The quality of Clare’s hurling in their semi-final win over Waterford was superb but the quality of the opposition was not a fraction of what Clare will face next Wednesday.

That’s the view of Clare selector Jimmy Browne, who told The Clare Champion, “Tipperary are the benchmark, they were always the benchmark from a hurling point of view. They are now a benchmark in terms of their hurling, their workrate, their tackling, the effort they put in and it’s going to be a completely different challenge to what we faced against Waterford. That’s something that we as a management team must get the lads ready for.”
According to the Clonlara man, “Being involved in sport means you must set targets. As a group over the last couple of years, whether with Clare, the Fitzgibbon, or with clubs, you try to set targets against the guys who are the barometer and that’s one thing that this group have done.”
He pointed out that at the start of this campaign, Cork were the favourites.
“When the general public look at this championship, they tend to go back and look at the corresponding minor, when Waterford set the barometer.
“That’s not a valid way of necessarily looking at it. This Tipperary team has been together since January. Ken Hogan has been an extremely effective and shrewd manager both in terms of tactics, how he structures the team and the work ethic he generates from the team. I have seen them play and train. I know some of them from colleges, they are teak-tough, and winning brings this. From their point of view, a Tipp team coming in as underdogs is exactly what they want and it is exactly the siege mentality Hogan looks to bring to any team he is involved with, be it Lorrha or Coolderry. Any team he is involved with he brings that attitude and that kind of determination,” said Browne.
“It’s a major challenge for us to take that favourites’ tag and begin to believe that we can hurl with the best of them. We can work with the best of them and we can go in and win a game as favourites. Tipperary, in our view, are being totally underestimated by the public and they love that,” he added.
“This Tipperary team is one of the hardest working U-21 teams I have ever seen. Three or four of them hurled with me at colleges, at Harty with Ard Scoil. We have played against three or four more of them. This is a completely different, non-standard U-21 set-up. It is not going to be free-flowing hurling and not the exhibition stuff, as against Waterford. It’s going to be a battle and a battle in our home patch that Tipperary will love and we have to be focussed on that,” warned Browne.
Is it difficult to transfer minor success to the next level? “We have been very fortunate to have had a group of young players that gelled and came together. We have generated a training style and a style of play that has suited the lads. It has challenged them every time we have got together, be it for training or for matches and that has brought on their development. This is the next step in that. They have all got older, they have all gone to college. There has been maturity at different levels. The challenge is to keep that focus,” said Browne
“One of the dangers, possibly, is the assumption that the success you have at underage level is going to transfer. To be fair to these lads, they realise that success is based on workrate, effort and commitment and it’s not automatic. That is one of the joys of working with this group. They knuckle down, they work hard, they are very mature and they have their heads screwed on,” Jimmy said.
He has no worries that the expected big attendance will put extra pressure on the Clare players. “They are very level-headed lads who have played on big occasions. There is a job to be done and it’s a question of making sure they feed off the atmosphere, that the atmosphere becomes a plus. It’s vitally important there will be times, as there is in any game, that things won’t be going right and we will need Ennis to erupt behind us when things are going wrong. Tipperary need to be thrown off their stride and we will need that edge.”
Continuing, he said, “Competition for places is honed on the training field and one of the things we instil in them is the level of competition generated for places.
“We know we have the best 15 taking the field. It’s everybody’s job. There is no question of a hiding place in training. If a guy doesn’t make the first 15 or doesn’t make an appearance on the day, the effort he will have put in in training is what will have tested the 15 and that’s what wins championships. It’s not necessarily the performance on the day. It’s what done here in Cusack Park when they absolutely kill each other in training. That’s what makes the guy who makes the team better.”
He added, “That’s part of the ethic we have had as a group and it’s an ethic that the players have responded to. We saw the benefit of that in the intermediate last week. The number of them who were able to step up to a very physical opposition in a very tight field, giving on average three or four years away to the opposition, giving a strength and conditioning maturity away to the opposition but still created the  bulk of scoring chances. We saw evidence that night of a radically different team, able to step up and play the same type of game with that intensity.
“That augurs well for the future,” he concluded.

Hogan ‘hugely impressed’ with Clare

Tipperary manager Ken Hogan was hugely impressed with Clare’s performance in the semi-final against Waterford. “I was in Ennis for the game when the quality of the Clare forward play on the night was brilliant. There was great movement. Waterford were disappointing but I was hugely impressed with Clare’s display,” Hogan said.
“Clare have had two very good minor teams, which have won Munster championships. The management have moved on with them, which is good for continuity.”
The Tipperary manager added, “We have had two good games on the way to this final. We left it late against Cork. That game was played in very unpleasant weather conditions when the pitch was almost unplayable. It wasn’t a great spectacle. We struggled for long periods but kept going and finished well.”
Is the pressure on Tipperary to complete the grand slam by adding this title to the minor, intermediate and senior titles already won this season?
“The football fraternity down here would say that we have already achieved the grand slam, as we have won the minor double in the province with our success in both the football and hurling championships,” was the reply.
“Both teams are looking at the bigger picture and are looking forward. They are looking to get up to Kilkenny and Tipperary at senior level. Clare have done a lot of work at grassroots level. Whoever wins next week, there won’t be any great elation. They will be pleased to have won Munster medals but both are looking for national honours,” Hogan went on.
“Clare have a fantastic group of U-21s, who are playing senior now. It is tremendous to see young fellas establish themselves at this level,” he added.
Hogan is quite happy with the format of this particular championship. “I agree with the home and away system, which applies for this championship. We have travelled and played in Cork and Limerick this year. The games bring a great atmosphere. The knockout system is very good and brings a cut and thrust to the championship, which is great.”
Hogan will again be without the injured David Collins and Ruairí Gleeson for this tie. “David was very good against Cork but he is out of action long term due to injury while Ruairí Gleeson picked up an injury when playing with Kildangan and this tie is a bit too soon for him.”
Hogan and his selectors won’t name the final team until after the weekend. Sean Curran is the only member of the squad, which is captained by John O’Dwyer, who is on the county senior panel.