Brave Clare fail to replicate Munster form

CLARE have won just a single All-Ireland minor hurling title. So to come within a sliver of a Croke Park post of reaching their second All-Ireland final in succession and a crack at adding to the county’s 1997 win, will linger immovably in the thoughts of this year’s minors for months, maybe years.
Had Tony Kelly’s injury-time free, struck with a nerveless touch from the Cusack Stand sideline, inched over Clare would be preparing for the All-Ireland final in perfect circumstances, not having played to their optimum level in the semi. Instead, it clipped the post and came back into play, granting Galway 20 bonus minutes to successfully distance themselves from Clare.
During the second half of normal time and throughout extra time, Galway beckoned seven of their subs from the bench. This contrasted with Clare’s lack of equal depth. They used four substitutes, one of whom was Gearóid O’Connell in extra time, although he had been substituted 14 minutes from the end of normal time. Seven points from Galway’s 1-23 total were hit by their subs, with Jack Carr pointing three times.
So while Clare were extremely unlucky to concede Gerard O’Donoghue’s injury-time goal and, in fact, Carr could have been penalised for barging, Galway were significantly the better team in extra time. In fact, Galway outscored Clare 1-18 to 1-9 in the closing 50 minutes after Clare led 0-9 to 0-5 at half-time.
Galway visibly stood off Clare in the opening half but trailed by just four at half-time, having shot seven wides. A statistic that didn’t help Clare in the opening half, when they had the better of the play, was their loss of six of their 12 puck-outs, while they conceded three scoreable frees inside the ’65.
Although Clare weren’t as fluent as against Waterford in the Munster final, Jack Browne looked as poised at full-back as he does in the corner, while Shane O’Brien looked neat and tidy at corner-back. Yet as the game wore on, Browne and Seadna Morey found that Galway’s Shane Maloney was exceptionally difficult to keep tabs on, while only Jarlath Colleran hurled close to his maximum in the half-back line.
While the effort level of every Clare player cannot be questioned, the touch and certainty of their Munster final display didn’t travel with them to Croke Park.
That said, Colm Galvin and Tony Kelly zipped over five classy points from play between them, while Aaron Cunningham, especially when moved to wing-forward, Cathal O’Connell, Shane O’Donnell and Peter Duggan all showed their class. The problem was, especially in extra time, the Clare forwards didn’t receive sufficient quality possession and the more Galway established control, the more the Clare attackers bunched. With the shape gone from their attacking game, Clare were reliant upon winning breaks from hopeful deliveries, rather than building scores using quick ball and space. Alternatively they looked dangerous when Kelly, Galvin or Cunningham came onto the play from deep.
Physically Galway were much bigger than Clare but their hurling was equally impressive once they got going.
Whatever about the result, perhaps the day was best encapsulated when both teams received a sustained round of applause at the end of the 60 minutes. Both gave it everything in a game that featured some excellent hurling and a superb save from Clare goalkeeper Eibhear Quilligan in extra time.
Still, this defeat will hurt the now outgoing minor panel. In the years ahead, the Clare U-21 and senior squads will benefit from the input of several of this year’s minors. Yet they will know that they were good enough to edge out Galway, who are now likely to improve hugely as a result of the character and mettle they showed against Clare.
It is worth remembering that Clare is now home to double Munster minor champions. This is something to build on though, not a reason to weigh down this group of players with unreasonable expectation.