*Ger O’Connell and Cian Mullins. Photograph: Ruth Griffin.
CLARE’s minor hurlers have embraced a win at all costs mentality as they look to keep their season alive.
A first win in three championship outings on Friday saw Clare defeat Waterford 1-20 2-12 in Sixmilebridge marking a full clean sweep of Banner wins over the Déise in senior, U20 and minor championship hurling this year.
It’s a result that has Clare vying to finish in third spot in Munster for the second year running which would be sufficient to see them qualify for a preliminary All-Ireland quarter-final. A place in the Munster final is highly unlikely as Clare have a bye for the final round of games.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, minor hurling manager Ger O’Connell insisted their chances of qualifying were well and truly alive. “It’s not slim, if you win two games you’re going to get out, we’ve put ourselves in the mix which is great, this is hard because when you lose two games and confidence is massive with young lads, for them to rebound like this and to know when your back is to the wall that you come out swinging and we did, they came out fighting and we got the win we needed to get, we knew our year was on the line and we have something to cling on to down in Cork, we’ll go down with more confidence than we came in to today”.
This Friday they head for Páirc Uí Rinn looking to record successive victories. There was a sense of relief and delight at the final whistle in O’Garney Park with Oran Duignan and Cian Maxted among the players jumping into the air when Canice Walsh blew an end to proceeedings. “We were in a position we didn’t want to be in after losing two games, the response from the boys since the Limerick game like these guys are only sixteen and seventeen years of age but the response has been really mature in how we’ve dealt with it, they’ve knuckled down and they are such a really good group, I thought we deserved the win, the effort was through the roof, no lack of quality and I thought as a team we were really good and I’m really proud of them”.
There was an improvement in physicality from Clare as they secured their first win, O’Connell felt. “I’ve said it from the word go that we had to up our physicality, the boys are a lovely group and lovely fellas but you don’t want to be known as a nice team, there has to be a bit of bite and there was today, it is a sign of maturity in the group that they are beginning to understand this isn’t easy, it is so hard to win games in Munster against teams like Waterford, they are a good team who beat Limerick and they beat us well two weeks ago. I’m really proud of them, our year was on the line and we knew that, the boys have responded as a full panel, we had internal games and put pressure on them which was important. I can’t say enough about how they are maturing as the weeks go on and we’re seeing it, they are beginning to understand how hard you have to work to get these games, I’m really proud of them. Waterford were always going to come back at us in the second half, we always managed to get a score when we needed it”.
Finding themselves in must-win territory has forced a different approach, the Clonlara man admitted. “It completely changed the mindset, you have to go and do everything you can, we’ve a lot of good individuals so it is about trying to get them to gel as a team, we saw that coming together today but there is a lot more in them. We’ve put an awful lot of work into this since January, the hours put into this by the boys, their parents and everyone involved, this is deserved from the efforts put in by the full group”.
