CLARE HURLER CATHAL McInerney will commit solely to the county’s senior football side for the 2015 campaign.
It has been confirmed to TheScore.ie that Cratloe club man McInerney will be part of the Clare senior football squad next season. He follows in the footsteps of Podge and Sean Collins after the revelation last week that they will be playing football next year.
It is believed that McInerney did want to try to fulfil a dual mandate but hurling boss Davy Fitzgerald has stressed that the dual player role did not work in 2014 and he wants players solely committed to the hurling panel next season.
The addition of McInerney is a huge boost to Colm Collins Clare football squad. He has represented the county at minor and U21 level in football while he also excelled last year as Cratloe won the Clare senior football title. In last December’s AIB Munster senior club football final, he kicked 0-5 as Cratloe narrowly lost to Dr Crokes in the Gaelic Grounds.
McInerney started in Clare’s hurling qualifier draw with Wexford this summer while he came on as a substitute in the replay defeat to Wexford and the Munster semi-final loss to Cork.
He won an All-Ireland senior medal for Clare last year and made his most notable contribution when hitting 2-1 in extra-time during Clare’s qualifier win over Wexford. In 2012 McInerney won a Bord Gáis Energy All-Ireland U21 hurling medal with Clare as he notched 0-4 in the final win over Kilkenny. He has also played Fitzgibbon Cup hurling for Limerick IT in recent years.
McInerney will be part of Clare’s squad for their Allianz Division 3 football league campaign next spring as they seek to build on the progress they made in 2014. Clare won promotion from Division 4 of the league as well as running Kerry and Kildare close in the Munster championship and All-Ireland qualifiers respectively.
