He oversaw Corofin’s return to the Clare SFC but their intermediate success meant little in comparison to James Murrihy’s involvement with Kilmurry Ibrickane as they got their hands on Jack Daly for the first time in four years.
Murrihy is one of the top football analysts in the County, after the replay he spent a lot of time watching the video of the drawn game again and again. This exercise highlighted some issues that needed to be addressed, the Bricks did that and it helped them on their way to their fourteenth Clare Senior Football Championship.
“We dissected the video and we felt we made a few mistakes the last day, we swapped and chopped a few things around thankfully they worked and I thought we finished the game stronger because we let the ball do the work particularly in the first half and letting a few balls into Peter O’Dwyer”.
Along with manager Aidan Moloney and selectors Odhran O’Dwyer and Aidan Moloney Jr, James placed a big emphasis on not giving away scores. Regardless of the opposition their target of conceding only seven scores never changes.
“Our target is seven scores every day we go out, to concede seven or less, any day you go out and only concede six points in a county final you know you’re on the way to winning it, those lads are great defenders”.
Sports Inclusion Development Officer with Clare Sports Partnership, Murrihy reserved praise for County man Enda Coughlan who he felt answered his critics on Sunday. “I was delighted for Enda Coughlan because he took a bit of flack the last day he didn’t perform well and deep down he was probably my man of the match”.
Winning with your native club is something James will treasure, being able to bring thirty eight year old Thomas O’Connor and thirty nine year old Johnny Daly on from the bench was another highlight for him as the duo were in school with him.
“There’s nothing like winning something with your home club, after I finished with Corofin and I knew I was going to do a bit of travelling there was only job that was going to make me be involved with a team this year, I grew up with a lot of those lads and it’s a fantastic feeling to see Thomas O’Connor and Johnny Daly schoolmates of mine to come on and win a championship”.