New-look minors ready for Cat scan

With an average of eight championship matches over the past three years, the equivalent of a whole decade of previous outings from 2012-2021, Clare’s minor hurling evolution if not revolution has been an unprecedented success regardless of whether silverware was garnered or not.
Of course, last year’s historic Munster and All-Ireland triumph and its manner was understandably heralded as one of the counties greatest ever achievements but with the emphasis on development just as much as success, Clare’s seventh championship outing against Kilkenny on Sunday has been a validation in itself that the county’s underage system is motoring nicely.
“To get seven championship games is just brilliant and added into the last two years in which we got nine (2022) and eight (2023) matches, it’s just fantastic for the players’ development and getting exposed to big games.” Admitted Clare Coach Damian O’Halloran ahead of Sunday’s return to Semple Stadium. “Every day you go out as a player or in management, you learn from your mistakes and there’s no better place to demonstrate those learnings than in a big game like this on Sunday.
“One has to remember that this is their first real test of championship action as underage inter-county hurlers so it’s vital for their development to get as many big games and occasions as possible because it’s important to get used to the attention that minor hurling attracts.”
A third successive All-Ireland Semi-Final appearance is a proud achievement in itself considering the dearth of opportunities for previous minor generations but while the spine of the 2022 squad were still in situ for last year’s breakthrough, getting back to this lofty stage with virtually a whole new squad has been a welcome bonus.
“Last year we had seven starting survivors from the previous year so it was obviously easier to embed our principles upon the new lads and it naturally just flowed from 2022 whereas this year everything was new to the vast majority.
“We did have Marc O’Brien, Harry Doherty and Conor Ralph from last year’s squad but other than that everyone was completely new so it took a process and a lot of challenge matches and video analysis to get the work-rate up and get them in tune with what we were trying to get out of them. “The crucial thing is that they have learned from every game that they’ve played and as I said there’s no better way to learn than from mistakes.
“The Munster Final was obviously a difficult day so taking the learnings from that for example were clear in the Wexford game and the lads have really embraced the tweaks that we’ve implemented since the Tipp game.”
Having completed a flawless group campaign, Clare were clearly off colour in that ill-fated Munster decider a month ago but with their championship lives on the line refreshingly returned to form and winning ways against Wexford in the Quarter-Final two weeks ago.
“We certainly didn’t impose ourselves on Tipperary in the Munster Final like we had done in all the group games.” Continued Inagh-Kilnamona clubman O’Halloran who also helped coach Galway to All-Ireland Minor titles in 2017 and ’18. “So we certainly didn’t bring our best performances, there’s no doubt about it but having said that Tipperary were probably gunning for us after we had beaten them at home in the group stages.
“So they were certainly determined to exact revenge on us so it was a real mix of them being really up for it and us a little below par.”
Having been in a similar scenario in 2022 after suffered a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out Munster Final reverse to Tipperary, Clare duly suffered a sobering defeat to Galway a week later in the opening round of the All-Ireland qualifiers.
There would be no provincial decider hangover this time around as with an extra week to recover and re-arm, O’Halloran and his side managed to avoid any shock exit from their first All-Ireland Minor Championship defence.
“This time we had more time to digest what had happened and to implement the learnings which was essential. We actually got five sessions in where we were able to work on the mistakes that we made and that really helped us against Wexford because it’s always difficult coming off a loss but getting back to winning ways was huge as it just brought back that bit of momentum once more.
“We’ve now had nine trainings and a match since the Munster Final so it has given us ample time to work on things. That said, Kilkenny are coming off the back of a three week break as well so it’s very much a level playing ground in that regard.
“What has helped majorly is that the All-Ireland games are less condensed this year. I mean last year we played the All-Ireland Final on June 4th so the break does help to prepare properly for the next game.”
And the extra familiarity of Semple Stadium being their third outing there in 2024 alone as opposed to being Kilkenny’s first taste of the ‘Field of Legends’?
“It is a help. Semple Stadium can be a daunting stadium but these lads have played there twice now and Harry Doherty remarked after the last day that he’d loved to come back there again.
So the lads like playing there and are perhaps a tad bit more comfortable with their surroundings than Kilkenny so while it’s a small thing, it’s certainly a help to us.
“Ultimately it will boil down to the performance we can bring regardless of the pitch or surroundings as that is ultimately out of our control.”
Clare’s return to the semi-final is greeted by facing the same opponents once more, this time in a role reversal though as while Clare had the momentum of being crowned Munster champions in 2023 for the first time in twelve years, Kilkenny were off the back of having to endure back-to-back Leinster championship defeats to Galway.
This time around, Kilkenny only peaked in the knock-outs stages, exacting revenge against Galway and Dublin to win back the Leinster crown whereas Clare were on the end of a heartbreaking Munster Final defeat to Kilkenny.
“Kilkenny bring a serious challenge, they’re Leinster champions and therefore our concentration is on what they can bring and how we can impose ourselves on the game and impose our gameplan upon them.
“We actually played Kilkenny down in Clarecastle astro before the Munster Championship and they were very physical and very good. They were also very well coached and organised and we had a great battle with them. Similarly we played Galway as well and I think the lads grew in confidence through those challenge matches which were right before the championship and brought that form to Munster.
“Obviously we had a blip in the Munster Final itself but hopefully now we can push on again the next day.
“We’re looking forward to Sunday now. We know that it’s going to be tough but that’s the reason that we’ve been training all year for. We want to test ourselves against the best and realise how far we have come and how far we have yet to travel.
“We won’t get any better test than Kilkenny so hopefully we can step up accordingly.”