*Jamie Moylan celebrates scoring Clare’s second goal. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
MORE NOTED for scoring the odd inspirational point from wing back as opposed to goals, Jamie Moylan landed a killer blow when helping Clare’s U20 to All-Ireland success over the June Bank Holiday weekend.
After Paul Rodgers won back possession for Clare in their own half of the field, wing back Moylan then produced a powerful run which saw him show the smarts to bounce the sliotar on the ground before controlling it on his hurley and the move ended up with him rifling the sliotar beyond Chris Callanan bringing Banner supporters to their feet to shake Semple Stadium.
Reflecting on the goal, Jamie told The Clare Echo, “It was right before half time, it gave us a good boost going in because the game flattened out a bit or they were coming back into it, if I get up there I’ll hit it as hard as I can and hope for the best”.
Moylan admitted he hasn’t scored many goals in his career but few will rank as special as one which really turned an All-Ireland final in favour of his county. I’ve been told I miss a few, anytime I do get up that side of the field I do tend to miss a few but today I knew when I got past your man that I just had to keep the head down and hit it hard as I could”.
His major was followed by a Rodgers point before half-time and Clare kicked on with 2-2 on the bounce to create a remarkable unanswered tally of 3-3. “It is something we have spoken about, when we go in at half time we have tended to let teams back into it but it is constantly going around the team on the field and letting them know to keep it going, keep the energy up, all it takes is one man to start it and if the team catches on to it then it gives you a big lift”.
Wing-back on the All-Ireland and Munster winning sides of 2023 (minor) and 2026 (U20), the magnitude of the success was not lost on the powerful Cratloe defender. “These are special days, it is something we prided ourselves on during the year on that we knew we had a special group, to win Munster after losing last year the way we did was fantastic, to win today is just even better”.
According to the second year UL student there was a sense of pressure to back up their minor glory when it came to their final year at U20. “Coming into the final somebody mentioned it that this U20 team has played something like 17 U20 games, we knew at the start of the year that we have the experience but it came from Gunning our captain, he is such a good role model for everyone, instead of putting pressure on it, he focused on the energy that we are capable of this, it is not a pressure thing, we know we’re good enough and we know what we can do, we went out with full confidence in everyone, we trust each other and we will fight for each other”.
Alongside Mark Sheedy and Ronan Kilroy, he is one of three U20s on the Clare senior panel. He praised both managers, Terence Fahy and Brian Lohan for finding the right balance and expressed his hope that this victory would propel the seniors to a longer championship run. “It is a credit to Terence and Brian, they are amazing at managing it, if we play an U20 game we’re told straight away you will train here or there, our load is always managed and it has never been a problem. Being in the senior set-up is such a privilege to learn from the likes of John Conlon, these older backs that you have looked up to since you were a child, it is a pleasure to be involved with them and hopefully with this we can push on for the quarter-final whether it be Galway or Dublin, it will be a big lift for Clare”.
