*Kildysart’s Liam Casey. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
KILDYSART “are following the plan” having secured their place in a first Clare SFC semi-final for the first time in thirty nine years.
Having led by ten points against Lissycasey at half time, Kildysart had to come from behind with Luke McGrath’s last gasp two pointer seeing them advance to the semi-finals.
Captain McGrath has had a difficult year off the field with manager Niall Ginnane noting that his late father Mickey was watching down proudly as Luke landed the winner. “If he is to wear the captain’s boots he showed why he is captain today, Mickey would be extremely proud and he should be, he is a real leader, he steps up for the two pointers at his leisure, I was looking at him taking that one and I was thinking it was high risk but fair play to him, he had the liathróidí to take it on and secure it”.
Throughout the quarter-final, Kildysart kicked eight two pointers, six of which came from the boot of Emmet McMahon. “We were struggling a bit in the first half, our front three were starved of the ball but the middle eight was really busy with a lot of traffic and it was hard to break through it, we were drawing fouls and getting frees, Emmet of course was punishing them every chance he got so fair play to him,” Niall said.
Leading 0-14 0-4 at half time, Kildysart began to struggle on their own kickout in the second half as Lissycasey chipped away at the lead, even taking the front on sixty minutes. “We were struggling but again we had a huge impact off the bench, we brought in Conor Moloney and he gave us more altitude in the half-back line, it was always going to swing, to and fro, if you break fifty fifty on the kickouts on a day like this then you’re doing well, we have been used to getting a few more but fair play to Lissycasey, they scrapped in the air and on the ground, they went at us toe to toe, every chance they got they went at us in twos and threes, I’m delighted with our lads, they are really playing to the sixty third minute, they don’t know how to lose”.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Ginnane admitted the overriding feeling was one of pride at watching his charges show their ability. “We’ve been playing to the sixty third or sixty fifth minute and we did it again today, there was no panic, we got the ball and fair play to Luke (McGrath) he stepped up and smashed the two pointer over the bar which was the cherry on the top, it was what we needed”.
“It is huge, we set targets for ourselves at the start of the year, we are following the plan, we’re happy with how things are going, we’re delighted with the crowd that come to follow us, they are excellent. We must give a shout-out to our newest member of our squad, Conall Flanagan, his father Ian and mother Patty had a baby today so Ian wasn’t with us, a big shout out to the newest member of our squad”.
