*Kilrush Shamrocks manager Daniel Ryan. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
SEALING A RETURN TO the top tier of the Clare football ranks is the goal for Kilrush Shamrocks, the roll of honour leaders in the senior championship, when they face Kilmihil in Saturday’s intermediate decider.
Daniel Ryan is a Kilrush Shamrocks man through and through. He played all his football with them through juvenile and up to and including senior.
Now in his second season in charge, he took on the task of team manager because he “felt that was something there. Football followers will always associate the club with the five in a row winning team. I played all my football with Kilrush but, unfortunately, we didn’t win a whole lot. In my time we lost two senior finals, both after replays. We lost to Kilkee in 2003 and to the Faughs in 1994”.
According to Daniel, “there have been some serious teams representing the club that never got the rub of the green. Generally, the team that beat Kilrush went on to win the championship. Kilrush and West Clare in general has been hit severely by emigration while a lot go away to college and drift away from the game”.
The team manager believes that “our underage teams playing at A level has been a huge benefit”. Some years ago, Kilrush and neighbours Killimer amalgamated for underage competition and the combination team has contested a number of finals including two at minor A level.
“Last year four came through from the minor A team and they went straight into the heat of battle. There have been three or four again this year and two of these, Tadhg (Lysaght) and Conor (Fennell) are in the starting team. We have a lot of quality young players and we have a good few that are on county development squads”, explained Daniel.
“We set out our stall from the start of the year. Con O’Brien joining the management team was a big addition as was John Keane who is also the club secretary. We have an all Kilrush management team and the lads would know that we have pride and passion in the jersey”.
While Ryan is confident in the ability in his panel he says “There will be nothing easy here. Kilmihil are an experienced team with good people in charge of them. They have been around for a while and they were unlucky last year. Any team that comes down from a higher grade is expected to go straight back up and that brings a lot of pressure”.
The Kilrush manager believes that he is in charge of “a good panel who have a game plan which we try and stick to. We were behind in the early stages of the semi-final but we didn’t panic. We have lads who came off the bench and made a difference. There is a good mix there and they get on well together, there is great character in the team. We are expecting a big following, there is a great buzz around. We are a club with a great tradition and we hope to get the rub of the green and get back up to where we belong”.
Kilrush will be picking from a full panel as Euan Kelly and Ciaran Bermingham have recovered from injury and have returned to training.
