Clare continue their steady ascent up the football ladder

The result of the weekend came in Division Two of the football league with Clare's first win against Cork in top-level competition since the championship of 1997.

Back then Martin Daly slalomed through the red shirts in injury-time before sliding the ball into the net for a 1-14 to 1-13 victory in the Munster semi-final.

Sunday was easier on the nerves, as a powerful second-half display propelled the home side to an impressive eight-point victory, which places them level with Galway on five points behind leaders Kildare – who Clare beat in last year's Division Three final.

Manager Colm Collins has overseen life on the escalator since taking over in the 2014 season when Clare were in Division Four. Two promotions in three years now leave the county tussling for another promotion rather than just hanging on to their elevated status.

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Reviewing the weekend, he points out soberly that the counties wouldn’t have played that much in the past 20 years apart from championship, as they were so rarely in each other’s company during the league. Nonetheless Clare are now three places ahead of Cork in the table.

He says that he wasn’t intimidated looking at the division before the season got started.

“I knew looking at it that it would be hard to predict and that no team was going to run away with the division. What we’ve been trying to do is just look at each game and how best we can get the most out of it and see where that takes us.”

Best players

Neither have Clare been tempted to narrow the selection to their best players simply to hold on to a place in the division.

“You have to bring young fellas in and give them game time – hopefully gradually, maybe if a game is gone from you or if you have it won.

“The key thing is not to put them under pressure. You have to let them get into the team and find their feet. The most important thing that we’ve been focusing on has been improvement. We’re always asking ourselves how we could do this better.

“That’s the only way you can approach it. It’s alright to have big, grand plans for winning this and winning that but I honestly feel that has to be broken down and the only way of doing it is day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute. That’s the only way you’ll ever improve.”

Defeating Cork was all the more impressive in that a number of the players – most significantly team captain, Ireland international and All Star nominee Gary Brennan – are currently concentrating on St Patrick's Day with county hurling champions Ballyea, who face Cuala in the All-Ireland club final.

“The thing about a team,” says Collins, “is that if you’re dependent on one or two players and something happens to them you’re not really a team, are you? So it was really pleasing yesterday that we were down a couple of players from Ballyea and a couple injured, and we still put together a good display and got the points. We do have 25 – maybe more – players who can do it at the highest level.”

Having risen up the league standings – and broken new ground in last year’s championship by reaching the All-Ireland quarter-finals for the first time – and held their own as they went, Collins says that the players have grown in the face of increasing challenges.

“When you get wins against teams that are perceived to be better than you that’s really good for confidence.”