24-turnaround for Clare football champions illustrates fixture pressure

Scheduling a club to play two championship matches in 24 hours is hardly ideal, but when it came to the football teams of Cratloe and Doonbeg there was simply no room left for manoeuvre.

This Saturday afternoon, at 2.30pm, Cratloe will look to win a first Clare senior football title when they take on Doonbeg – the champions of three years ago. Whoever wins won’t have much time to celebrate as at 2pm on Sunday they’re down to play Waterford champions Ballinacourty in the Munster club semi-final.

The Clare champions will have home advantage – at either Doonbeg or Cusack Park – although there is also the possibility the game will end in a draw (even with extra-time allocated): in that scenario, the provincial semi-final might have to be postponed .

This situation once again illustrates the increasingly frantic conclusion of certain county championships: ironically, Clare’s All-Ireland hurling final replay actually contributed to the backlog of football fixtures, given several members of that team are involved with dual clubs.

With the Munster football final not scheduled for a fortnight later, December 1st, there was room to put the provincial game back a week, even if that risked a further delay in fixtures should any replays be required: however, such was the haste to finish the Clare championship that formulating a provincial postponement was near impossible.

Impossible
"No official request came in," said Munster Council press officer Ed Donnelly. "I understand Clare did have some discussions themselves, looking to potentially move things back a week, but at that stage there were still so many parties involved it was impossible to get agreement.

“The Waterford and Limerick champions (who played off last Sunday week) were still in it at that stage too.

“The Munster Council has been open to such requests in the past, but the issue here is that the exact two teams involved weren’t known until last Saturday, after the second of the semi-finals.

“In my experience if these requests are to be considered then the sooner they’re submitted the better.”

So, assuming Clare does produce its football champions on Saturday afternoon, the Munster Council is still not certain where the semi-final will be played – other than it will be a Clare venue:

"From a Munster Council perspective it's not ideal, as we won't know until Saturday afternoon where exactly the semi-final will be played," Donnelly noted. "But it is a Clare venue, so effectively an either-or scenario."

Big issue
Neither Cratloe nor Doonbeg have made any big issue out of the scheduling; indeed All-Ireland hurling winning wing back Brendan Bugler, who plays club football with Cratloe, reckons the demanding schedule "can actually be an advantage".

Bugler hasn’t actually played for Cratloe on route to the final, as he’s been concentrating on his club hurling, with Whitegate: Bugler captained them to the Clare intermediate tile but they lost out in the Munster championship last weekend, opening up the chance for him to play with Cratloe on Sunday.

“It’s been hard enough, games week in, week out,” Bugler told RTÉ sport, “but that’s just the way it is. Sometimes it can actually be an advantage, having the game the day after, because you can still be on a high after winning the county title, and you wouldn’t have too much time to celebrate.

“Some people might think it can be a disadvantage, with fatigue, but if you win a county final you’re going to be on cloud nine, so why not carry it forward until the following day? Whoever does come out, I think, will be fine on Sunday.”

Doonbeg boast arguably the best footballer in the county in David Tubridy, but Cratloe have been making steady progress under Colm Collins, father of hurling star “Podge” Collins, and last month ratified as the new Clare football manager, to succeed Mick O’Dwyer.