Dan McInerney, one of Ireland's chief building moguls, would swap most, if not all of his power for the honour which the Clare hurling team heaped upon themselves at Croke Park yesterday. McInerney wore the Clare shirt between 1946 and 1955 and never experienced the kind of rapture which his Clare people experienced yesterday.
In company with Jimmy Smyth he was sitting down to dinner with the Clare team in the Alexandra Hotel in Dublin last night but was dewy-eyed as he recalled the days when he represented Clare, albeit unsuccessfully in several Munster championships, the most heartbreaking of all the defeat by Limerick in 1955.
Now content to look upon Clare's unexpected success he can smile and agree that all the Clare players who took part in his own time have contributed to what has been achieved, culminating in yesterday's defeat of Tipperary in what will always go down in the annals of hurling, as an historic game between two Munster teams.
McInerney identifies the quality of management and preparation as the crucial factors in Clare's recent and unexpected success. "When I was playing I think that we always needed two or three extra players of good quality to bring us up to the standards that were being set by Cork and Tipperary," he said. "Nowadays you need about 20 in the squad of hurlers and fitness is a crucial factor.
"What has been achieved by Ger Loughnane in the last few years has, quite honestly, been beyond belief. I would love to be 20years-old again today and be part of all that he has achieved. The game has changed quite dramatically. "Fitness is now such an important factor; but fitness also brings about an increase in the skills of the game.
"Basically hurling is a skilful game; but the more fit you are the more skilful you will become."
He admitted that television coverage of hurling had brought about a new interest in the game. "My son-in-law who is in the US Airforce saw a hurling match a couple of months ago and he is now hooked on the game and he insists on getting all the videos of all the matches," he said. "What I would like to see now would be the introduction of a programme for refereeing teams - in other words referees, linesmen and umpires, all acting together and trained together to understand the rules of the game." McInerney won a Fitzgibbon Cup medal in 1943, with UCC and a national league medal with Clare in 1946; but after beating Cork and Tipperary in the Munster championship of 1955, he was on the Clare team which was beaten in the famous (or in his view infamous) Munster final of 1955.
Meath football star Graham Geraghty was sensationally sent off while assisting his club Seneschalstown in yesterday evening's SFC play-off against Walterstown in Navan. Geraghty was dismissed by referee Joe Harlin eight minutes into the second half after swinging a wild kick at an opponent. Seneschelstown overcame the setback to win by 1-14 to 0-8 to earn a quarter-final place against Simonstown next Sunday with their other countyman, Colm Coyle, in top form. However, they could be without Geraghty, who served a two-month suspension after last year's All Ireland final against Mayo.
