*Clare captain, Cillian Brennan under pressure from Dara Moynihan. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
CLARE’s senior footballers are determined to bounce back quickly from the disappointment of losing the Munster final for the All-Ireland series, team captain Cillian Brennan has said.
Cusack Park hosted a Munster senior football final for the first time when Clare hosted Kerry on Sunday. Clare travelled to their home ground “to try and win this game so naturally we are disappointed”, Cillian commented as he signed autographs for hundreds of young Clare fans shortly after the final whistle.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, the Ballyea man said, “There were some phenomenal performances across the group and if a couple of breaks went our way it could have been a different outcome maybe. Look we are disappointed to concede twenty three points. There are things to take for two weeks time when we will be back here again”.
Cillian has followed in the footsteps of his brother Gary in captaining the county senior side while his brother Shane also lined out for Clare for many years.
Goal chances were created by Clare but apart from Ikem Ugwueru’s late goal, they were not taken. “There was some great running and some great carrying by the likes of Dermot (Coughlan) and Ikem (Ugwueru) and great defending from Manus (Doherty). We knew we could punish them and it’s something to take for two weeks time, we can hurt teams if we run at them in numbers. It’s a pity some of these breaks didn’t go our way but we will go again”.
Cork in Cusack Park will be Clare’s first opponents for the All-Ireland series. Brennan is hoping “to see another big crowd here in two weeks time. It’s great for young boys and girls to be looking at this and seeing Clare football with a crowd like this in the park. It’s for them to aspire to this and go out and contribute in a few years time”.
He continued, “it’s important that we continue competing at this level. We will be back in the gym on Tuesday and on the field on Wednesday, the usual schedule as we prepare for the next test. We know Cork ran Kerry very close and they will have big ambitions looking into the summer, we know we have to bring the performance we had today. Consistency is something we didn’t have across the years. It’s up to us now to push it for the next two weeks and to compete again”.
There is a strong sense of pride within the Clare panel, the full-back outlined. “These lads want to represent the Clare jersey, there is huge pride in Clare football and these lads want to drive the standard to as high a level as possible. build on what has been there for the last number of years. We were disappointed not to get up from Division 3 and it’s on us now to put ourselves up against the top 16 teams and see where we are over the next few weeks”.
