Pictured is UL and Clare hurler, Mark Rodgers, as Electric Ireland teams up with six intercounty Camogie and GAA stars to look ahead to the upcoming matches and rivalries across the Electric Ireland Camogie Third Level Championships and the Electric Ireland GAA Higher Education Championships. Through its #FirstClassRivals campaign, Electric Ireland will continue to celebrate the unexpected alliances that form between county rivals as they come together in pursuit of some of the most coveted titles across Camogie and GAA.
By John Harrington
Clare’s five point defeat to Limerick in the Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League on Wednesday will be long-forgotten by the time the championship comes around, but you can be sure it still stung.
No team has come closer to Limerick than their neighbours and great rivals in the last two years, but no county has arguably suffered so much pain at the hands of John Kiely’s team than Clare either.
Each loss must feel like a fresh lash at this point, but Banner county forward, Mark Rodgers, insists they must learn from every one of them if they are to finally knock Limerick from their pedestal this year.
“Playing against a great team like Limerick you learn a lot about yourself and taking those learnings from those defeats is pivotal for the development in terms of getting better as a team and getting better as an individual,” says Rodgers.
“You just have to continue to do that. Limerick are pushing on everyone.
“We're looking to take steps to rectify the areas that went wrong last year and continue to improve and work on those little percentages, inch by inch, and achieve the goals we've set out for ourselves.”
Just like in 2022, Clare’s defeat to Limerick in the 2023 Munster Hurling Final came down to very fine margins.
If they are to go from challengers to champions this year, where can they eke out the extra few percentage points needed to finally get their hands on some much-coveted silverware?
“In quite a few games last year our wide-count was quite high,” says Rodgers. “We're definitely looking to rectify that, even though we were in a similar situation the year before. It's important to really analyse where we are going wrong if we're going to take steps to improve upon that.
“Maybe it's a case of just working harder to analyse a few more deficiencies. Obviously step by step we just have to keep improving because at the moment we're not at the pinnacle which is where we want to be.
“We understand that every team is getting stronger. Munster has become a complete bear-pit. Every team has absolute quality and we're looking to get to a level where we can successfully get over the line.”
Mark Rodgers of Clare in action against Fergal O'Connor of Limerick during the Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League Group A match between Clare and Limerick at Clarecastle GAA astro pitch in Clare. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Rodgers himself could be the key to Clare raising their game to a new level in 2024. The 22-year-old made his senior debut back in 2021 and has been a very encouraging work in progress ever since.
Last year he really caught fire, scoring 4-27 during Clare’s championship campaign on the way to winning the Young Hurler of the Year award, and he still feels like he has plenty of room for improvement.
“I suppose I'm lucky we've some great coaches in the Clare set-up who I've been able to work with on some of my strengths and weaknesses,” he says.
“We've been able to have open dialogues and work on areas where I'm weak and areas where I can get better at and areas I'm good at that I need to keep improving on.
“I've been lucky to have that support. When you have that support it's important to use it also and use the expertise. We're lucky in our set-up at the moment that we do have a lot of expertise.”
Rodgers clearly has bundles of skill and is a natural finisher, but what marks him out as something extra-special is his ability to make space for himself.
His clever movement sees him consistently get into dangerous positions at the most opportune time and it’s a knack he’s worked hard to develop.
“I think no matter what position you're in on the field when someone has the ball you're always trying to make an option for them," he says. "So, you're naturally trying to find space no matter where you are on the pitch.
Obviously some people are better at it than others. I try to watch a few of those players, even during sessions, watch the people who are finding space and how they're doing it and maybe replicate their movement going forward for my own development.
“Growing up I would have looked up to Tony Kelly and Shane O'Donnell. And since I joined the camp it only emphasised what I already thought about them. Not only are they brilliant role models, but they're also unbelievable hurlers. Some of the things they do in training are amazing, really.
“Shane won his second All-Star in a row this year and it was fully deserved. He's gone from strength to strength lately. He's a really top fella and if you ever have a question for him he'll give you an answer straight away. It's great to have a voice like that within the camp.”
Mark Rodgers of Clare with his PwC GAA/GPA Young Hurler of the Year award during the 2023 PwC GAA/GPA All-Star Awards at the RDS in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.
Clare are back in action on Sunday when they play Cork in Round 3 of the Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League but Rodgers may well be rested as he’ll be involved with UL in the first round of the Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup next Wednesday.
He’s one of a clutch of UL players hoping to win a third Fitzgibbon Cup in a row, and believes they’re in good shape coming into their first round match against ATU Galway.
“Brian Ryan and his management team have done a really good job and are well trained on how to use the League coming into the Championship to bring together a group of players,” he says.
“I think we've done that quite well again this year. I know we're missing five or six from last year's team but we still have a lot of the same contingent and we've formed quite a close bond between the 20 or 30 of us that are involved.
“There's a few new faces too which is great to bring some freshness into the camp. I think we've gelled fairly well and we're looking forward to the campaign now.
“We've been lucky to win two and we'd be hoping to bring forward all those values again because Brian and his group have really allowed us to gel together. We've good players but we've really good characters in the group as well.”