Clare's David Reidy in All-Ireland SHC Semi-Final action against Kilkenny at Croke Park. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
By Cian O'Connell
"I've been on the panel since 2014 so 10, 11 years and it’s my first All-Ireland final," David Reidy responds when asked about what it means to reach Sunday's Croke Park decider against Cork.
Reidy joined the Clare squad shortly after the 2013 triumph, a time when Clare's future glimmered with promise. "I was talking to a few of the young lads that came on to the panel this year and I was saying to them, 'don't get too used to this'.
"You have to enjoy the build up, but there is only one real focus and that's Sunday at half three. Enjoy the build up and then put that out of your mind."
When Reidy first entered the Clare senior set-up under Davy Fitzgerald it was an exciting time. "So, it wasn't even two months after an All-Ireland success and they came with a lot of U21 players in that team," Reidy recalls.
"I would have been playing with them on the U21 team. The first day was a draw and it went to a replay - then there was an U21 final between that and the replay.
"When Clare won the second day, you get a call up six weeks later saying that you are coming on to a senior panel that are All-Ireland champions.
"And with such a young team that it's only natural for a 19, 20-year-old to think, 'Jesus, this is going to last'. But you are very quickly brought down to earth that it's not that easy.
David Reidy pictured following Clare's Munster SHC round robin win over Waterford in May. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
"There are eight or nine teams that are at such a high level that you have to keep improving. That, if you stay static for a month, don't mind a year, you'll see that in the results straight away.
"Again, as 19, 20-year-old, it is very different thinking to my mindset now at the moment."
In recent years Clare have suffered disappointment in Munster showpieces and All-Ireland SHC Semi-Finals, but Brian Lohan's charges keep responding. "It's to get after the performance," Reidy explains.
"It might be cliché, might not, but this group of players have always gone after it. Sometimes we didn’t get it, sometimes we did.
"As an individual then, how can you improve? Everyone wants to win. But how much do you want to win? What do you need to do to get to the next level?
"What do you need to do to rectify a weakness in your game. It's being able to pinpoint that weakness, understand how to go about improving it, no matter how big or small it is, going doing the work then. And try again."
It is a policy that continues to serve Reidy well.
