*Seán McAllister. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
THEY MAY be without a win in two outings but Clare’s U20 footballers are fully confident of progressing to phase two of the Munster championship.
Daithí Hogan’s last minute fisted point saw Tipperary defeat Clare in FBD Semple Stadium on Saturday, a week on from Waterford collecting their first win in the grade since 2021 at Clare’s expense in Doonbeg.
Clare return to championship action this Saturday (2pm) when they welcome Limerick to Hennessy Memorial Park in Miltown Malbay where the right result can help salvage their season.
A victory is essential for Clare to have any hope of advancing to phase two but they must also rely on Tipperary defeating Waterford. Such a scenario would leave the Premier County as the top team and automatically through to phase two with Clare, Limerick and Waterford tied on points. Heading into the final round, Waterford (+1) have the best scoring difference of the three, followed by Clare (-4) and Limerick (-9).
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Clare U20 manager Maurice Walsh was adamant they were going to produce a performance against Limerick. “We played well last week but we got caught, we fell asleep and let in four goals, that didn’t happen today (against Tipperary) because I thought we played excellent, it shows because Tipperary didn’t get a goal, we put an emphasis on that all week and we conceded no goals which is a huge plus for us, we’re going to drive on next week and God help Limerick because we’re coming for them”.
Walsh insisted his panel of players had nothing to be fearful of heading into the decisive final round in phase one. “There is nothing for us to be afraid of, we’re bottom of the table but if we win next week and a nice scoreline will bring us through, that is a very good Tipperary team, the standard today is much better than the standard the last day, we slipped up the last day, we’re going to rectify it next week”.
Reflecting on their showing against Tipperary, the Éire Óg clubman said, “It was an excellent game, both teams really went hard at it, both teams were as good as the other but we just didn’t get the break at the end of the day, they got a fabulous point to win the game, we had a chance just before that and we missed, I think if we got that then we’d have won the game, we live and learn, we’re there against next week, the other result has suited us so we’re not gone out of this competition by any means. If the lads can reproduce that performance again next week then we’re confident we might get out of this group just yet”.
