ALL-Ireland and Munster U-21 hurling champions, provincial minor finalists for the third year in-a-row and Division 2 League winners, leading to promotion back to Division 1, made 2012 a very good year for Clare on the inter-county hurling front.

 

 

ALL-Ireland and Munster U-21 hurling champions, provincial minor finalists for the third year in-a-row and Division 2 League winners, leading to promotion back to Division 1, made 2012 a very good year for Clare on the inter-county hurling front.

The U-21 victory was, undoubtedly, the high point of the season. A runaway 2-22 to 0-9 win over a fancied Waterford side at Cusack Park earned Clare a provincial final date with Tipperary, also at the Ennis venue.
Clare were hot favourites to win this final but that was the case in many of their previous 15 provincial final appearances. Their only Munster success in this grade had come in 2009 and disappointment looked to be on the way again when Clare trailed by a point as the game drifted into extra time. Three substitutes, Peter Duggan, Cathal McInerney and Niall Arthur, combined for the latter to score a goal, which gave Clare a 1-16 to 1-14 win.

In the semi-final against Antrim, Clare were easy 4-24 to 0-8 winners and this victory saw them return to Thurles two weeks later for an All-Ireland final date with Kilkenny.

In a cracking contest, the Banner outfit proved the masters and were deserving winners on a scoreline of 2-17 to 2-11, bringing this All-Ireland title to Clare for only the second time in the history of the competition. Seadna Morey was later named as the Bord Gais U-21 Breaking Through Player of the Year, beating off a short list of six candidates including his Clare team mates, Patrick O’Connor and Tony Kelly. Kelly was voted the Munster U-21 Hurler of the Year.

More history created

WHILE they didn’t manage to win a title, the minor hurlers created history when they contested the provincial decider for the third year in-a-row. Chasing a third win in succession, they went down to the eventual All-Ireland champions, Tipperary, at Páirc Uí Caoimh.

In the opening round, Clare entertained Waterford at Cusack Park and at the end of a game that required extra time, the visitors were a point ahead, 1-20 and 3-13.

Clare faced Cork in the losers’ round and were 0-18 to 1-9 winners in a game also played at Cusack Park. This win gave them a semi-final date with Limerick and, again, Cusack Park was the venue. Clare were 1-19 to 2-14 winners and progressed to the Munster final for the third year in-a-row, the first time Clare had ever managed this at minor level. However, Tipperary justified the favourites’ tag when winning on a 1-16 to 1-12 scoreline.
In the All-Ireland quarter-final, Clare got back to winning ways when easily beating Down, 3-19 to 0-5, at Mullingar. This win resulted in an All-Ireland semi-final date against Dublin at Croke Park.

Refereeing decisions in the closing stages led to much debate but at the end of the day, the sky blue outfit were winners on a 4-14 to 2-17 scoreline. Clare wasted a number of scoring opportunities in the opening half of this tie, which proved costly.

League promotion for seniors

HAVING failed at the final hurdle to win promotion to the top division in the league a year earlier, going that extra step was clearly a target as the 2012 season got underway.

Davy Fitzgerald was now at the helm, having taken over from his All-Ireland-winning team mate from the ’90s, Ger O’Loughlin. There has always been great rivalry between Shannonside neighbours, Clare and Limerick, and followers got to witness this on five occasions during the season.

The first meeting came at the beginning of February in a quarter-final game in the Waterford Crystal Tournament. The sides finished level and the respective managers, Fitzgerald and John Allen, persuaded Munster Council officials and the referee to play extra time. At the end of this period, they were still level.

Two days later, they met under lights in the replay at the Gaelic Grounds before an attendance of 1,700. At the final whistle, Clare were ahead by a point, 2-13 to 1-15. Clare then beat Waterford in the semi-final, before losing out to Tipperary in the decider.

Three weeks after their meetings, Clare and Limerick met again, this time in the opening round of the league. Given the closeness of their previous two games, another close tie was expected but a tremendous display from Clare helped them run out comfortable winners on a 2-24 to 1-13 scoreline.

They met again in the final and for much of this game, Limerick looked like they would avenge the earlier results. They led by eight points early in the second half but a tremendous finish saw Clare bounce back to win on a 0-21 to 1-16 scoreline.

In the championship, Clare went down to Waterford in the provincial semi-final at Thurles. The Déise were two points clear at the final whistle, 2-17 to 1-18, but it was a game Clare could have won.

One of the big talking points after this game concerned the celebrations by Waterford’s John Mullane at the final whistle when he ‘danced’ in front of the boss who had guided Waterford to Munster success when he was their manager for the previous four years.

The qualifiers pitted Clare against Dublin, whose boss was none other than former Clare captain and manager, Anthony Daly. Cusack Park was the venue and a near full house celebrated a Clare win, 1-16 to 0-16. This result saw Clare through to play Limerick for the fifth time in the season.

Despite lots of criticism from both sets of supporters, the game went ahead in Thurles and Limerick avenged the earlier results when they scored a 3-18 to 1-20 win, ending Clare’s season.

In October, Clare defender Brendan Bugler was honoured with an All-Star award when he was named at wing-back on the team honoured at a gala function in Dublin.