*Jack O’Neill leaps into the air to collect a high ball. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
CLARE HEAD into Monday’s U20 hurling final wearing the underdog tag as they face off with Cork who are managed by Ben O’Connor.
Last week’s U20 Munster hurling semi-final was “on a knife edge with five minutes to go”, according to Clare manager Terence Fahy.
Agreeing that his charges “finished strongly”, the Clare boss said “our goal with five minutes to go was the key score. That goal put us four points clear and it came following great defensive play”.
Fahy accepted that he was “concerned at half time. We were losing on the wides count and on the free count. That said we were happy with the work rate and we were creating scoring opportunities”.
The Clare manager expressed satisfaction with the contribution from the bench. “There is a very even standard within the group. It’s very hard to get into the thirty for our in-house matches and extremely hard to get into the match day twenty four not to mention the starting fifteen”, he said.
The team boss accepts that “Cork will be warm favourites for next week ‘s final, they are the favourites for the All-Ireland. They gave us a lot of bother when we met earlier”.
Whitegate native Fahy has been boosted by the fact that Daithí Lohan has been cleared to line out after sustaining a knee injury in the semi-final win. They will not be able to call on captain Adam Hogan with the U20 manager commenting, “the seniors have the first call on him”.
