McInerney, Dan
July 02, 1993
The great Dan McInerney from Clare
The Scariff full back came up against and mastered the best - Ring, Mackey, Rackard
As a nine year old schoolboy Dan McInerney invariably found himself sited between the sticks. A lot younger than the rest of his peers, lighter and smaller as well, the Scariff hurling starlet wasn't especially in love with a goalkeeper's role but at least it gave him a valuable perspective on how to play with your back against the wall.
A true blue Clare hurler, proud and passionate in the Blue and Yellow, resourceful and resilient too. A man born just as the Free State was experiencing teething trouble and a hurler of special quality carved out from decades of serving an apprenticeship at the highest level at both club and county grades. Dan McInerney, Deputy Chairman of McInerney Properties, is a star hurler from times past but also a razor sharp analyst of the modern game too.
Born just eight years before Clare's last All-Ireland final appearance in 1932, the now retired Foxrock Dublin based company chief is as keen on hurling today as he was when negating the best of full forwards as a rock-solid Clare defender of the forties and fifties era. Simply said, the supreme sweeper of days gone by talks as good as your average limited sports journalists, notwithstanding the fact that he's been there and knows exactly what he's talking about!
Dan's not so desperately tied up with the game through that he can't see the woods from the trees when it comes to espousing ideas and ways that could warrant investigation by those wishing to perhaps improve the modern game. Acknowledging that the small ball code these days demands a unique level of fitness and is definitely a lot faster than when he defied all-comers around the square, Dan still hankers back to the era when ground hurling at it's best and overhead striking reigned supreme. Dan is realistic enough to recognise that he is far from being the only one with their personal hobby horses. He says, and I quote "The G.A.A. is a wonderful organisation of which Ireland can be justifiably proud. Hurling is the finest field game in the world. It also has that extra dimension of being truly Irish, having been played by Irish men before recorded history. However, success, as always, bring with it continuing challenges and demands". Dan gives hereunder what he calls his three hobby horses aimed at an even better game.
1. Referees
These are a great body of people who strive so hard to carry out a very difficult job. I wouldn't referee a match for all the Tea in China. They need all our help. I don't know the details of training and preparation already in place for Referees but I see a very urgent need to have well-trained Referees working in close unison with Umpires and Linesmen who are fully conscious that they are part of the Refereeing Team
2. Do away with Hand-Passing
I recognise that the lesser level of skills called for with hand-passing helps to spread the game in weaker counties. I have mentioned on many occasions that if the Haarlem Globe Trotters had a few months training here they would be fit to match any of our Hurling Team. With respect, let us leave Handball to the Handballers.
3. That no score be allowed from kicking the ball:
It can be very difficult to prevent your opponent from scoring by kicking the ball without fouling. Again, with respect, let us leave Football to the Footballers. Despite everything, the Cistercian College, Roscrea old boy is still in love with the most beautiful and skilful field game in the world. It's still the basic game he says and he admits that he'd love to play the modern game. "Even though in our time you didn't need to be half as fit and it's becoming very difficult for a young player to make time for their hurling and build their own personal career.
True, Dan McInerney's fans from yesteryear concur that the Scariff Schemer would be very much at ease in the nineties style of hurling. They'd tell you that 69 year old Dan's speed off the mark, his anticipation and his striking off the ground at pace would have conjured up images of an Anthony Daly Mark Two. On the question of Clare's pedigree in Championship fare while Dan was on board, the team were sharp, sweet and fairly successful operators but never reached their ultimate potential. The archives down Banner county way will show that deadly Dan never let the side down in any respect.
Dan's hurling lineage is easily traced. His father Tom was an O'Callaghan Mills man and featured in the county final of 1916 against Scariff, a game in which seven Mclnerney's, cousins included figured uniquely. Eventually the Scariff connection was firmly cemented when the Mills maestro married Scariff lady Delia Lenihan. "My earliest memories would have been of my mother sprinkling holy water on us as we were heading out to the matches and telling us to "mind our bones, be sure to win", recalled the youngest of eight, whose brother Frank also played with distinction for Clare Seniors.
Dan McInerney enjoyed the rare 'oul times on three fronts during his career. At club level, he was one of the stars of the Scariff side, which scooped the county Championship title for the first time in twenty nine years when going the distance in 1946. He was centre half back then and again when the club triumphed in 1952 and '53. The Scariff teams were more than useful though and discerning Dan hastens to point out that it was far from a one-man band. Alongside him at Scariff were seasoned county men like Alfie O'Brien, J.J. Bugler and Des Carrol with other fine players. "Sometimes it was hard enough to mobilise the troops early in the year at Scariff but if we won a few matches early on, we were OK", remembered Dan whose good fortune it is to be married to Gemma and to be the father of Daniel, a Quantity Surveyor, Mark, a Bachelor of Science in Building and Civil Engineering and Mary, an Artist, married in England with 2 children and Gemma Junior, a Graduate in Marketing and Business Studies and working in the U.S.
Dan is a Civil Engineer by profession earning his academic spurs at U.C.D. where he teamed up with such old reliables as Limerick's Dick Stokes Dermot Solan and Bob Frost of Clare, Waterford's Ned Daly and Mickey Feeney to capture a Fitzgibbon Cup medal in 1943. however, it was as a class full back for Clare Seniors that Dan McInerney became especially well-known and respected as a hurler of few equals. In his first season with Clare Seniors he negated the talents of the one and only Mick Mackey of Limerick to help steer the Banner county to a National League title in 1945, holding him scoreless in fact in the process. Dan in truth, played and acquitted himself superbly against arguably three of the best hurlers ever to stand on this earth. Nicky Rackard of Wexford and Cork's Christy Ring in a contest when forced to face up to glue-like attentions of the Scariff star.
Reflecting back on his team's agonising 1955 Munster final defeat to Limerick, the three times county Senior Championship medallist doesn't put a tooth in just why the Banner county didn't manage to follow up on their earlier provincial round victories over Cork and Tipperary. "I have been asked a thousand times as to the reasons why we didn't win the title in '55. Changes should have been made early in the game that could have made all the difference. Perhaps we were also a bit over-confident, explained the red-blooded full back whose semi final display against Tipperary earned him a National newspaper's Sportstar of the Week Award.
No regrets, no tears to cry. Dan McInerney delighted in his star spangled career. Limited resources in personnel was the Clare bugbear in the days when Cork City alone bred more players than East Clare clubs put together. Times have changed though, he reckons, the team's substitutes in the Cork game proved the point superbly. "The current panel have a wonderful team manager in Len Gaynor and a great back up team". Above all they have already shown the character, determination and the right mental approach which added to their undoubted Hurling ability and with a little bit of luck, could see us go all the way in this Munster Final.
Written by Hogan Stand Magazine
02/07/93
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