Dunne says Banner can ‘go on from here’

Wexford travelled to Thurles on Saturday determined to account for Clare and progress to the All-Ireland quarter final.

“I felt travelling down here today that it was going to be our day. Ye [journalists] said we were only coming to fulfill a fixture. I felt that we would beat Dublin in the first round and, only for Mark Schutte dropped his hurl on the way to scoring a goal with two minutes to go, Dublin would not be Leinster champions. Nobody commented much on that,” Wexford boss Liam Dunne said after Saturday’s game.

The Wexford All-Ireland medal winner from 1996 felt that “we really needed to get ahead. There were five or six points in it throughout the second half. I am disappointed with the end result.”

He also expressed disappointment over some refereeing decisions. “The referee had a good game but our full-back was down a long time with an injury which I am now told is a cruciate knee ligament injury. The referee allowed play to continue and Clare got two points in that time. That’s a little harsh on Wexford. Maybe in time we will get those decisions.”

According to the former defender, “Wexford will move on”.
“We gave a good account of ourselves. We have a young team and they will learn from today. There is a lot to look forward to. Our minors beat Kilkenny in Nowlan Park for the first time in 20 years and our U-21s won the Leinster title the other night.

“We have to build a new team. We have a young team and they will learn. Clare are young as well and they can go on from here. Clare got the goals and goals win the games.

“Clare have a great opportunity, they got a good game today. We didn’t come down here to make up numbers and whoever Clare draw the next day won’t be coming here to make up numbers either but Clare can go on from here and I wish Davy and the team well.

Meanwhile Clare selector Mike Deegan felt the team was playing out time at the end and got caught.
“We thought the game was over. That’s one of the things we have to learn from this evening, we must learn to close out games. We played poorly and there was no real flow. When we were winning around the middle we had a good flow. The heat was obviously a factor but it was the same for both teams. We should have played a lot better.”

The Cratloe man was impressed with the contribution of the Clare substitutes. “Everyone of the subs contributed. That’s what you are looking for, to create an impact when they come. That’s what we want. It will make it tougher to pick the team the next day. Cathal (McInerney), Fergal (Lynch) and Nicky (O’Connell) did well. That’s what we want. They are pushing. The worst thing we can do is to go into a room to pick the team and have it done in a minute. We want decisions to be made.

“It’s going to be tough. It will be a sapping week for some of the players. We have to be careful and they have to be careful themselves. It could be the difference this year,” he concluded.