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*Peter Cosgrove with Éire Óg manager Paul Madden and former trainer Seanie Buckley. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
ÉIRE ÓG cannot afford to look beyond the challenge of Limerick champions Adare when they do battle in the Munster senior club football quarter-final.
Heading into this weekend’s opening game in the Munster club senior football championship, there is a belief amongst Éire Óg and Clare followers that the Ennis club is well positioned to achieve success in this prestigious competition.
It’s the third time in four years that Éire Óg will carry Clare hopes in the competition. In 2021 they lost to St Finbarrs from Cork (0-12 to 2-14) in the semi-final after a first round win over Loughmore Castleiney (2-11 to 0-12).
Twelve months later they bowed out to Kerry’s Kerins O Rahillys (1-8 to 1-9) at the penulimtate stage after a first round win over The Nire from Waterford (3-11 to 0-5).
Man of the match in their Clare SFC win over Kilmurry Ibrickane, Colm Walsh O’Loghlen will be unavailable for the quarter-final as he is currently in Australia. Corner back Ronan Lanigan is a major injury doubt, the Clare defender was in a protective boot following their county final win while Éinne O’Connor’s fitness is also under question, he went off injured with a calf injury at half time in the county final.
“We are not looking past Adare. It has to be one game at a time. The day you look past the next game, you get tripped up. Our full focus is on Adare on Sunday”, Éire Óg selector Peter Cosgrove told The Clare Echo.
Former Clare midfielder Cosgrove added, “Last year everyone else looked ahead. We will concentrate on the task at hand. Adare are a good team. We saw them last weekend. If we manage to get over them we will then look at the next game”.
Adare’s experience cannot be discounted, he said. “In Munster you are playing champions from one of the other counties. They will all have the same approach and they will go into the Munster competition saying we will give this a rattle. We are no different. Adare will be looking at having a go. They are an experienced team. They have played in something like five county titles in a row. Its only forty minutes up the road to Ennis for Adare and that is not a big ordeal for them. They know what it takes to win and they will bring all that experience with them on Sunday”.
As the Clare champions put the finishing touches to preparations, Cosgrove said they “won’t know until Thursday or Friday what the exact position is. We got together midweek and we had a good training session on Saturday,” he outlined.
“The target is to win our next game and if we get over that then we will start looking at the semi-final. Adare are Limerick champions on merit. They have been knocking on the door for a while and they will see this as a huge opportunity so we have to focus on the challenge they will bring,” the Clare SFC winner of 2006 concluded.
