*Clare football manager, Mark Fitzgerald. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
IMPROVEMENT is evident among Clare’s senior football side this season but this progress needs to become more consistent, manager Mark Fitzgerald has said.
From five outings in the National Football League, Clare have four wins to their name, the latest coming in Mick Neville Park, Rathkeale on Saturday when they overcame neighbours Limerick 1-16 0-14.
Clare had led by nine points at half-time but had to withstand a strong fightback from Limerick who currently are in search of a first win in Division 3. “We knew Limerick were going to come at us but we just didn’t come out at all for the first ten or fifteen minutes of the second half, Limerick pinned us in at that stage and we weren’t doing ourselves any favours but it was a hard fought win in the end, it was good character shown by the lads in the second half, Limerick threw everything at us,” Fitzgerald said of Clare’s second half.
At one spell during the third quarter, Clare were outscored 0-8 0-1 with Manus Doherty fisting over the ball for their only contribution to the scoreboard in this period. “They squeezed the kickout and there was a bit of a breeze there but there’s lots of that that you would be unhappy with, we ran into traps and silly stuff, it is the experience and to learn from it, we’re fortunate to be getting out on the right side of these mistakes we’re making”.
He continued, “In the second half with Manus Doherty chipped in with two points which eased the pressure, we started to turn them over and get some success over the pitch, we knew it was going to be backs to the wall for Limerick, it is a local derby, we knew there was never going to be much in it”.
“Inexperience” has been mentioned by the Tralee man in every post-match interview of the NFL this year. It is still rearing its head, Mark maintained, “One of the lads tried to do shoot with the outside of the boot with five or six minutes to go, it was bonkers and we have to learn from that stuff, we’re showing lots of good character and good effort, it will get you a long way”.
Along with the “inexperience”, Fitzgerald has repeatedly spoke of the need for improvements and it was no different after seeing off the side he managed last season. “We’re improving game to game but you need to improve the consistency of the improvements as well, from that point of view we’re getting good at a lot of things but we still have a lot of work to do, we’re very happy with where we’re at”.
Promotion remains a live possibility for Clare. “We need to welcome Antrim to Cusack Park in two weeks time and look after that, all we want to do is take it into the last day and see where that goes”.
