*Ian O’Brien gets away from Tommy Kennedy with Ger O’Connell offering encouragement from the sideline. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
A DISAPPOINTING defeat in the All-Ireland final will not overshadow the year for Clare’s minor hurlers.
Clare’s fifth appearance in the All-Ireland minor hurling final ended in a ten point defeat to Waterford who lifted The Irish Press Cup for the first time since 2013 and the fourth in their history.
Waterford led by Cormac Spain who scored 0-11, more than the entire Clare tally were the dominant side in FBD Semple Stadium on Saturday evening. They had a glorious start with 1-1 without reply, the green flag from Pierce Quann.
Selector Paul Mannion told The Clare Echo, “It was a bad start but we did react well, we had five or six chances after that but we only took two of them and that’s it. We had a long chat in there, we don’t think we could have done anything more, we were just off on the day which is the disappointment”.
It was certainly an off-day from Clare but one which can’t cloud their view of the whole year, he said. “We don’t think we performed, we don’t use it as an excuse for the way we played but the conditions probably didn’t help us in the first half, we were ten points down at half time and it was always going to be a struggle, we didn’t get that run in the second half to pull it back. Waterford are obviously very good, they beat Kilkenny by six points the last day, they were favourites to win it and they brought it again today, we were just off but we were very proud of the finish, the lads never gave up, we told them that we can’t let the defeat overshadow the year but it is disappointing”.
Figuring out the why and how Clare didn’t hit the levels they are capable of is an area the Ger O’Connell led management will mull over. “We were going through everything at half time, it was like quick sand, the more we tried the deeper we got stuck into it, they had a great year, we’re so proud of them, twenty eight players took to the field and I thought they kept going till the end even when Waterford got that score and the whole stand stood up we responded and that is all you can ask for in those circumstances”.
Trailing by ten points at half time, Clare started the second half with three points in succession, two from John Barry and one from Ian O’Brien. It took fifteen minutes until the next score from Clare while Waterford had extended the gap back to nine points in the interval. “We got momentum, we needed ten minutes of it but we probably got three or four where we did pull it back but they’re a very physical team so it takes energy to do that, they were tackling hard, they are big men so conditions did suit them which is not an excuse but we never got that momentum for a ten minute period to pull back 1-4 or 1-5, it’s hard to know what we could have done,” Ennis’ Paul added.
Reflecting on the overall year, he said, “It is a success but it is very hard to say right now it is a success, I won’t say we would have took this at the start of the year but the lads have learned so much, 28 players got game time in championship, they will be better for that and some of them will go up to U20 next year and they will recover, they’re young”.
Now six years involved with the county development squads, Paul outlined that All-Ireland deciders is where Clare need to aspire to be competing in. “It’s where we wanted to be at the start of the year, we had setbacks at the start of the year, we had to change things around and we learned a lot as a management team, we got fantastic support from the County Board through that because sometimes with a new management team there can be doubt but we always got massive support from Deirdre (Murphy) and everybody. Today was disappointing but we’re very proud of the lads and how they finished it out”.
