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*Dermot Coughlan. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
KILMURRY IBRICKANE’s winning know-how gives them an edge for Sunday’s Clare SFC semi-final but nothing but their best will be enough to overcome a high-flying Kildysart.
For the ninth time in eleven seasons, Kilmurry Ibrickane are back at the penultimate stage of the senior championship while Sunday’s opponents Kildysart are at the last four for the first time since 1987.
Big match experience is a slight advantage for the Bricks but whether the past exploits of winning in semi-finals will stand to them is hard to gauge, manager Enda Coughlan felt. “I’m hoping it will stand to us, this is a new group, a new team, a new management, it is a fresh start for everyone, we’ll hopefully have ourselves prepared right for Sunday”.
Preparations appear to have been boosted with Dermot Coughlan expected to feature in the side after receiving scan results for a knee injury. Speaking to The Clare Echo on Tuesday, Enda stated, “I do know there is damage to his knee, we’re waiting on scan results, it will be tight depending on what the scan shows up, we’re hopeful it is not very serious but it could be enough to keep him out of Sunday, we won’t know till later in the week”.
Ian McInerney who also forms part of the management while lining out between the posts is also an injury concern for the West Clare side. “Ian McInerney is struggling from the last day, we’re hopeful everyone else will come through the few weeks, you don’t know in training but they are the main two and they are struggling at the moment”.
In their quarter-final win over Doonbeg, Kilmurry Ibrickane were without Aidan McCarthy who delivered a man of the match display for Inagh/Kilnamona last weekend as they qualified for a first Clare SHC final in five years. “He is an issue with his AC joint so it is about managing that, we’re hopeful he can play some part for us but it is harder to play football with it. He will be training with us this week so we’ll see how he gets on,” Coughlan confirmed.
Surviving a Doonbeg comeback the last day out has identified what Kilmurry Ibrickane need to work on for their first semi-final since 2024. “We’ve put in a good week and we’ve another few days to go, we’re trying to tidy up a few things, you can always improve after every game, we do a lot of video work and see a lot of errors that we make so it is improving on that and hopefully fixing what went wrong the last day in taking our chances if we can create them”.
Four wins from four outings has led them to the semi-finals but the feeling among Enda, his management and squad is that they can produce much better displays than what has been evident. “The four teams in the semi-finals all have a lot of games behind them, both semi-finals should be tough, we’ve seen a good bit of Kildysart and they are unbeaten in the championship, they have put up big scores in the last two games so we’re under no doubt it will be a tight game like all of the games this year”.
Across the group stages, Kilmurry Ibrickane conceded fourteen two pointers, they had earmarked this as an area to tackle, they did but still allowed Doonbeg raise three orange flags a fortnight ago. Kildysart have developed a reputation for their prowess at kicking two pointers with Emmet McMahon kicking six alone in their quarter-final win over Lissycasey.
Continuing to clamp down on the concession of orange flags is part of the focus for the Bricks. “That is another thing we’ve been working on, I think we did better on it the last day in fairness but we’ve plenty of work still to be done, if you give their two to three forwards the space they can really punish you from distance, it is something we’ve to work and hopefully we have but it is hard to work on because we don’t know the weather on Sunday could change everything, there could be a big wind which would change the way you play and defend, we’ll try work hard during the week, see what the weather is like and what the weather throws up”.
