we used five subs again today so we’re heading into the championship in good shape.
Of Clare’s 2-15 tally in the opening half, the full-forward trio of Mark, Shane O’Donnell and Shane Meehan accounted for all but two of the scores. “They are class players, they are a pleasure to play with, any time you make the run off the shoulder the ball is where you want it, we caused lots of problems in the first half which was exactly our aim,” he said of playing alongside the Ennis duo.
Named as man of the match in Sunday’s final, Mark also praised the vital input at the other end of the field from netminder Eibhear Quilligan. “You don’t want Eibhear to have to be making those saves but it is brilliant to know you have that in the locker, when we really need him he often digs out one of those. We fell asleep for a few minutes but it is things to work on going forward, it is good to get a result again so it is seven games and seven wins so we’re really happy with that”.
