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*Mark McInerney takes on Joey Rouine. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
ÉIRE ÓG have begun preparations for a third Clare SFC final in four years but manager Paul Madden is quick to point out they have won nothing yet.
A fourteen point win over Ennistymon in a truly forgettable semi-final sealed Éire Óg’s return back to the county final, the Townies lost out on a penalty shootout to Cratloe at the same stage last year so they were determined not to fall short this time round.
Two-time Clare SFC winning Éire Óg manager, Paul Madden said, “There’s never a guarantee you’re going to be in a county final any year, last year we were beaten on the day and it was our own fault and well done to Cratloe who went on to win the county final so good luck to them”.
With this in mind, the Ennis side were primed not to give Ennistymon an inch which they demonstrated early on by scoring 1-1 inside the opening 132 seconds of the game. “We felt coming into today that we couldn’t take any chances, we had to be absolutely ruthless where we could be and we had to outwork Ennistymon because we knew the mantra they would come with, the core of what we talk about is hard work and if you get that right first you can take it on from there, so we’re pleased to be in a county final but we’ve nothing achieved”.
Madden told The Clare Echo, “We won the throw-in and got a great score from it, then Éinne O’Connor did a typical Éinne O’Connor move to cut in and get a goal, it was nervy for a while, it was very deliberate and semi-finals people are trying not to lose them, it was very cagey, we were very cross at half time that we didn’t move the ball quicker, it’s hard to break down a blocked defence like that but that being said we did a lot of good things so we would be happy with that, the good start was a good help”.
Ennistymon were satisfied not to try penetrate the Éire Óg defence and Madden was annoyed that they failed to score for twenty three minutes. “I thought we played into that, I wasn’t happy with that, we’ll see that back with the video and we played into the style the way the game was going rather than imposing ourselves, so long as we were ahead on the scoreboard at the end of the sixty three minutes we were going to be happy”.
He maintained the poor spectacle did not take away from their win. “If it was 0-1 0-0 as long we had the point and they were nil I didn’t care and if there was nobody here watching only us that’s all it was about”.
From the bench, Madden and his management called on Gavin Murray, Luke Pyne, Philip Talty, Aidan McGrath, Dean Ryan and Philip Talty all eager to make an impression. “The one thing I did say to the lads beforehand which I’m a stickler on is that there can’t be any ego in the dressing room, no team is about individuals, we have good individuals but they have to be able to play for the team, every day you bring lads on you want them to finish stronger than the lads on before them, our subs were very good when they came on”.
“There’s a challenge in managing that too because you want lads to be fully understanding of their role in the group and there’s lads that don’t get games, we highlighted them in the dressing room beforehand they are the reason we are playing in big games because they are driving us in training but they don’t get the credit the lads that play get, at the end of the day it was all about getting to the next game and it will be some battle in two weeks”.
Éinne O’Connor’s return to the starting fifteen prompted ex Clare defender Dean Ryan to miss out. Madden confirmed this was not an injury related move. “Dean Ryan didn’t start today, he started all our other games and has been very good, Éinne O’Connor started today and was also good, it was just a case of making a change”.
