TONY Kelly played some magnificent hurling for Clare on Wednesday evening. The Ballyea man, who  is expecting his Leaving Cert results next Wednesday, pointed four sublime scores from play, two critical frees and an equally crucial 65’.

“I suppose we got our just reward in the end. We didn’t convert our chances but overall, I think we deserved it. As you can see, it’s elation out there. It’s one of the best days we’ve had as a team and, hopefully, it’ll continue on as far as the All-Ireland final,” he said afterwards.
He says he never believed that Clare were beaten, even when they trailed with time evaporating.
“To be honest, personally no and I’d say as a team we didn’t think it was gone. We knew that we’d get a challenge off Tipp better than we did off Waterford.  We knew it would come down to the wire. Tipp aren’t an easy team to beat anywhere and especially with their record in Ennis. We knew going into tonight that there was only going to be a puck of a ball between the two of us,” Kelly maintained.
Although a very young hurler four years ago, Kelly feels the manner in which Clare lost the 2008 Munster final to Tipperary in Ennis still stung until Wednesday August 8, 2012.
“In 2008 we felt we were robbed and I suppose this is some way of recuperating the damage done that night. This isn’t just for the team, it’s for everyone here and for the county,” he stated.
At minor level, Colm Galvin and Tony Kelly regularly ran the show at midfield. Now they have a Munster U-21 medal in their back pockets.
“Unbelievable. I thought it was gone with a minute to go but Niall stepped up and slotted it home. We’ve an unbelievable panel. The competition in training is massive, so we knew the subs coming on today were going to make a big impact,” Colm Galvin told The Clare Champion.
The Clonara man didn’t deny that Clare struggled in the first half but was relieved that they turned it around, albeit as late as possible.
“Against Waterford in the semi-final things clicked but today in the first half, nothing clicked. Thankfully, in the last ten minutes, everything clicked for us. A buzz like that is just unbelievable,” he smiled.
In a day or two Clare will start to think about their impending All-Ireland semi-final.
“That’s the target anyway. Whoever we have next we’ll take it one match at a time and hopefully we can win,” Galvin concluded.

Ryan insists Clare always believed

CENTRE-back Conor Ryan was absolutely adamant that he never felt the game was gone from the home county. A point down with a minute of the allotted two minutes of injury time already eaten into, Clare struck a goal that had Cusack Park heading into orbit.
“We knew if it was going to be in the melting pot towards the end, we had eight senior players on that panel. We knew we were never finished until that final whistle,” the Cratloe dual player insisted.
Facing into a strenuous schedule of club and county fixtures in the coming weeks, Ryan said he was honoured to be hurling for this team. 
“To come this far and do what we did, it’s just a privilege to be part of this team. When you see the likes of Macca (Cathal McInerney) coming off the bench, it just shows the strength in depth that this team has,” he noted.
Ryan acknowledged Clare played poorly for much of the first half, with their finishing particularly weak. However he says that Clare could look at the one positive at half-time – they were dominating possession even if it wasn’t evident on the scoreboard. Tipperary led by a point at the interval.
“We were a bit nervy at the start but the one thing we took on board at half-time was that we were winning these balls. They weren’t going over, fair enough, but at least we were getting on the ball and creating the chances,” he said.
John O’Dwyer’s goal 12 minutes from time established a two-point lead for the grand slam chasing Tipp youngsters. However Tony Kelly and Conor McGrath responded with pointed frees to pull Clare level five minutes from time.
“We reacted well. The minute they got the goal, we didn’t drop the heads. We kept going and we got a couple of points straight away,” Conor Ryan recalled.
While wearing the county jersey, Ryan couldn’t but reflect fondly on the fact that five Cratloe players were part of the first Clare U-21 hurling panel to win a Munster title on home territory. Clare won the 2009 championship in Waterford.
“There’s five of us involved and to win it with the lads you grew up with is just unreal. But things are not finished yet. At the start of the year we said we’d to the second week in September and finish then,” the hugely committed number six pointed out.