Tag Archives: All-Ireland Minor Hurling Final

James Hegarty and Eoghan Gunning have been named as the Electric Ireland Minor Hurling Semi-Final/Final Players of the Match. Hegarty received the gong after his side’s 0-23 to 0-15 win over Kilkenny in the Electric Ireland All Ireland semi-final. Clare advanced to a first All-Ireland final since 2010 as they picked apart a Kilkenny side reduced to 14 players for the final 52 minutes. The Munster champions only conceded five points in the second half with centre-back Hegarty helping to provide the platform for this win with a tigerish display. The Inagh-Kilnamona man finished as top scorer for Brian O’Connell’s charges after firing over six points, four from frees, one from a ’65 while the other came from open play. Hegarty grabbed critical scores in this contest including an inspirational effort that helped to stop Kilkenny’s early second-half momentum after the Cats had shot two points without reply. His score proved the catalyst for Clare grabbing 12 of the final …

Brian O’Connell, his management team, and his players have dragged Clare minor hurling off the floor in the past two seasons writes Joe Ó Muircheartaigh, who spoke to the Shannon man who never had any doubts about taking up the job and bringing this generation as far as they could go. July 14 2021, Semple Stadium, Thurles. A Wednesday evening, in high summer, but it was like a morning in the darkest of winter, so dark it was just black, with no white, never mind any primary colours. Dickensian. Depressing. Bleak House and Hard Times were two tomes that came from Dickens’ quill – this was those and much more and it was the worst of times as Clare’s minor hurlers were on the receiving end of a 6-28 to 0-6 hammering from Cork that evening. Where do you go from there? How do you even go on? Brian O’Connell’s answer was to jump at the opportunity to manage the …

Damian O’Halloran brings All-Ireland minor winning experience to the Clare set up from his involvement with the Galway sides that won titles in 2017 and ’18 – now for a third title in the grade that would be the sweetest of all, writes Joe Ó Muircheartaigh Been there and done that! There are a few of the Clare backroom team that have ticked these boxes where competing in All-Ireland finals is concerned. Of course, Dónal Moloney is the obvious one to default to when fitting that bill, on the back of his sterling, and ever-continuing, job of journeywork at underage level that brought with it four All-Ireland final appearances in five seasons during his first coming. Damian O’Halloran is the other, with the Inagh-Kilnamona man looking ahead to his fourth All-Ireland final day out, but where this day will differ from the previous three is that this will be his maiden voyage with a saffron and blue bib on his …

Clare’s minors will be hoping to bridge a 26-year gap on Sunday as 1997 was the year that the first and only All-Ireland minor title came to the county. Joe Ó Muircheartaigh recalls the win from the most famous day in Clare hurling history. We’ve heard it before but we’ll say again: when explaining away the fortunes of a team, if you go back far enough you’ll always find that their darkest hour comes before the dawn of greater days. It can be said of Brian O’Connell’s minor team of the past two years that had the legacy of the 40-point defeat to Cork in 2021 hanging over them until it didn’t and at once they started out on a journey that has led to Sunday’s All-Ireland final. It can be said of the last Clare team to reach an All-Ireland minor final – the 2010 team that in the words of joint-manager Gerry O’Connor were “a beaten docket” in …

In what has been an epic minor season to date, two of Clare’s standout performers have been Eoghan Gunning and James Hegarty, who apart from their primary role as defenders have made important contributions to the scorecard writes Joe Ó Muircheartaigh who spoke to them ahead of Sunday’s All-Ireland final. To borrow the vernacular of a different GAA time, they’re real tearaways, with a cut and dash about them that lifts those around them on the field – the team and its performance and the watching public riding along with every ebb and flow of the proceedings before them. Corner-back and captain Eoghan Gunning; centre-back and every bit the leader that his captain is, James Hegarty. Second-year minors and driving forces from deep in Clare push to win the Irish Press Cup for only the second time. They weren’t born the first time it happened, while the last time a Clare minor team reached the All-Ireland final frontier in 2010, …

With national discussions surrounding the balance between enjoyment as opposed to winning at underage level, Clare’s minor side have struck the perfect balance. That’s certainly the opinion of Clare selector Ger Hickey as he states that the freedom the players are given has helped forge this group in to All Ireland contenders. “We give them the freedom to express themselves. We do have tactics and we monitor their workload but they still have that freedom to make decisions. Everything we do is player led. They get to express themselves on the field and in training.” “They have great groundings with their club and school. We have seen Scariff (Community College), St. Joseph’s Tulla, Flannan’s and Ardscoil Rís all enjoy success. They have the freedom to go out and play while the bonus is that they have won Munster and hopefully will win an All Ireland.” Hickey was in charge of Clare’s Celtic Challenge side last year and since becoming involved …