CLARE U-21 hurling joint manager Donal Moloney believes the outside expectations of his side are inaccurate and irrelevant.

“We know the outside expectations at this point in time are very inaccurate in this particular case and we got a good understanding of that in Nenagh last week,” he explained.
As he looked ahead to next Wednesday’s Munster U-21 hurling final, when Clare will face Tipperary at Cusack Park, he said, “We want to see can we win Munster and that’s the way we look upon it. Outside pressure and expectations are irrelevant. We have to look after ourselves and focus on getting ourselves right. Outside expectations can be very inaccurate.”
While Clare are favourites for next week’s final, Moloney was at pains to point out, “This is being done on the back of results from challenge games. Our game against Kilkenny took legs and grew as time went on and also the victory against Waterford made people stand back and say this is a great team. These are great guys and are really good hurlers, there is no doubt about that but they know deep down that the space they got against Waterford and, indeed, in that challenge game against Kilkenny will not be repeated here.
“There is no way that any team will give us the space we got in those games and we have got to prepare for that and expect that. It’s going to be a completely different game. People saw free-flowing hurling against Waterford, primarily because Waterford weren’t in the game. That’s not going to be the case next week,” he said.
Is there additional pressure to win because of the minor successes of the past few years? “We are completely oblivious to that,” he replied. “From our perspective, we work with a group of players, we are all part of one team and we want to test ourselves against the best.”
What about Tipperary’s grand-slam hopes? “That’s a lot of rubbish. Somebody said this is the first time Tipperary are going for minor, senior and U-21 titles in the one year. I don’t think they have checked the record books carefully, as I can’t believe Tipp haven’t done that treble before. That’s irrelevant. This is an occasion when two fine teams are coming together to see who is the best in Munster,” replied Moloney.
He went on, “It is every hurler’s dream to play Tipperary and there has always been huge rivalry between the counties. Over the last two or three years we beat them at minor. I have tremendous respect for them and how they behaved before, during and after those games. They always try and play with a bit of style and class. You never get any dirty strokes when playing them. If they lose, they come to the dressing room and they mean what they say in terms of congratulating you. I have tremendous admiration for them.
“For a long time they are the standard bearers that we try to follow. We are only now getting up to where they are. That’s all we are doing. We have nothing to be triumphant about. The respect we pay to Tipperary is that we try to emulate them.”
According to the Clare mentor, Tipperary have come in under the radar. “They weren’t many people’s favourites at the start of this campaign. I saw them play Waterford in a challenge early in the year. They were very together. They have nobody in their senior panel, they are working away quietly all along. They have a tremendous team spirit. They have got their reward so far with two merited victories. Cork were everybody’s favourites for this championship.”
Moloney has tremendous praise for the Tipperary boss, Ken Hogan. “He deserves a lot of credit for what has happened. It is typical Ken Hogan style. They are understated, they are keeping a very low profile and they are working their way quietly through Munster.”
There is great competition for places within the Clare squad. “We have a lot of lads that have worked hard all year. There is very little difference between a lot of these players, we can see that in training. Nobody really stands out above any other guy in training and that says a lot. We can put anyone marking anyone and they can compete against each other. We are lucky to have that and hopefully it will stand to us,” concluded Moloney.

Same approach  – one game at a time

Clare will approach Wednesday’s final as they have approached all games under this management for the past few years.
“We have always taken it one game at a time and we will have the same approach this time,” joint team manager Gerry O’Connor told The Clare Champion this week.
O’Connor has been joint Clare minor manager with Donal Moloney for the past two years and they have led Clare to provincial success on each occasion. They are hoping to continue that success at U-21 level next week.
Gerry doesn’t go along with the view that Clare are hot favourites for this tie. “If you look at what Tipperary have achieved this year in this championship, you will see that they have been together for three to four months with no distraction from any other inter-county team. None of their players were on their intermediate team and they have none on their senior side. That means that they have been able to focus, without interruption, on their games. They were able to target Cork and Limerick without any distractions and it’s the same now as they prepare to face Clare. It makes things easier when they can focus on games without any distraction,” O’Connor said.
“Waterford probably had one eye on the Munster senior final when they played Clare, as they had a lot of their senior players. We got an excellent response from our players for that game because we were able to totally focus on the tie after our seniors had lost out to Limerick,” O’Connor added.
The Éire Óg clubman believes “Tipperary are in a strong position. They went to the opposition’s venue and won both their games to date and they won’t be worried about travelling to Ennis. Ken Hogan is a clever tactician, a good coach and motivator,” the Clare mentor added.
The talk about Tipperary going for a grand slam of Munster titles is something that is media driven and isn’t really an issue for either team, he believes.
Neither is playing in front of a big home following. “The crowd can get behind the team. They did so in the first half of the Waterford game when we were struggling to get control.”
Clare have no injury worries ahead of the final. “We have known Daire Keane is out for some time. Otherwise, all are available and there are no excuses. We have prepared well and we are all looking forward to the game,” he concluded.