Banner view? Cavan hold the upper hand

Clare supporters are not confident about their side's chances this weekend, writes Joe Ó Muircheartaigh.

Clare and Cavan go back a long way, despite the relative paucity of games between the two sides over the years. Thing is, that relationship has certainly been unrequited from the Clare point of view where the National League is concerned.
Yes, I know, it’s true that the Breffni bequeathed Shercock’s Micheál McDermott to the Banner and apart from leading Kilmurry Ibrickane to a Munster title in 2009 and all the way to an All-Ireland final the following St Patrick’s Day he also managed the county senior for three years and in 2012 became the last man to guide them to a Munster final.
And there’s more thanks to a couple of players from Cavan’s gilded generation of the 1930s and ‘40s once coming to Clare’s rescue at a time when the impartiality, fairness and competence of local referees could never be taken for granted on county final days.
It was 1945 when Big Tom O’Reilly agreed to referee the final between Cooraclare and Kilmurry Ibrickane — the Cornafaen man was busy that year having captained Cavan in the All-Ireland final defeat to Cork, while he was also a sitting member of Dáil Éireann, so maybe it was Leinster House business that eventually came between him from making the long journey to the final venue in Miltown Malbay that year.
Not that he left Clare in the lurch. Never. Being the gentle giant that Big Tom was, he sent a sub in fellow member of the All-Ireland winning classes of 1933 and ’35 in Bailieborough’s Patsy Lynch to ensure that the West Clare gathering was more than just a faction fight and there was actually some football played.
Alas, from Clare’s point of view that’s as far as Cavan’s generosity has extended on the field, with so much more significant traffic, goodwill and everlasting fame having gone in the other direction.
After all, it was Clare that ushered in Cavan football’s greatest day when colourful Clonlara cleric, Canon Michael Hamilton, laid the foundation stone for bringing the 1947 All-Ireland to New York and then was in down on the Rineanna runaway to send on their way those members of the team brave enough to take on the transatlantic by air.
And don’t forget that Hamilton, as 2RN’s All-Ireland final commentator, was also in the Cavan corner in 1937 when declaring Cavan the champions at the end of their drawn clash with Kerry.
But it’s the greatest day in the Polo Grounds, as chronicled by the Anglo-Celt’s own Paul Fitzpatrick in his ‘The Fairytale of New York’, that provides an enduring link between Cavan and Clare, but from the latter’s point of view there’s been a gnawing ache going back over 70 years.
It’s the fact that Clare have never beaten Cavan in the National Football League competition — a failing that doesn’t look like being redressed this coming Sunday in Breffni Park in a clash that could be summed up as a meeting between two teams going in the opposite direction.
Cavan may have been firefighting when slumping to a 13-point defeat to Armagh on their first day out, but since then three wins on the bounce puts them in pole position for an immediate return to Division 1 for next season.
Clare, meanwhile, are struggling badly, with their second round defeat of Kildare being the only return from what has otherwise been a season-long slump.
Three defeats out of four is a deeply disappointing and frustrating scorecard, particularly when the one-point losses to Westmeath and Laois were games that should have yielded at least a point each, while the seven-point reverse against Roscommon when they could only muster a solitary point from play over 70 dreadful minutes was probably the worst display of Colm Collins’ seven years in charge.
It all means that Clare are now on the brink of Division 3 football after four years in the second tier. This is the new reality facing a side that has punched above its weight for many years.
You could call it the post-Gary Brennan era — the midfielder, and captain, having taken a step back this season after 13 years on the bridge, just as last year’s All Star nominee Jamie Malone packed his bags for the year and went travelling.
Without these two best players, Clare have been a shadow of the side that scored notable scalps away from home in recent years when beating Down and Cork.
An against the head victory over Cavan would even more significant than the above. That it’s now or never if they’re to have any chance beating the drop means they will produce a big performance, with the return of Ciaran Russell to midfield after suspension being key to their chances of causing a huge upset.
However, two years ago in Cusack Park when Clare were a much stronger outfit they couldn’t get the job done when leading by six points with 20 minutes remaining and in the end were lucky to escape with a draw.
They’d gladly take another draw here, but when you consider that seven players who played that day are missing, it’s a tall order. Much too tall it would seem.

* Joe Ó Muircheartaigh is a Clare-based sports journalist.