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*Éire Óg’s Ronan Lanigan. Photograph: Ruthie Griffin.
A ROUND three meeting between Éire Óg and St Joseph’s Miltown is “irrelevant” ahead of their rematch in the semi-finals according to the manager of the Clare SFC champions.
Éire Óg brushed aside the challenge of St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield with ease on a score of 3-20 2-11 to set up the semi-final tie with St Joseph’s Miltown which is the curtain raiser of the last four double header on Sunday in Cusack Park (13:00).
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Éire Óg manager Shane Daniels said of their semi-final opponents, “Miltown had a great win in the quarter-final, a really good game, really enjoyable, top quality players and we will have to be really good to win the game”.
It will be the second time they have met in the Clare SFC this season with Éire Óg topping Group 1 following their 1-22 0-12 victory. “It is irrelevant, both teams were through when we were playing that game, both teams went through the motions a bit and the semi-final will be completely different,” Daniels said of their most recent meeting.
He insisted their quarter-final with Doora/Barefield “was competitive. We played okay in the first half, we dropped in the second half and that is something we are going to have to look at. The game was really competitive, we got the scores in the first half and Doora/Barefield didn’t, we’re happy enough with aspects of it but we have loads to work on”.
Leading by twenty points, the concession of two goals, both from turnovers on their kickouts saw Doora/Barefield narrow the gap in the final ten minutes. “Any time you concede a goal you are frustrated, any time you concede a point you are frustrated. We’ve loads to work on, we did some good things today but we did loads of bad stuff too, happy enough with the win but we have loads to work on”.
He continued, “They shouldn’t have happened, we should have managed those few minutes a bit better, that is part of it, we were a good few points up at the time but lads shouldn’t have lost focus. Fair play to Doora/Barefield, they kept going and they kept battling, it is a credit to them”.
Evident throughout was Éire Óg’s appetite to go for goals. “We want to score goals in every attack we have but sometimes you can’t. I thought at times we did well but at times we did stupid things with the ball, that is part and parcel of it”.
Panel depth is allowing the champions cope with injuries, the Clare selector maintained. “We have guys with knocks, we’ve had lads with knocks all year, we were missing loads of players, Aaron Fitzgerald, Colm Walsh O’Loghlen, Gavin Cooney, David McNamara and Jarlath Collins but in fairness we have guys that can come in, David Loftus was superb when he came in, Danny Lyne was excellent, two really young fellas, Jack Joyce and Luke Pyne do brilliant any time they come on, Fionan Treacy had a brilliant game in his first senior start, Shane Gleeson came off the bench and has been ripping it up in training, he’s one of the best trainers we have and there’s more guys on the bench too, you want to be able as manager to turn around and use your panel, I’ve no issues with guys not being able to play, it is the guys coming in that I want to do the right thing when they come in, the guys that came in played really well and tried, it wasn’t their fault lads were injured. David Loftus has a big future, Fionan Treacy was brilliant and has been coming on for us this year, Danny Lyne ended up with 1-2, huge impacts and if we have to keep using our panel we will”.
“I could be down three more by the time a semi-final comes, it depends on the next two weeks go, we will work with the medical team and do what is right for the players, we can’t be throwing guys on in a game if they are anyway wrong. We made the call with Davy before the game, we thought he was okay but he felt something so we pulled him straight away”.
