Cratloe aiming beyond the near miss

In the week where the near miss went up on trail against the heroic effort there may be another key witness in Sunday’s Munster club football final.

Kerry champions Dr Crokes haven’t lost a Munster club match in three years and are aiming for nothing less than victory. Clare champions Cratloe are contesting their first ever Munster club final and will likely be judged on the manner of their defeat. The verdict, in other words, may already be in.

“I suppose a good result for us would be staying with them until the last 10 minutes,” says Cratloe chairman Jack Chaplin. “And a great result would be to win it.”

And yet if what unfolded in the Aviva Stadium last Sunday is anything to go by there is an increasing reluctance to accept the near miss, or indeed the heroic effort; as a source of inspiration, last Sunday’s effort certainly trickled down as far as south east Clare.

"Absolutely," says Chaplin. "And we'd be optimistic about it. At the same time we have to be realistic about the challenge as well. We know what we're up against. But we have to be confident about our own performance. All the lads are taking it very seriously."

Come a long way
What is certain is Cratloe have already come a long way this season, having waited a long time for their first county football title. The club was founded in 1887, the same year as the Clare county board, and contested the first ever county final that year – and lost.

They have always maintained a strong dual status and won a first county hurling title in 2009, before eventually, 126 years later, managing to land that county football title, beating a fancied Doonbeg in the decider earlier this month.

Then, after celebrating that win with a trip to the cryotherapy chamber, Cratloe were out again, less than 24 hours later, in the Munster club semi-final against Waterford champions Ballinacourty.

They beat them handy enough to make their first Munster final, and with that earned the chance to become only the fourth Clare club to win the title outright.

“It has been a bit of a surprise, alright, to progress this far,” says Chaplin.

“Clare’s run to the All-Ireland hurling title was certainly a distraction, and it was difficult to keep the rest of the club matches going on.

“We’d six or seven players on the Clare hurling team all summer and that made it difficult to balance things and made for a bit of a rush in the end.”

Central to their progress has been manager Colm Collins – who will also take charge of the Clare senior footballers for 2014.

Retain the services
Father of forward Seán Collins and also All Star hurling forward Podge, he's also managed to retain the services of several more of Davy Fitzgerald's All-Ireland winning team, including Conor Ryan and Conor McGrath – who also surrendered their trip to Shanghai this week with the hurling All Stars.

McGrath was still in danger of missing Sunday’s game, set for the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick: he received a straight red card late in the semi-final, after scoring 1-2, and would have been a major loss:

“We appealed it, presented video evidence, and he was cleared,” says Chaplin. “That was important and means we are at full strength for Sunday. No injuries, thankfully.”

Dr Crokes are reporting no injuries either, as they go in search of a third successive Munster club title, and for star forward Colm “Gooch” Cooper that still elusive All-Ireland club medal.

Dr Crokes haven’t lost a Munster club championship match since the 2010 final, when they were beaten by Cork giants Nemo Rangers.

The year before that, Clare champions Kilmurry-Ibrickane also faced Kerry opposition, in Kerins O’Rahillys, in the Munster final, and the verdict in advance of that was for a near miss or heroic effort by the Clare club. Instead, they settled for something more and won by a point.