Clare must raise their game to test Waterford, says Daly

Diarmuid O’Flynn

The one point victory ensures the Banner’s placing in the last eight of the All-Ireland series.

But tomorrow they face Waterford, with the winners topping the group and set to face a beaten provincial finalist as opposed to a champion.

Daly, however, is realistic enough to know that a repeat of the display against the Faithful County, especially the second-half performance, when Clare managed just 1-5, despite the aid of a gale-force wind, will be not be near enough to see off the visitors.

“We have no hope against Waterford unless we up it at least 60%. That (performance) wouldn’t do.

“I won’t knock the boys, they showed great heart and commitment, but that wouldn’t do against Waterford, or against Cork, Tipperary or Kilkenny.

“Having said that, at least we have assured qualification for the quarter-final, there’s a small bit of freedom about tomorrow. No-one will give us much of a chance, and I suppose Waterford will bring up a huge contingent of fans, but it’s a nice one to be looking forward to.

“Waterford had a nice easy game against Dublin, handier than us. But it’s a great feeling to be through anyway, we’ll have a go at them. It would be nice to get through top of the group, but what will be will be.”

Most observers were surprised by the intensity of the Offaly challenge, expecting a big Clare win, but Daly always knew otherwise.

“Offaly were up for it, we were out in the back field for a warm-up, and we could hear them above in the other field, ferociously fired up. Maybe they’re not the greatest team you’ll ever play, but their pride was at stake, and they showed a fair bit of that in this game. I knew that would happen, but it was a case of trying to convince everyone in the dressing-room of it.”

For John McIntyre’s Offaly, that one-point loss opens up an entirely different scenario. Even as Daly and company were preparing themselves for quarter-final status, Offaly were looking beyond their next game, a fairly academic exercise against hapless Dublin. The bottom two teams in each of the qualifiers will now engage in a relegation battle, two semi-finals and a final, and while Offaly will be favoured to stay up, nothing can be taken for granted in their topsy-turvy world.

“We’re playing Dublin today. I thought if we got over that, that we could park the hurleys for a while, learn the lessons of this year, move on. But we have to go on. We all want to be playing for trophies, but Offaly have a bigger fight on their hands now. We’re not taking anything for granted, it was easy lift it for this one, we were getting such a hammering from everybody. Now we have to try and regroup, win a match we’re expected to win, that’s going to be a difficult enough challenge as well.”