Minogue calls on Banner legends to build on win

JOHN MINOGUE was in a hurry by the time he finally made it to the press centre.

He had a train to catch and the party in Ennis was not something he was going to miss.

No doubt the Clare manager was in exultant mood but, outwardly anyway, he was calm when talking about Clare’s first ever All-Ireland success at U21 level.

He cannot have been as composed when the Bannermen made that late charge to glory and admitted that the encounter could just as easily have swung in Kilkenny’s direction.

“It was an experience to be standing on the sideline, especially in the last five minutes when the game could have gone either way,” said Minogue.

Plan B had to be deployed once again by the Croke Park authorities after the Clare supporters poured onto the pitch to hail their heroes.

This was history and recognising it as such, the stewards didn’t even attempt to prevent the deliriously happy hordes from sprinting towards the players.

“It means a huge amount and you can see that from the emotion on the field there,” Minogue stated. “We haven’t had good days really since (the senior All-Ireland in) ‘97 so it’s a good victory.

“There’s a lot of young kids out there who didn’t see Clare winning in ‘95 and ‘97, they’re now nine or 10 years old and they have seen Clare winning in Croke Park. So it is important. Now, whether it will add future glory to Clare or not, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Minogue singled his defence out for particular praise: “I don’t think either management team would have been happy with the first half performance of their team. There was a lot of nervous hurling in the first quarter of an hour, missed chances.

“Both teams marked each other very well. The guys who were dangerous were marked very well. Richie Hogan didn’t get much in the first half. (Darach) Honan hadn’t hit a ball in two weeks (due to a hamstring injury) and it showed out there today but he was well marked and the Kilkenny backs put up a brick wall.

“We had a very experienced full-back line. You have Eamon Glynn who has been on the senior panel, Cian Dillon who was injured and would have been on the senior panel and Ciaran O’Doherty there. They have about three years done at U21 and they’re guys who don’t take a step backwards so we would have a lot of confidence in them.

“I thought Nicky O’Connell did a lot of clearing of the ball in the first half. Struggled a bit on the wings really but the guys stood up. John Conlon, Conor McGrath when he came on made a huge difference, won a lot of ball and I think we were just lucky to get there lads.”

Luck had nothing to do with the tackling of Cian Dillon and Eamon Glynn that denied Kilkenny full-forward John Joe Farrell when he looked sure to goal in the dying seconds to snatch the victory. It was a product of the training field.

“It was, the guys got back but I think if you were watching the Galway game, the guys got back to hook (Joe) Canning. Hooking and blocking are a part of hurling and if you’re within reach of the guy, get your hurley to it. Kilkenny are fantastic at it.”

Clare’s hurling supporters will now be expecting a translation of this success at senior level. Whether it does or not, Minogue is adamant that he won’t be leading them back to the Promised Land.

“No, I think there’s enough lads there from ‘95 and ‘97; the Jamesie O’Connors and all of these lads and the Seanie McMahons. It’s time for them to come out now and start taking over.”