RONAN Donnelly would have paid money to watch it. It was one of those nowhere-to-hide training drills - the kind of which that had the McQuillan's Ballycastle manager purring.
One-on-one. One player defends, one player attacks. Donnelly lined out two rows of cones parallel to one another.
"We paired Saul [McCaughan] and Ciaran Clarke," said Donnelly.
"They’re two forwards but the two of them are that good I could throw them in at corner-back any day.
“You would have paid money to watch this particular drill. Saul is a serious operator too. There was no hiding place, it was one-on-one. I don’t think there was a goal scored between either of them. It was at a completely different level from what I’ve seen in a long time.”
No matter what angle you view him from Ciaran Clarke is a special hurler. You’ll have to search hard to find a flaw in the Ballycastle man’s make-up.
“A Division One hurler,” Donnelly calls him, “practically unmarkable. You know he’s going to score – you just have to try and limit what he scores.”
It’s difficult to overplay Clarke’s value to the Antrim effort this year.
In a nutshell, the Antrim hurlers wouldn’t be playing at Croke Park today without his contribution.
His scoring stats are truly eye-watering.
He’s bagged 2-33 in Antrim’s three Christy Ring games. That’s more than half of the team’s overall tally and he was man-of-the-match in each of those wins over Kildare, Roscommon and Down.
When Antrim were trying to tame Roscommon in Dunloy Clarke’s awareness and astute pass enabled Nigel Elliott to raise a green flag and win the game for the home side.
When they were in dire need of inspiration against Down Clarke stood up.
He hit 16 pressure frees and executed a clever hand-pass for Conor Carson to grab the all-important goal that ignited Antrim’s second-half comeback.
The following day he was wearing club colours, braving the hailstones in Portaferry, hitting 1-6 and laying two goals on a plate for Jimmy McLister.
He’s the ultimate team player.
“The best thing about Clarkey is he’s so grounded and modest the whole time,” says club and county team-mate Neal McAuley.
“I watched him at first hand since he was 12 or 13. He would get the ball and do what he wanted. He could have six or seven players around him and he would bang it into the top corner.
“Up until minor, he would do that several times in every game. You knew he was a massive talent; it was just a question of whether he would develop into a match-winning talent at senior level.
“It’s great to see him developing because there are so many players with great ability at a young age but don’t step up. You see 10 players like that and only two of them actually push on.
“He’s so smart, so incredibly intelligent that he’s always a step ahead. He has so much confidence in his own ability. His touch is unbelievable and he works at the weaknesses in his game.”
Growing up his heroes were DJ Carey, Ken McGrath, Dan Shanahan and Diarmuid O’Sullivan.
His father Robin won an All-Ireland Club title with Loughgiel Shamrocks in 1983.
Clarke jr won a couple of All-Ireland B titles back-to-back under the guidance of Oran Kearney and Joe Cassidy at Cross & Passion College, Ballycastle
In his late teens, he decided to switch codes.
A keen soccer player, Clarke played underage for Lisburn Youth before following his former school-teacher and mentor Oran Kearney to Irish League clubs Limavady United and Coleraine.
“I played for Coleraine for two years and there was one year I had to completely quit the hurling to concentrate on the soccer,” Clarke says. “People watch the Irish League and probably wouldn’t appreciate how competitive and physical it is and how quick the game is.”
The 23-year-old adds: “I learned an awful lot off Oran Kearney. I learned how to play football at Irish League level, and it’s something I could always go back to in the future.
“After the second year with Coleraine I landed back to the hurling because I missed it. I couldn’t really do both so it was one or the other. I think I always wanted to hurl; I enjoyed it more but I wanted to see how far I could go with my soccer career.”
A flying winger in Kearney’s teams, Clarke had a couple of trials with Tranmere Rovers.
“But nothing came of them,” he says. “I think that happens to most people when they go for trials.”
Father and son are mad Everton supporters and they try to get over to Goodison Park at least once every season.
He played three years apiece with the county minors and U21s and he's now in his fifth year with the Antrim seniors.
Before the wheels came off in Antrim’s NHL campaign earlier this year, Clarke and Saul McCaughan put on a devastating show on home soil against Kildare.
McCaughan hit 2-1. Clarke hit 1-9. They were a joy to watch.
The latter ended a desperately disappointing League campaign as the team’s top scorer (1-25).
“After the soccer, it took Clarkey those couple of years to get himself back to the level he’s at now,” says Donnelly.
“In saying that, he’s been very, very good for us over the last couple of years. I certainly wouldn’t like to be marking him.
“But this year he has really fulfilled that potential that we knew he had at underage. He’s physically harder and stronger. He does serious, serious work in the gym. He’s as solid as a cub you’d get about the place, and he brings everything else – the speed, the stick-work and the accuracy and it’s all coming together this season.
“His touch is first class," Donnelly adds. "I’m preaching to our players at senior level: you watch any of the top teams – the Dublins, the Clares, the Waterfords and their first touch is absolutely critical.
“Now I’d prefer players to get their hand to it first but Clarkey can do it either way. He just kills the ball dead. He’s one of the best in the country at it at the minute.
“If you can get that ball into your hand as quickly as possible you’re gone - and with the blistering pace Clarkey has, he’s gone.”
Ask any of Clarke’s team-mates and they will hail his pace and accuracy – but what they celebrate most is the corner-forward's work-rate.
“That’s the thing that press reports haven't mentioned a lot,” says Conor Carson. “Clarkey’s work-rate is absolutely immense.”
Donnelly says: “A lot of forwards do token tackling but Clarkey, as a forward, is dynamite. As a defender, when he’s trying to hold an opposition defender up, he’s fantastic at it.”
In the immediate aftermath of Antrim’s semi-final win over Down, half-back Simon McCrory echoed a similar sentiment.
“The work he does off the ball – not just his scores – makes it a hell of a lot easier when you’re coming out of defence,” said the St John’s man.
“He makes space for other people. I believe he’s as good as any other forward in the country. He’s first class and we’re very, very lucky to have him on our team.”
Clarke has played at Croke Park once before. He was part of the St Patrick’s & St Brigid’s Ballycastle P7 blitz team that played at half-time of a Kilkenny-Cork match more than 13 years ago.
“I never touched the ball once,” Clarke smiles.
The unassuming Ballycastle marksman returns to the field of dreams today. The sirens are already sounding in Meath.
