NAME: Tom Morrissey DATE OF BIRTH: 25/6/70 HEIGHT: 6ft 3" WEIGHT: 13st CLUB: Cooraclare COUNTY: Clare HONOURS: Under 12 & Under 21 County Championship medals; Under 15 Munster Schools; NS medal; League promotion and Munster SFC medal 1992 INTER-COUNTY DEBUT: February '92 against Tipperary PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Joe Downes Construction Ltd. TOUGHEST OPPONENT: John Quane FAVOURITE GROUNDS: Gaelic Grounds, Limerick FAVOURITE POSITION: Midfield SPORTING AMBITION: To win an All-Ireland DO YOU PLAY ANY OTHER SPORTS? Soccer, badminton, basketball, indoor soccer. I have an interest in all sports BOYHOOD HEROES: Jack O'Shea FAVOURITE PLAYERS: John O'Keeffe, Kerry BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON CAREER: John Maughan WAYS OF IMPROVING THE GAME: I think video cameras should be used, where possible, to wipe out all off the ball incidents BEST GAME SEEN: 1979 All-Ireland, Dublin v Kerry PLAYERS WITH A PROMISING FUTURE: David Reane, Kevin Staunton, Billy O'Shea HOPES FOR 1992: To win the All-Ireland WAS THE WIN OVER KERRY THE PROUDEST MOMENT OF YOUR SPORTING CAREER? Very much so. It made me feel proud to be a Clareman WHEN YOU MADE THAT LATE CATCH, RTE COMMENTATOR MARTY MORRISSEY SAID 'GOOD MAN, TOM'. ARE YOU RELATED TO MARTY? Yes, Marty is a relation of our family YOU AND YOUR PARTNER AIDAN MOLONEY DOMINATED VARIOUS KERRY PARTNERSHIPS IN THE MUNSTER FINAL. WERE YOU SURPRISED AT THE EASE YOURSELF AND AIDAN CAUGHT AND GAINED POSSESSION IN THIS VITAL SECTOR? No, we had seen what the Limerick midfield had done to them and that gave us a great lift AND THE DUBLIN MIDFIELD PAIRING. YOUR VIEWS ON CLARKE AND FORAN: We are looking forward to meeting them with great confidence and we will be happy to do well against them DID YOU EVER PLAY DUBLIN BEFORE? Yes, in a friendly game at Cusack Park last February. It was my first full game for Clare HAVE YOU ANY PREVIOUS CROKE PARK EXPERIENCE? No WORD HAS IT THAT CLARE HAS GONE FOOTBALL MAD AT THE MOMENT: Yes, every man, woman and child are talking about football in the county WHAT WERE THE CELEBRATIONS LIKE AFTER THE KERRY GAME OR ARE THEY STILL GOING ON? Fantastic, we had two good days and then it was back to training TELL US ABOUT YOUR CLUB: Cooraclare are a fine healthy, up and coming club. We have nine county championships and numerous other cups. A lot of good Clare footballers have come from Cooraclare. We have a fine style of play and work well as a unit ANY PAST OR PRESENT INTER-COUNTY PLAYERS FROM COORACLARE? Ger Crowe and Michael Lillis COLM O'ROURKE, IS HE STILL ATTENDING THE CLARE TRAINING SESSIONS? No COLM MENTIONED OTHER TEAMS BEING INTIMIDATED IN CROKE PARK WITH THE HILL, THE DUBLIN PLAYERS KNOWING EVERY BLADE OF GRASS ON THE PITCH ETC. WILL CLARE HAVE THAT PROBLEM ON SUNDAY? Communication will be at a standstill on Sunday. I expect the Clare support will be every bit as good if not better than the Dub's support. Once we get out on the field and the game is on, it will not bother us YOUR VIEWS ON THE MAYO MAESTRO JOHN MAUGHAN: Fair play to him, he knows how to get the best out of any team as he has done for Clare, we love him down here and he loves it too ARE THE CLARE COUNTY BOARD TREATING YOU WELL? Yes, things are running smoothly I am glad to say WE ARE TOLD A NUMBER OF YOUR BROTHERS PLAY FOOTBALL IN ENGLAND, YOU COME FROM A LARGE FAMILY. WE PRESUME THE ENTIRE MORRISSEY CLAN WILL BE IN CROKE PARK ON SUNDAY? Yes. Croke Park beware, the Morrisseys are coming THE INJECTION OF FUNDS FROM THE SUPPORTERS CLUB AND FROM MARTIN DONNELLY HAS OBVIOUSLY HELPED THINGS CONSIDERABLY: It has given us great support because we know as players the amount of people that are backing us. We won't let them down WERE DO YOU SEE THE DUBLIN STRENGTH: With every man they will have on the field and in particular their half back line OBVIOUSLY YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY A LOT OF ATTENTION TO THEIR HALF BACK LINE. BUT THEN AGAIN THE CLARE HALF FORWARD LINE IS RECKONED TO BE YOUR STRONGEST SECTOR? Gerry Killeen, Francis McInerney and Noel Roche are all Railway Cup players and they will be a headache for any half back line of defence WILL THE HURLING COMMUNITY IN CLARE BE FULLY BEHIND THE FOOTBALLERS ON SUNDAY? We always had a good bunch of supporters from the hurling side of the county and winning the Munster Final has converted them all to supporting football WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT DO YOU EXPECT TO BRING TO CROKE PARK WITH YOU? I don't think Dublin will be able to accommodate us all HOW ARE THE NERVES AT THIS POINT IN TIME? They are fine. We are the underdogs so all we have to worry about is for each and every one of us to perform on the day THAT ALL-IRELAND B SUCCESS LAST AUTUMN. WAS THAT THE BIG BREAKTHROUGH FOR THE FOOTBALLERS OF CLARE? It was the beginning and it gave our supporters a new hope for 1992 YOU SHOULD HAVE BEATEN MEATH IN THE NFL QUARTER FINALS: We could have won. It was a big occasion for us and the two sendings off did not help A PREDICTION FOR SUNDAY'S GAME: It will be tough. We are very well prepared for this game and I have every confidence in winning Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 21st August 1992 Vol 2 No 69 Tweet

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