*Liam Clune. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
MATURITY has been central to St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield reaching a first Clare SFC semi-final in thirteen years.
Manager Donagh Vaughan oversaw his charges record a shock one point win over Kilmurry Ibrickane in the quarter-finals to tee up a semi-final showdown with Cratloe this Sunday.
Remarkably they’ve made the last four by winning one game, that quarter-final tie having drew with Kildysart in the group stages and lost out to Éire Óg and Cratloe.
A month window between round three and the quarter-finals was used well, Vaughan felt. “Last month we really went back to the drawing board and worked really hard trying to correct a few things we weren’t happy with and areas of our play, we made some positional switches around the field, we worked very hard over the last month, we played a good challenge against a Laois team and thank God we got over the line”.
“Onwards and upwards” is the view of Vaughan as he looks ahead to a repeat clash with Cratloe.
Setbacks in the opening half against Kilmurry Ibrickane included a disallowed Tom McDonald goal and losing key man Fionn Kelleher to injury but The Parish kept their composure. “Being honest about it, we forgot about the goal, it possibly was a square ball, at the end of the day Kilmurry Ibrickane were dominating and their half back line was causing us serious trouble, Dermot (Coughlan) was coming late and Darragh Sexton was coming late, Dermot kicked a few two pointers and that was our serious problem area at half time but we regathered and refocused, we did some small positional changes and we got going fairly quick in the second half, thank God we got over the line”.
Although they were the underdogs against the Bricks, there was a confidence within the Doora/Barefield squad that they could advance at Kilmurry Ibrickane’s expense. “They are a super bunch, they work so hard, they work really hard, the group we were in was a very tough group, I know people were saying we only came out with one point but it didn’t matter because the third place team was going to come through and now we’re in a semi-final, it is all about getting out of your group, I think we showed a lot of maturity, we’ve been messing around the quarter-finals for a lot of years and haven’t got over the line, today I think the team matured and we got over the line but all it has done is get us to a semi-final”.
In their corner for the game was selector, Michael O’Dwyer himself a nine-time Clare SFC winner with Kilmurry Ibrickane. “We’ve a great backroom team. Michael O’Dwyer has nine county titles, he is a man you will listen to, we’re very happy to have him and he is a great addition”.
A focus on two pointers worked out for Doora/Barefield with Joe Rafferty and Michael Nash landing big scores from play along with converted two pointer frees from Paddy Bugler. “We have two pointer shooters but we just weren’t getting them into position to shoot in the first half, we said we’d go at it one hundred percent and try get our shooters in position, thank God we got a few over the line, that is what came down to”.
