Mike McNamara insists that Clare will hold no fears of facing Galway in the All-Ireland hurling qualifiers at Cusack Park on July 11 next, though he admits the draw could have been kinder.The Banner County put a disastrous NHL campaign behind them to put a much-fancied Tipperary side to the pin of their collars last Sunday week, and McNamara told Hoganstand.com that the team will have take plenty of confidence from their gutsy performance. "We wouldn't have any fear of them, though they're the one team everybody wanted to avoid. We have more and more young players starting to show what they can do and maybe this is an opportunity for somebody else to step into the Colin Ryan breach," the Scariff man said.
"Playing a team like Galway is probably something we'd like to have avoided at this stage. They're probably one of two teams that people are looking at to challenge Kilkenny and it's going to be a massive challenge for us. Our lads will have to put in a 70-minute performance of the kind they produced in the second half against Tipp. If we have a repeat of the first half, then we'll be in trouble."
The Banner manager added: "You'd hope that this game would ignite the team and that it will keep lads focused. We'll have to remain sharp from now until then and we'll have to keep working hard. It's a home game, it's in Ennis and we want to make sure that Cusack Park is a fortress for Clare."
