*Eibhear Quilligan and Shane McGrath celebrate in the dressing room. Photograph: Ruth Griffin.
STAR MAN on Feakle’s march to a first Clare SHC title since 1988, Shane McGrath said they brought incredible energy as they claimed the club’s seventh senior championship on Bank Holiday Monday.
McGrath hit eight points over the hour as Feakle ran out 1-17 0-13 winners against Sixmilebridge. He had already won the MD MyClubShop.ie/The Clare Echo top scorer award before a sliotar was pucked in the final but his display cemented the fact that the accolade was heading home with Shane.
Attempting to reflect on their success, Shane commented, “It is unbelievable. Hard to put it into words. We’d talked about it for a while and dreamt about it as Oisin (Donnellan) said it. To actually do it so sweet. I can’t remember too much about the game. I didn’t know the score. I don’t think anyone was even asking the score. It was just keeping doing what we’re doing. The performance was incredible”.
On Monday, Feakle brought their workrate to another level and were by far the hungrier and more determined of the two sides. “Oisin Clune was playing at corner back. He said at half-time he’d never seen so much work rate out the field. The energy was incredible and we’ve had it all year with lads coming off the bench. Owen McGann came on got such an important goal. It gave us the confidence to drive on. When the legs start to get tired, having lads like Raymond, McGann, Fiachra, Enda Madden, Fiachra, it’s huge”.
Knowing that Seadna Morey was going to be marking him, Shane admitted that he didn’t expect to make much of a contribution on the scoring stakes. “I knew myself I wasn’t going to be lighting up the scoreboard much when you’ve a lad like Seadna Morey on you. You just have to try and get on as much ball as you can and free up space for someone else to get the score. We’ve said all year it doesn’t matter who gets the scores. It doesn’t matter where they come from if we get enough of them. Thankfully today we did”.
There was also a sense of composure from Feakle which ensured they were ready for everything Sixmilebridge threw at them. “We said at half time. They’re too good a team not to get a purple patch. There was going to be a stage where they’d score three or four points in a row. The big thing was no panic. Thankfully it’s easier if they get their purple patch when you’re six or seven points up. If they get their purple patch then, you have that little bit of leeway to work with. But there was no panic. We kept tipping away. To keep a team like that to 12 points is unreal and it just shows the work rate all over the field”.
His penalty on the twenty third minute saw Derek Fahy make a tremendous save, The Bridge replied with the next two scores to cut the deficit to two points but crucially Feakle held a two point advantage at half time following scores from Patrick Daly and Steven Conway. “I thought I struck [the penalty] well. It was maybe not the best height. It was probably a decent height for him but he’s a top class goalkeeper so it’s going to have to be something very good to beat him. I think I’m zero from two in this year’s championship in penalties so that’s something to work on,” Shane quipped.
Unity of the Feakle panel has been central to their breakthrough, the co-owner of East Clare Fitness outlined. “You’re beating the team that’s been the benchmark for the last 10 years. A lot of this is very new to us. You have the lead up to it and next thing the match is called off and there’s another week. But lads handled it so well. There was never any tension or lads getting uptight. Training was just brilliant craic for the last three weeks and lads were enjoying themselves. The big thing for us was that we actually enjoy training. There’s 30 lads there and we all get on so well and we enjoy training and we have the craic. It makes it a lot easier.
“I thought the build up to it went really well and to put in a performance like that at the end of it just special,” the thirty one year old concluded.
