No Complaints From Doyle As Banner Bow Out Of Munster U20 Hurling Championship

Derrick Lynch

Clare boss Sean Doyle had no complaints about the final result after seeing his side bow out of the Munster U20 hurling championship.

Failure to score for 26 minutes of the second period proved fatal for the Banner as Tipperary turned a four point half time deficit into a ten point victory.

Doyle and his management team had to plan without a number of key players for the game and he says while it had an impact, they are not using it as an excuse.

“We knew we needed to be six or seven points up at half time because there was a good breeze out there and we are young inexperienced team. Tipperary were psychically that bit better and they ran amok a bit there in the second half. I think you have to give credit to our lads though. We were rocked for the last two weeks with the spate of injuries. I know it is not an excuse but the lads we were missing were really key men. Losing Shane (Meehan) at such short notice was really a killer blow because he would have loved that type of game out there with a bit of space and he can do anything. It is water under the bridge now and you have to look at these lads. 14 of them that played tonight are available for the age group again next year so you have to take it on the chin. Tipperary were the better team, they were that bit stronger but I could not be prouder of our lads too” he noted.

A late Tipperary penalty was a talking point in the game but came at a time when the result was all but settled. Doyle acknowledged his side had been beaten by the better team but is hopeful a young group will learn from the experience.

“The penalty was borderline but we missed a few scores too. We needed to take every chance we could. We tried to nullify Tipperary a bit in the first half and we brought Cian (Galvin) back but really we needed him further up the field. He played very well in the role but we had to throw caution to the wind in the second half and move him up. It left gaps at the back but I thought lads fought gamely. The likes of Paddy Donnellan was immense and it will be a real learning curve. It is hard to take now but we just have to move on. There are a good group of players coming with the minors from last year and the year before. We came down here to win and we don’t want to be second best either. We came to win and we didn’t do that. We have to just take it on the chin, look back on it as a management team and see where things went wrong. We tried what we could, we gave as many players game time as we could and hopefully that will stand to them in the future” he said.