*Clare’s David Reidy. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
PROVING your worth in training has been the mindset of David Reidy as he regained his starting jersey on the Clare senior hurling team.
In the aftermath of Clare’s disappointing six point loss to Limerick in the Munster SHC final, one of the big talking points was the omission of Éire Óg’s Reidy from the first fifteen.
He was restored to the Clare team in the middle third for their twelve point win over Wexford in the All-Ireland SHC quarter final and produced a fine display, racking up sixteen possessions over the course of the game and scoring three points.
Players must prove their worth to get selected, the Ennis native stressed. “We have a panel of forty one, with twenty six on the match day panel. Every time we go to training every one of the forty one players think they’re good enough to be on the match day panel and on the fifteen that will start. That’s where the unity comes in. We all think we are good enough and we have to prove that in training and every time we put on the Clare jersey we have to prove that”.
Reidy was one of Clare’s top performers as they advanced to the All-Ireland semi-finals for the third year running. Speaking to The Clare Echo following the Wexford win, he commented, “this was always going to be a dangerous game and both teams had a lot to lose. We all had a focus, its knock out from here on. We were disappointed two weeks ago but we had to learn from that, get key lessons from it and, luckily, we performed well today.
“Every game takes on a life of its own. We will have to prepare as best we can for the semi-final and we must look at the last two times we played them. The two teams have a lot to lose as one will be gone out of the championship and it’s a long winter until next summer comes around,” he added.
