Anthony Daly: Galway eye revenge but Clare have grown with every game
Clare's Munster U20 hurling final victory over Tipperary was a game for the ages. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
On the evening that Clare played Waterford in the opening round of the Munster U20 championship in Sixmilebridge in late March, the easy assumption to make afterwards was that a highly fancied Clare group had gone backwards - and were going nowhere in this championship.
Ok, it was Clare’s first game, they still won the match, but there were still two popular ways of summing it up – either Waterford threw it away, or Clare committed daylight robbery. Take your pick. Clare only scored 1-10, with a late goal from Fred Hegarty bailing Terrence Fahy’s side out of a perilous position.
There were only 23 scores registered that night but we all realised a week later that Clare might be better than we thought because Waterford clearly were better than everyone thought when they ran Tipp to one point, and should have probably won the game.
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Everyone in Clare had high hopes for this team when they’d won the All-Ireland minor title three years ago but those initial concerns were gradually allayed as the competition progressed. Clare were business-like against Limerick in round 2, without ever looking spectacular, while they finally delivered the spectacular against Tipperary when transforming a seven-point deficit into a one-point win in seven closing minutes.
Clare played some scintillating stuff both days against Cork before themselves and Tipp produced a game for the ages in the Munster final, with Clare eventually getting over the line on penalties.
Clare have had a nice two-and-a-half week break now to this final and the chance to get some injured bodies back. Galway impressively beat Kilkenny ten days ago but their preparation has been more fractured with the injury to Aaron Niland and with Jason Rabbitte having to play for the seniors against Wexford last Sunday. Cullen Killeen has also featured for the seniors.
Clare do have three players on the senior panel – Mark Sheedy, Jamie Moylan and Ronan Kilroy – but they’re readily made available to the U20s. Niland was a huge loss, and is only back to the bench, while Rabbitte didn’t start the Leinster final, but I was really impressed by how Galway approached, and performed, that evening.
It was a great sign of a team how they shelved all those side issues and just drove on. Sometimes when everything is not rosy, it can bring a real edge to a team. And the Galway group appear to have that edge.
That whole insecurity around Niland and Rabbitte could unite Galway even more now. It’s been a case of next man up. And young men are stepping up. I’m also sure some of these Galway lads are thinking, ‘We might not be considered good enough for seniors yet, but we’ll show the senior management that we are’.
Galway are clearly still hurt from the manner of the loss to Clare in the All-Ireland minor final three years ago. Galway were raging favourites that afternoon. Clare were by far the better team on the day but Galway’s argument was that they never showed up. Well, they have that opportunity for atonement now.
These teams have changed a lot since that final but most of these lads would know each other well. St Flannan’s and Presentation College Athenry have met in the All-Ireland Colleges series in the last two years, while these sides played a challenge game back in February.
I’m fairly sure that Galway won that match convincingly. I was speaking to Patrick Horgan in the RTÉ studio last week about this game. He was involved with the Cork U20s and, while he saw Clare up close and personal twice, he said that Galway dished out a good beating to Cork in a challenge game earlier in the season. You can never read too much into those but Hoggie said the Cork management felt after that match that Galway were the team to beat in this championship.
Still, they’re meeting a very good team now that has steadily improved as the championship has progressed. There was a fierce caginess in Munster early on, which was illustrated by the low scores in some of the earlier rounds. Clare only registered a combined total of 1-28 in their first two matches against Waterford and Limerick, which certainly wouldn’t have fitted with TJ Ryan’s theory of senior teams needing at least 28 points to win a game now.
Part of that may have been down to not playing in the big championship stadiums, but the championship became more open as it went on. It became way more free-flowing, with Clare expressing themselves far more with each passing game. The two matches against Cork were brilliant games to watch while everyone saw how good the Munster final was.
It's very hard to make predictions for underage games. The Clare minors only scraped into fourth position in Munster on a head-to-head with Waterford after only winning one game, but they beat Dublin last week and a win this afternoon against Limerick – which is possible - would put them into an All-Ireland semi-final.
There is a bit more surety with U20s but there is more disruption too, as Galway have experienced. Still, I wouldn’t underestimate Galway, especially given how well they have handled all the challenges presented them to date during this championship.
It would be a huge boost for both counties to win this title. In fairness to Galway, they have started their rebuild already at senior level while Clare will need a lot of these U20 players to come through to the senior team in the coming years. Winning an U20 title now would be massive but these players have already got invaluable experience out of this campaign. Where else would you accumulate that kind of worldliness from having come through an epic Munster final against Tipp on penalties?
This side have already given a massive boost to the whole county this summer. Some of these lads will soon be Clare seniors, while having reached the last four All-Ireland minor semi-finals (which could be a fifth by this afternoon) has given Clare an impressive pool of young talent to draw on. And it has also given ferocious confidence to the whole county about Clare’s future.
I’m expecting a great game. Galway are looking for revenge while Clare are aiming to prove that they have been the best team at this age right up along. It’s very hard to call but I fancy Clare to edge another titanic battle.
