*Tulla intermediate hurling manager, Jim McInerney. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
TULLA’s defeat in the Clare IHC final must act as a learning curve if the club are to bounce back, manager Jim McInerney has stated.
Extra time and the margin of five points was the difference as Tulla lost out to St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield to see Tom Hannan take the Paddy Browne Cup and push The Parish back to the senior ranks.
Up by a single point at half-time, Tulla also regained a two point advantage on forty four minutes when Niall Bolton’s ground strike rifled the net. Points from substitutes William Halpin and Andrew Conheady gave them one point cushions again in the closing moments but Doora/Barefield replied on each occasion to force extra time.
Reflecting back on the contest, Jim McInerney rued the missed chances they had in normal time. “I think we had a lot of missed chances in the normal game, we missed a penalty and seven or eight great scoring chances which were points that would have made a huge difference if we were to have got them, it was something we were conscious of coming into the game, we worked hard on it but we just didn’t get it right on the day. We fought hard and right till the end, there was only a puck of the ball in it for a lot of extra time here”.
Prior to the final, Tulla had started poorly in games but finished strongly, it was the opposite in the final as while they hit the opening two points of the affair, it was St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield that found an extra gear when the match progressed. “I thought we started well and hurled good all the way through but you have to show your dominance on the board when you have it but we didn’t do that and I think we paid the price for that”.
Failing to convert a penalty on twenty four minutes also proved costly, the 1995 All-Ireland winner with Clare maintained. “We missed a penalty which was a big let off, that’s sport and that’s the way it is, Sean Withycombe had a great game outside of it but these things happen”.
From their substitutes Tulla yielded 0-02 with Doora/Barefield getting treble this. Nonetheless, McInerney was happy with the impact from the line, “I thought our subs made a huge contribution when they came in, we changed it up and it worked for us but it just wasn’t good enough on the day”.
In order to return to the senior ranks, Tulla must learn from the 2022 county final defeat. “It was a huge learning curve for a lot of these guys, they now know what it takes to win an intermediate championship, I would expect that they would respond to that and work harder again next year to try get back to the final next year, we have a lot of young players, five of the starting team are U21, it’s a huge learning curve for them”.
