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*Sean Rynne’s second season at senior level will see him carry additional responsibility. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
INAGH/KILNAMONA may be making their first appearance in the championship this weekend but could potentially knock out reigning champions Ballyea.
Ballyea suffered a twelve point defeat at the hands of Kilmaley on Saturday with Inagh/Kilnamona getting a bye in the first round of Group One. A backlash is expected from Ballyea but it is a chance for Inagh/Kilnamona to garner a bit of attention from fellow rivals across the county.
On the back of a lot of success at underage level, Inagh/Kilnamona have come close to capturing the Canon Hamilton trophy on a couple of occasions in recent years, the most recent being in 2021 when they lost out to Ballyea in the final.
They go into this season’s campaign without a couple of players who would have been expected to fill key positions in their starting line up. Kevin Hehir and David Mescall are out for the season with cruciate knee injuries while inter county man Aidan McCarthy isn’t expected to play in the early rounds due to a quad injury which kept him out of the Clare side in the All-Ireland quarter and semi-final games.
Experienced mentor Louis Mulqueen is in his first season in charge of the mid Clare outfit which finished mid table in Division 1A of the Clare Cup. Last year, the Rice College principal guided Blackrock to the Cork senior final while previously he was part of the Clare senior management team with Davy Fitzgerald when Clare won the All-Ireland senior title in 2013.
Muqueen is well versed on what it takes to win a county title having been part of the management set up with St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield when they captured the Canon Hamilton trophy as well as guiding Liam Mellows to win the Galway SHC.
He is not looking past the team’s opening game which is against defending champions Ballyea. “We had a very mixed Clare Cup campaign. The loss of Aidan McCarthy and David Mescall is a big blow”, the Inagh/Kilnamona boss said this week
Mescall delivered a number of impressive performances in the league campaign before suffering a serious knee injury while McCarthy’s quad injury means that two of the team’s main score-getters will be absent when their challenge for championship honours begins.
On the plus side McCarthy’s brother Jason recently returned after a serious leg injury suffered last year. He and current All Star David Fitzgerald are experienced members of the side and followers of the club will be looking to them to lead the charge.
Sean Rynne, Eamonn Foudy and the Guyler brothers, Josh and Keelan are others that Inagh/Kilnamona will be looking to as they chase a winning start to their championship season.
“We are in a very serious group and it’s important that we hit the ground running. We have the title holders Ballyea in the first round then we have the under 21 champions Scariff followed by our neighbours and rivals Kilmaley who gave us a fair trimming in the league and our final game is against my former club St. Joseph’s. At this stage we are not looking past our opening game against Ballyea who are chasing a third title in a row,” Mulqueen told The Clare Echo.
Achieving victory in the opening game is the target of all teams taking part and Inagh/Kilnamona know that all five teams in their will believe that they have what it takes to get to the knock out stages of the competition.
They will have got an indication of the challenges that lay ahead as the other four teams in their group were in action last Saturday in their first round games and no doubt the mid Clare combination has representatives at both of those games.
It remains to be seen if they will have bad time to devise a plan that will see them overcome the defending champions in their opening tie and proceed from there to the knock out stage of the title race.
Inagh/Kiknamona
Management: Louis Mulqueen (Manager/coach) Hugh Paddy Byrne (selector); Joe Ryan (selector) Stephen Cusack (S&C); Shane O’Connell (Physio); Paul McInerney and Brian Vaughan (kitmen)
Captain: TBC
Key Player: David Fitzgerald
One to Watch: Sean Rynne
Fresh Blood: Cathal Ryan, Jamie Wynne
Departure Gate: Kevin Hehir, David Mescall, Eoin Fitzgerald (all ruled out for the season with long term injuries)
Titles won: None
Last season’s run: Lost in quarter final to Éire Óg
Schedule:
Round 1 Bye
Round 2 v Ballyea
Round 3 v Scariff
Round 4 v Kilmaley
Round 5 v St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield
