*Jack O’Neill was Clare’s star man with a personal haul of 0-6. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CLARE’s U20 hurlers are through to the Munster semi-final where they will be away to Cork.
Clare 0-27
Limerick 1-20
Venue: TUS Gaelic Grounds, Limerick
By no means a classic, Clare stumbled over the line against Limerick on Wednesday evening to take their place in the penultimate stage.
Tipperary manager, Brendan Cummins was among the 1,843 spectators who swapped the warmest day of the year for some hurling, unfortunately they were not rewarded for their choice.
It was hard to tell that this was essentially a knockout tie for both counties, whether it was that each side put too much pressure on the stakes there was no fluency or flow to the game and instead it was littered with bad wides and over-complicated play.
On the plus side, Jack O’Neill delivered his best performance of the U20 championship for Clare and with him on form their chances of qualifying for a provincial final are much greater. Management will have also realised from this tie that Fred Hegarty is more effective at wing forward rather than the inside line where he featured in recent outings.
O’Neill was Clare’s best player over the hour with Mark Sheedy and Ronan Kilroy also doing well while Jamie Moylan though not overly involved in proceedings contributed well when on the ball.
Regarding use of the ball, Clare are over-complicating matters and overdoing it when it comes to recycling ball back, they were caught on a handful of occasions by playing too many handpasses in small areas of space resulting in turnovers.
More encouraging on the coaching front is the continued input of Conor Shannon, as has been mentioned in previous reports by The Clare Echo, Clare are finishing games strong thanks to the bank of fitness which has been overseen by the Lisdoonvarna S&C coach.
With four games under their belt, it is slightly alarming that Terence Fahy and his management are none the wiser as to what Clare’s strongest midfield pairing is. In every championship clash, at least one of the midfielders has been substituted, Éire Óg’s Robert Loftus more noted as a wing back was in the middle of the pitch on this occasion and he was withdrawn at half-time.
Clare were let build up leads of four points by the tenth and seventeeth minute while they extended their margin to nine points by the twenty sixth minutes and appeared to be in a very commanding position.
However Limerick produced five points without reply to ensure the half time deficit was cut to just four, giving the accurate sense that the outcome was going to be far from plain sailing.
Inside the first quarter, Limerick missed seven scoreable opportunities while over the course of the hour, their wide count stood at fourteen.
O’Neill’s sixth point of the evening put Clare 0-20 0-16 in front on forty minutes, it was followed by Ronan Kilroy’s first white flag but Limerick punished a hesitant Banner defence as Eoin McMahon was caught waiting for the sliotar with Robert O’Farrell taking the ball from his grasp and calmly slotting beyond Mark Sheedy who had produced two excellent saves during the game.
This major brought Limerick to within two points and ignited belief that they could claim a win. Michael Collins and Mark O’Brien swapped scores before Limerick reduced the gap to a single point thanks to Ruairí O’Connor.
Responding for Clare at the other end were Seán Boyce and Michael Collins to calm the nerves , O’Brien replied for Limerick but James Hegarty converted his first two placed balls of the evening to create the four point margin again entering additional time.
Four points remained the distance between the teams at the final whistle after scores at each end from Boyce and O’Connor.
Scorers Clare: J O’Neill (0-6), F Hegarty (0-6 6f), J Organ (0-3), S Boyce (0-3), M Collins (0-3), D Stritch (0-2), J Hegarty (0-2 1’65), R Kilroy (0-1)
Scorers Limerick:
Clare:
1: Mark Sheedy (Sixmilebridge)
2: Eoghan Gunning (Broadford)
4: Joe Casey (Kilmaley)
3: John Cahill (Clooney/Quin)
5: Jamie Moylan (Cratloe)
6: James Hegarty (Inagh/Kilnamona)
7: Eoin McMahon (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
8: Robert Loftus (Éire Óg)
10: Ronan Kilroy (Banner)
12: James Organ (Corofin)
9: Jack O’Neill (Clooney/Quin)
14: Fred Hegarty (Inagh/Kilnamona)
13: Seán Boyce (O’Callaghans Mills)
11: Diarmuid Stritch (Clonlara)
15: Michael Collins (Clonlara)
Subs:
23: Daniel Costelloe (Ballyea) for Loftus (HT)
20: Liam Crotty (Scariff) for Organ (41)
19: Tadhg Lohan (Cratloe) for F Hegarty (56)
24: Fiachra Ó Braoin (Sixmilebridge) for McMahon (58)
Limerick:
1: Fionn O’Brien (Mungret)
2: John Murray (Patrickswell)
3: Seán Casey (Bruff)
4: Dan Scully (Dromin Athlacca)
5: Jack Cosgrave (Ahane)
6: Aidan O’Connell (Doon)
7: Darragh Langan (Monaleen)
8: Seán Duff (Mungret St Paul’s)
9: James Finn (Na Piarsaigh)
10: Matthew Fitzgerald (Monaleen)
11: Dara Ferland (Monaleen)
12: Hugh Flanagan (Garryspillane)
15: Fintan Fitzgerald (Mungret St Paul’s)
13: Mark O’Brien (Mungret St Paul’s)
14: Robert O’Farrell (Kildimo/Pallaskenry)
Subs:
22: Diarmuid Hurley (Hospital Herberstown) for O’Connell (33)
18: Tadhg Boddy (Dromin Athlacca) for Duff (39)
24: Ruairí O’Connor (Feenagh Kilmeedy) for Finn (45).
Referee: Nicky O’Toole (Waterford)
