Minor and intermediate hurlers celebrate successes

THE members of Clare’s Munster Minor Hurling Championship-winning squad and the players, who brought a first Munster and All-Ireland Intermediate Hurling title to Clare in 2011 were presented with their medals at a gala function attended by over 300 people at the West County Hotel, Ennis last Saturday night.
The presentations were made by two of Clare’s All-Ireland winning heroes from the ’90s, team captain Anthony Daly, who is now the Dublin senior hurling manager, and goalkeeper Davy Fitzgerald, recently appointed Clare senior manager.
The respective team captains, Tony Kelly (minor) and Tony Carmody paid tribute to the management teams for their efforts and the county board officials for their support.
Joint minor managers, Gerry O’Connor and Donal Moloney, along with intermediate manager, Kevin Kennedy addressed the attendance.
Speaking to the players, O’Connor asked if their achievement gave them a taste for more and, if so, said they must make a lifestyle choice. “Ye have won a Grammy and ye must now decide if ye want to go to the village hall and play the Christmas pantomime scene or ye can decide to go all the way to Croke Park and win an Oscar at senior hurling,” he said.
Moloney recalled the journey the minors took over the previous two years. “There was great joy and some heart-breaking defeats and there is great hope for the future. The level of pressure was way higher this year from 2010,” he said. He described the 20-minute display in the first half of the Munster final in Páirc Uí Caoimh as the best he has seen.
“That 20 minutes was magic and every time I need a bit of a lift I look at the DVD,” he said.
“We lost to Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final because we couldn’t get a four-point lead in the last 10 minutes of the game. We knew we were playing the best panel of minor players in Ireland and moaning about it, complaining about it won’t get us anywhere. Galway had the best panel of players that day,” he said.
Looking to the future, the Scariff man added, “There is great optimism and great hope. These guys gave us great hope and we need to give them our support in the coming years.”
Intermediate manager Kevin Kennedy paid a warm tribute to the players, who were part of the panel that went on to win the All-Ireland title. He said he always had a special interest in the grade and saw players such as Jackie O’Gorman and Milo Keane first come to inter-county prominence, while playing at that level for Clare.
Speaking to the attendance, Clare GAA chairman Michael O’Neill said, “Whatever way you look at this, it is a first. We have never previously won Munster minor titles back to back and we never previously won the All-Ireland Intermediate title.” He paid glowing tributes to the players and managements of both teams and acknowledged Pat O’Donnell and Dr Padraic Quinn for their support for Clare GAA. Before the end of the celebration, special presentations were made by the chairman to both men.
Before concluding, he asked supporters to be patient in the coming years. “Clare will be winning All-Ireland titles in the future but patience is what is needed at this stage. Ger O’Loughlin did an awful lot of work and Davy is taking over now. We must all work together, as the GAA is all of us. It’s every community in this county and country,” the chairman said.
Munster Council vice-chairman Robert Frost also paid a warm tribute to all on what was “a magnificent year for the county”.
Davy Fitzgerald told the gathering, “It’s great to be back in Clare and it’s been a great two or three years for Clare. We haven’t been at the top over the last 10 or 12 years. The lads have done a great job in preparing these teams. How lads conduct themselves is something I will be looking at over the next three years. We will have guys playing for Clare who will give everything and, most importantly, will conduct themselves properly. If you fit into that category, I will love to have you involved but if you don’t, you won’t be there. It’s as simple as that,” he said.
He added that he “played in an All-Ireland Minor final in 1989 and three of that team went on to win an All-Ireland afterwards. I played U-21 and two of them won an All-Ireland. How many of the 1997 Minor team went on to win All-Irelands?” he asked.
“When you win, there is a tendency to get carried away. My view is to win as much as you can. I would give anything to have the great time over that I had with Clare. My best day was the Munster final in 1995 and it wasn’t the winning of the game but seeing the reaction of the supporters. I remember Dalo saying to us on the bus afterwards, ‘boys take in everything, enjoy this, as this is what hurling is about’. There is nothing better,” he said.
Concluding, he asked supporters to be patient over the coming years. “I will guarantee that Clare will come out fighting and represent ye in such a way that ye will be proud of them,” he concluded.
“Tonight is a night of celebrations and it’s fantastic to see so many collecting Munster and All-Ireland medals. Without a shadow of doubt, the best minor team in Ireland this year was Clare,” Anthony Daly told the gathering to great applause.
Congratulating the intermediate team, he described Niall Gilligan as “one of the best forwards I have played with and managed”.
Presentations were made to the mentors of both teams by county board chairman, Michael O’Neill.
Syl O’Connor, Clare GAA’s public relations officer, was MC for the evening.
Medal presentations were jointly made by Davy Fitzgerald and Anthony Daly to:
Minor panel: Alan O’Neill, Aaron Cunningham, Alan Mulready, Brian Carey, Cathal O’Connell, Colm Galvin, Damian Moloney, Dave Barry, Donal Whelan, Eibhear Quilligan, Eoin Enright, Frank Melody, Gearóid O’Donnell, Jack Browne, Jamie Shanahan, Jarlath Colleran, Keith Hogan, Martin Moroney, Micheal Ryan, Niall Deasy, Niall O’Connor, Oisín Hickey, Oisín O’Brien, Peter Duggan, Rory Skelly, Seadna Morey, Sean O’Gorman, Shane Kelleher, Shane Liddy, Shane McGrath, Shane O’Brien, Shane O’Donnell, Shane O’Leary and team captain, Tony Kelly.
Intermediate panel: Niall Arthur, Alan Brigdale, Tony Carmody (captain), Sean Chaplin, Kevin Dilleen, Martin Duggan, Clive Earley, Conor Earley, Mark Earley, Andrew Fahy, Derek Fahy, John Fennessy, Paudie Fitzpatrick, Niall Gilligan, Shane Golden, Enda Harrisson, Michael Hawes, Pádraig Hickey, Daire Keane, Ronan Keane, Patrick Kelly, Tadhg Keogh, Aidan Lynch, Paul Lynch, Alan McNamara, Kevin Moynihan, Joe O’Connor, Francis O’Grady, Marty O’Regan, Declan O’Rourke, Eoin Ruane, David Ryan, Conor Tierney and Ivor White.