*Clare captain Donncha O’Dwyer. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
HONESTY and workrate were set out as key attributes needed by Clare’s minor footballers when Joe Hayes and his management met the squad following their appointment in October, they received it in spades for their second half display when defeating Limerick by eight points on Monday.
Páirc Naomh Mhuire in Quilty was a sunny setting as ex Clare goalkeeper Hayes began his managerial career at inter-county level. A somewhat sluggish opening half was followed by a clinical second half display from the hosts on their way to recording a 1-17 1-9 victory.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Hayes outlined, “We’re very happy, I’m just delighted with the boys, I think they really worked hard, their tackling and workrate in the second half was second to none, of course we’re happy to win the first game but I’m just happier to win it the way we won it in that we outworked them in the second half”.
There’s more to come from Clare on the football side of things according to the Lissycasey native. “That’s them in terms of honesty, there’s a bit more in terms of football, we left a bit behind us in the first half, that will come, we’ve another game against Waterford on Monday so we’ve to park this, we’ll start focusing on that as a management, the boys are in the gym on Wednesday and on the field on Thursday night to go through a few things, it is a quick turnaround. Clare aren’t gone forward tonight and Limerick aren’t knocked out tonight, there is a lot at stake next Monday night”.
A two pointer from Conor Burke and a white flag from Liam Keane were Clare’s only scores from play in the opening half whereas they increased their attacking threat on the restart with Liam Casey, Cathal McNamara and Aaron Kelly all kicking points with captain Donncha O’Dwyer finishing an excellent effort to the back of the net. “We had a chat at half time, a few of the lads really took it over themselves, we had a few rushed shots in the first half and we were dropping them short, now we did drop a few short in the second half but I thought we were more clinical, we brought it in closer and got it off to the shooter in the best possession”:
So long as Clare continue to bring an honest approach they will be in a strong position, the former county netminder maintained. “The whole thing that myself and my management said when we came in was whatever about anything we wanted to make them honest, if you’re honest anything can happen, they’ve been exceptional, I know every minor manager will say that his team are a great bunch of lads but they really are, they are a good bunch of young lads, I’m delighted for them but I will be telling them at our next session that Monday could be a different story and we could be sulking and giving out at each other, we have to keep our standards high and prepare as we have done”.
Aaron Kelly, Ollie Sherlock, Rian O’Neill, Gareth Murphy and Seán Hegarty were all introduced from the bench as Clare used their full cohort of subs. “We used all our subs and we left a few on the bench that might be a bit thick, there’s a few in the stand that might be cross but that is part of it. That is unfortunate, we can only name twenty four, we’ve a panel of thirty five so I had to disappoint eleven fellas on Saturday morning, they accepted it and they will be back motoring for a jersey, they’re a good bunch of lads, it’s impossible to keep everyone happy but we’ll do our best”.
There was a strong air of positivity in Quilty as comes with all good championship wins but Hayes said the outcome is now parked as they divert their attention to facing Waterford in Lemybrien on Monday (7pm). “100 percent it’s parked and we’ve to drive on because you’ve no choice, we’ve a seven day turnaround to get our heads right, if we talk for the next two to three days about how great we were in the second half we’re wasting valuable time, we’ll get our heads down for the rest of the week, we’ll travel to Waterford on Monday, it won’t be easy down there, they should have beaten us here last year, a few of our lads I’m sure were playing that day and they’ll remember it, we’ve to park this and get working again”.
He added, “You can’t take anyone for granted at underage level, you’ve a bunch of sixteen or seventeen year olds so there’s no ten year advancement in strength and conditioning like there is with senior teams so they are all the same age, they are still developing, if we can bring the honesty and workrate I don’t think we’ll be too far away”.
