CLARE defender Ikem Uguweru joked recently that it had taken him two weeks to understand what his coach Mark Doran was saying to him in pre-season training.
Longstone native Doran does talk quickly but since the Banner players got over the initial language barrier they’ve learned quickly from him.
On Sunday Clare take the field at Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds (4pm) for their county’s first Munster football final since 2012. It’s a deserved first provincial decider for long-serving manager Colm Collins and in the opposite corner are Kerry, massive favourites obviously as the reigning All-Ireland champions.
Of course it’s a massive task for Clare but the Banner have their shot at glory and a place in the Sam Maguire group stage will follow.
Doran wants his players to give all they have against the Kingdom.
“We’re up against the best team in Ireland,” says the former Down star.
“It’s a brilliant opportunity. You play football for the challenge and there’s no bigger challenge than playing Kerry in a Munster final.
“I want the boys to go out and have a go, I don’t want them sitting back. Clare has waited a long time to get to this stage and these players are an ambitious group, very player-driven and I know they are really looking forward to it. There isn’t a bigger game in Gaelic Football than playing Kerry at the minute.”
Results in Division Two didn’t go Clare’s way. Performances were encouraging but losing by a single point to Dublin Croke Park was typical of their luckless campaign. They were relegated but apart from the Derry game they were competitive in every match and went into their Munster Championship opener against Cork confident of beating the Rebels for the first time in 63 years.
“The boys regrouped well after the League and I’d be lying if I said Cork wasn’t on our agenda from a long way out,” said Doran.
“We learned a lot from playing them in the League and I knew Clare would beat them.”
That one-point win in Ennis set up a semi-final against Limerick and Keelan Sexton’s first half major sent the Bannermen through to Sunday’s final against Jack O’Connor star-studded Kingdom outfit.
“All we can do is get ourselves right for it,” says Doran.
“I don’t think anybody should have fear in football – you get yourself ready for the challenge and you go for it. We hope we have ourselves ready but we’re under no illusions, everybody knows about David Clifford and the talented footballers Kerry have.
“Clare will go and have a cut at it and if they give everything they have and come into the changingroom after the game and say: ‘I gave it all I had’ there’s nothing more you can ask. If that takes you to a place where we cause a massive shock, that’s brilliant, and if it doesn’t, well you have no regrets.”
Doran who was part of Paddy Tally’s management in Down for three years and last season he and Jerome Johnson guided Ballybay to the Monaghan championship crown
Friends asked: “Are you wise?” when he agreed to get involved with Clare this season but Doran is a self-confessed GAA nut and the 12-hour days travelling to and from Ennis for training (a round trip of 460 miles) is time well spent for him.
“I love football,” says highly-rated coach Doran who will switch focus to the Slaughtneil footballers after Clare’s campaign comes to an end.
“I’m delighted for the players and I’m delighted for Colm (Collins) because I’ve seen the work he puts in. I’ve been lucky in football to work with Paddy Tally (part of the Kerry management team these days), Jerome Johnston and PJ McGee who are really good, honest people and that’s something I value. The three years I worked with Paddy were a serious learning period for me and I count him as a friend, but from 4 o’clock to half-five on Sunday we’ll not be friends.
“In a two-horse race you’ve always got a shot but we know it’s a massive ask for us. I just want the Clare players to go out and give a massive performance, something that they can look back on with no regrets. If we give everything and it’s not good enough we’ll dust ourselves down and go again.”
