Waiting on semi-final opponents

The minor hurlers won’t know their semi-final opponents or whether they will be playing on August 7 or August 14 until the quarter-finals are decided.
The quarter-final pairings were decided on Monday and Waterford beaten finalists will play the Leinster runners up, Kilkenny with Galway taking on Antrim. Both games will take place on Saturday or Sunday week.
Clare and Waterford cannot meet in a semi-final just as Dublin (Leinster champions) and Kilkenny can’t meet at that stage. This means that if Waterford manage to beat Kilkenny, Munster champions Clare will be playing either Galway or Antrim in the semi-final.
The semi-final pairings will determine which day the games will take place.
Whatever about the pairings, not knowing when the game is to be played is a difficulty not just for the team management in terms of their training plans but also for the county board with regard to domestic fixtures.
The senior and intermediate hurling championship is set to resume on the weekend of August 5/6/7/8. Many of the Clare minor team are first choice players on their club senior or intermediate teams and, understandably, clubs won be prepared to play championship without them.
The senior and intermediate football championship will resume on August 14/15 and the hurling and football championships will continue on alternate weekends until the finals in August.
Already the domestic minor championship was deferred by two weeks because of the provincial final. The race for the Clare minor titles begins this Friday with first round games in A, B and C. But further delays are likely because of Clare’s progress.
This week, Clare selector Eamonn Fenmnessy paid tribute to Bord na nÓg and the clubs for their co-operation. “The clubs have been superb in their support as have the parents. At a special meeting, the clubs unanimously agreed to defer the games,” he said, before going on to also pay tribute to the parents of the players.
“Remember, the vast majority of these lads did the Leaving Certificate exam this year and we trained throughout, with the support of the parents. Without that support, it would have been very difficult to prepare the team for Sunday’s final,” the Sixmilebridge man said this week.