Some serious motoring.
Barring a couple of those Panama boys, all of those players we’ve watched in the World Cup over the last few weeks are professional athletes.
Eoin Cleary is only just out of Limerick IT. The Miltown Malbay man has been a key player for the Clare footballers for the last number of years now but he hit new heights this year.
All the way through the Banner’s League campaign, the West Clare man lorded it. He wasn’t far off firing his county to a Division Two League final, and he picked up from where he left off in the championship.
The dry conditions suit a man like Eoin Cleary.
Clare’s Munster campaign got off to a flyer when they gave Limerick a trouncing in the Gaelic Grounds but Kerry annihilated them in the semis.
Eoin Cleary didn’t get much change off the Kingdom defence but he hit the Limerick boys for five from play. Colm Collins usually deploys his most dangerous forward at number 11 because that’s where he does the damage. That’s where they have the best chance to get this man on the ball.
Give him the ball and he’ll run, run and run. The Munster man has pace to burn and he loves racing down the heart of the opposition’s defence.
That’s exactly what he did against Offaly when he went one better and kicked six this time to send the Saffron and blues through to Round Three of the qualifiers.
Really enjoyable game of football between @Offaly_GAA & @GaaClare. Offaly fought till the end but Clare were just that little bit slicker. Eoin Cleary their centre forward is as good a player as I’ve seen in a while. Well done to all the players on providing great entertainment.
— Michael Duignan (@DuignanMichael) June 24, 2018
They fell at that hurdle to Armagh but Cleary again couldn’t be blamed. He kicked three points that time again terrorising the Ulster side’s defence with his lightning pace.
We all know the GAA is getting more professional with each passing year and Strength and Conditioning Coach Rob Mulcahy has the Clare boys up to speed with it all.
The combination of talent, the right attitude and the right training is an unstoppable combination and Eoin Cleary is flourishing under the three of those.
Indeed, in that Armagh game, Cleary’s GPS stats were on a different level. He hit a top speed of 34.9 Km/h that day in the aptly named Athletic Grounds.
That’s a faster place than any man has reached at the World Cup.
Cristiano Ronaldo has hit 34 Km/h flat, so has Ante Rebic of Croatia. None of them have matched Eoin Cleary.
Explosive speed is a lethal weapon and Cleary has pace to match the very best of them. That’s some going.
