Clare were going nowhere quickly when Colm Collins took over in 2014, one win in the championship - against Limerick in 2012 - in the previous five seasons summing up their difficulties. They were a Division Four team to boot.
Now, 32 championship outings later and settled in Division Two, Clare have added an impressive 16 more summer time wins and Saturday’s at Croke Park was easily the most memorable of the lot.
“It looked like we were in real trouble,” admitted a breathless Collins immediately after watching Jamie Malone kick the Banner through to the All-Ireland quarter-finals with a dramatic 75th minute winner. Seven minutes earlier, they’d trailed by five points.
It’ll be Clare’s first quarter-final since 2016 - which they also qualified for by beating Roscommon - and they’ll face one of the four provincial champions; Dublin, Derry, Kerry or Galway.
If they win again, they’ll be through to a first semi-final since the glory days of 1992 when they last won the Munster title. It’s a big ask but Collins is upbeat and didn’t flinch when asked if Clare can do it.
“I would hope so, yeah, I would hope so,” he said. “If you’re going to proceed, you’re going to have to beat one of those teams. I don’t think there’s any team unbeatable. I think on a given day, any team can beat another team. Let’s see who we get and go after them.”
[ Clare footballers reach All-Ireland quarter-finals at Roscommon’s expense, againOpens in new window ]
This felt like the most significant win of Collins’ nine-year reign. Clare, for starters, simply don’t win Championship games at Croke Park and after losing both their Championship games during the knockout campaigns of 2020 and 2021, they badly needed a landmark win to boost morale.
“It’s just a victory and one match, that’s it,” countered Collins. “We’ve an All-Ireland quarter-final now and it’s very important that we focus on that and get the most we can out of it.”
The Kilmihil man could be forgiven for struggling to get his head around the one-point win. On the one hand, he hailed his team’s resilience after finishing so strongly and he praised his ‘special’ forward Keelan Sexton who struck 2-6.
He was disappointed though that having led 1-10 to 1-6 after a great start, they were subsequently outscored by 0-11 to 0-2 until that late rally. Malone’s winner was their only score from play in the second-half. Conceding 1-17 overall doesn’t bode particularly well either.
“I felt we went asleep, I really felt we went asleep after half-time,” said Collins. “We made the mistake of thinking the game was over and we invited them on us. They have really good forwards so it’s a foolish game to be inviting them on us.”
Pearse Lillis dropped back to man mark Rossies dangerman Enda Smith and did a terrific job. Manus Doherty shut down Conor Cox while Malone was terrific, winning two frees that were pointed and scoring that incredible winner himself.
Yet Sexton was the clear man of the match with a stunning 2-6, delivered in two even instalments of 1-3 per half.
The Kilmurry Ibrickane forward was at the hub of the late blitz with a 70th minute penalty conversion followed by a point from a free, levelling the game and teeing up Malone for his winner.
Six years ago, Malone also scored a goal when Clare beat Roscommon in that 2016 qualifier.
“He’s a special player,” said Collins. “He’s been a shining light for Clare since he started playing at minor. He was injured relatively recently so he didn’t start against Meath but he made a big difference when he came on. I’m delighted to have him.”
Roscommon will be livid with their late collapse. They hauled themselves back into contention with 0-4 from subs and 0-2 from half-back Ronan Daly to lead 1-17 to 1-12 before caving in.
“We fought back with some tremendous play in the second-half and went well ahead but then took our eye off the ball and it’s hard to stop a slide when it starts,” said Roscommon manager Anthony Cunningham.
On the penalty call, for a Daly foul on Clare sub Gavin Cooney, Cunningham felt it was debatable.
“I thought it was harsh enough being honest,” he said. “We were a couple of points down and then played some great football to get back, some great attacking play but at this level, or any level, you just can’t give away a penalty at that time. It’s very, very difficult to come back from it.”
Cunningham himself may not come back from this one. After four seasons, his time could be up.
“No, this is not about me,” he maintained. “This is about the players and the supporters and everybody that runs Roscommon football. Everyone is disappointed and gutted. We saw this as a massive potential stepping stone for this team.”
