Clare need to get to that final, says Daly

ANTHONY DALY accepts that Clare hurlers must improve if they are to reach the All-Ireland SHC final.

But he warns it would be a mistake to assume that they aren’t capable of meeting the challenge from Kilkenny head-on in their August 13 semi-final.

The Clare boss is hopeful that Colin Lynch can recover from a dead leg injury sustained in the weekend victory over Wexford.

Said Daly: “Playing on the 13th is a plus for us. I think Colin Lynch could be dodgy — but he could be seriously dodgy if we were playing in two weeks.

“The extra week might give him a chance to be back. He is very important fellow for us, especially on big days.’’

Daly and his management watched Kilkenny’s quarter-final game against Galway on Saturday from their hotel base in Dublin.

“We felt we’d like to be with the team at the same time so that’s why we didn’t go Thurles. We wanted to be together, so we watched the game on telly.”

And what about the semi-final draw?

“Either way it was going to be tough for us. Either way we were going to be underdogs,’’ said Daly. “Kilkenny beat us in a replay two years ago and they beat us in the League final last year. They were very impressive on Saturday night they looked the part.

“You’d have the advantage of having a go against Cork for the second time in the year and maybe they’d find it hard. But Kilkenny obviously are hungry. I’d say they want to go against Cork. We might be seen as a stepping stone to that, but we wouldn’t see ourselves as a stepping stone for anybody.

“This is our second semi-final. We feel we were very unlucky not to beat them the first time two years ago. We have been consistent, but we need to make that extra step. That’s the key for us — and we need to get to that final!’’

With Waterford proving that the qualifier series certainly assisted them in their preparations, Daly admitted the game against Limerick in Cusack Park was a big game for them.

“It was a big day for them too. But, as it turned out, they dropped the heads after we got the second goal and we ran away it. We treated it as if it was a Munster semi-final. It did bring us on and get a momentum up. No disrespect to Wexford, but Tipperary would have been a tougher draw for us.’’

Because they were strongly fancied to beat Wexford for the second year in a row their players had to be really focused, Daly pointed out.

“In some ways, it was a bit difficult to keep the boys’ minds 100% on the job because everyone in Clare was telling you we were going to beat Wexford. Having said that, they went about their business fairly well.

“I was relatively happy. They could do no more than what was asked of them. You saw where Kilkenny and Cork ‘dipped a bit’ in their games and that showed a glimmer of light to both Galway and Limerick.

“I think we closed it out well. But, it’s a huge step up the next day.”