*Clare minor hurling manager, Ger O’Connell. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CLARE’s minor hurlers were disappointed to miss out on an unprecedented fourth Munster final in a row but are turning their attention to the All-Ireland series.
Last Friday’s six point loss to Waterford denied Clare a place in the Munster final for the fourth year running.
Having finished their provincial run with two wins and two losses, Ger O’Connell’s side are now preparing for a preliminary All-Ireland quarter-final.
Ahead by a point with six minutes to play, Clare conceded 1-4 without reply including a goal from corner forward Cormac Spain which O’Connell labelled as “a crucial score”. He lamented, “Goals like that have gone in. It’s a hard one to take. We were in a really good position with ten minutes to go and they got that goal. We lost a small bit of composure after that. They got the next two scores from puckouts. It’s just really disappointing”.
Waterford really punished Clare in the air and were far superior in this sector. “Their aerial ability caused us problems. There are things we probably could have done to stop their number eleven (Jack Power) getting on the ball. Look our boys showed great character. We went four down at the start of the second half, we came back and we were well in control of the game. We went three up. In fairness to Waterford, the got momentum, you could hear the crowd supporting them. These lads are young and they will learn from this as we in management will. I am really proud of the lads for the effort they put in. That five to six minute spell at the end won the game”.
Clare’s All-Ireland winning minor goalkeeper from 1997 was keen to pay tribute to Waterford. “They are on a high and they are a good team. When one is involved at this level with development squads you learn about other teams and we knew Waterford are good. Coming down here was never going to be easy. For the majority of the game we were in contention, a couple of things just went against us. The final scoreline isn’t an accurate reflection of the game. We went from being a point up to five down in two or three minutes. This game can change so quick and unfortunately for us, that happened today. Everyone is disappointed, we wanted to come down here and get the result and get to the Munster final,. We have a good group and we are not far off”.
Though the aim was to appear in the provincial decider, Clare are determined to bounce back, the Clonlara man told The Clare Echo. “We have a preliminary All-Ireland quarter final now. We will assess this game and learn from it. We have two weeks now to get things right and get back on the horse. These boys are brilliant, their effort, their attitude is top class, It’s disappointing now but it’s not the end of the year for us”.
