Miltown massacre fades into memory as Clare champs out to make a killing
THE sight of a rampaging Kerry football team looming into sight should have Noel Walsh rushing for the comfort of a darkened room.
After all, it was on his initiative that Kerry’s team of all talents rolled into Hennessy Memorial Park in Miltown Malbay on a July afternoon in 1979.
It was burned into folklore as the Massacre of Miltown, and such was the trauma inflicted, that for a few seasons afterwards the Munster Council offered Kerry a bye into the provincial decider.
But Walsh, the retired army colonel now in his 80s, chuckles when he recalls what some might paint as one of Clare football’s darkest days.
‘The thing is that I was actually responsible, because I was involved with the Munster Council at the time and I knew Mick O’Dwyer, so when I asked him and he said Kerry would give us home advantage I took that quite literally by bringing it home to Milltown,’ said Walsh.
‘But I have no regrets and the thing is we actually had a good team and people forget that in our next game we travelled to Navan and beat Meath in a National League game,’ says Walsh.
Micheal McDonagh, the former Clare chairman and Miltown Malbay clubman, was at that match and grabs at another straw of comfort.
‘People always talk about the 9-21 that Kerry scored that day, but the thing is the 1-9 we scored against them was the most they conceded in that year’s Championship,’ he chimes.
The reason a 39-year-old game might just be on Miltown minds today is that they are once more faced by a Kerry team with a reputation for attack, and with a depth of options – Colm Cooper is on their bench – designed to terrorise.
And this time it is even more personal for Miltown, their engagement upgraded from hosts to opponents.
Their manager, Michael Neylon, described Crokes as a juggernaut, as they seek to win a fifth Munster title this decade.
Crokes have already left their mark all over Cork champions St Finbarr’s – registering 5-20 in the semifinal.
But the reason that Walsh can chuckle and Miltown can make the journey to the Gaelic Grounds with belief is that things are never as bleak as they might seem.
Thirteen years after Walsh, as a selector, watched helplessly as Kerry inflicted the most brutal defeats, he was beside John Maughan when they stunned the Kingdom in the 1992 Munster final.
It has taken Miltown Malbay only half that time to go from ground zero to the mountain top.
In 2012, they were relegated from the senior ranks and today they are playing in their first Munster senior final.
There are all kinds of reasons for such progress. A glut of new players have come through, spear-headed by the exceptional Eoin Cleary, who might just be one of the best footballers out there.
This summer, his GPS readings made headline
news when it delivered a sprint reading of in excess of 35kmph in the qualifier clash against Armagh, faster than Cristiano Ronaldo’s legs could take him in the World Cup.
He has more than speed; he is also Miltown’s scorerin-chief. ‘Not only is he one of the finest players to have played for us, but he is also one of the finest that has ever togged out for Clare,’ said McDonagh.
There’s a blend of youth and experience in the squad, all overseen by Neylon.
His appointment in 2015 was the catalyst. They won the county that year and have, at least, reached the last four ever since.
‘If you take where we are coming form, I would argue that there is no club manager in Munster that has done a better job than Micheal in the last four years,’ said McDonagh.
Even so, this represents a challenge on a whole different level, but the day of Clare doffing their cap to Kerry opponents belongs to the past, suggested Walsh
In many ways, he did much to change that mindset by successfully advocating for an open draw in the Munster SFC, putting an end to the Kerry/Cork carve-up at the beginning of the 1990s.
Within two years Clare were Munster champions and ever since – not least under the watch of Colm Collins – they have marched with a purpose.
‘My argument back then was that it was impossible to beat Kerry and Cork in the same season, and because you knew when you were going out to beat one you would also have to beat the other, it ended up like you were playing both at the same time
‘But when that was taken away, you found that you had one shot at it and I think that made it seem a lot more real for the other Munster counties.’
Today there will be no massacre, but there could be an ambush.