Moloney: They’re incredible, a different breed

The start of something special – that was the reaction of joint Clare manager Donal Moloney after his side’s outstanding second half performance helped them claim the county’s second U-21 title in four years.

“They’re unique,” he said of his players; “We wouldn’t have been always known in Clare for having wristy, pacey hurlers but these guys are incredible athletes, incredible ball players with fantastic pace.

“We’re probably looking at some of the best potential hurlers in the history of Clare hurling on the field here. That’s no offence to the guys of the 90s – they too were incredible in what they did but these are a different type of player. They live for this game. They are a different breed of player.

“They want to win, they will do whatever is necessary in terms of preparation to win.”

The team’s potential first became evident to himself and Gerry O’Connor (joint manager) in the Munster minor final two years ago when their charges defeated a highly fancied Waterford outfit.

Moloney recalled: “The guys came out and threw caution to the wind, played some incredible hurling. From that day we said these guys have really got something. We’ve had a lot of heartbreak in the last two years, lost the All-Ireland minor final two years ago to Kilkenny, lost the semi-final last year in extra-time to Galway. We nearly got pipped at the post in the Munster final by a brilliant Tipperary side this year but tonight — I don’t know where they got it from, you can say what you want in the dressing-room but you have to have 15 players with extreme courage. They were just incredible in terms of what they did in the second half.”

A very gracious Kilkenny manager, Richie Mulrooney, was fulsome in his praise of Clare. “Congratulations to them, we can’t have any complaints. I couldn’t speak highly enough of the Clare fellas but I’m also really proud of our own lads. I thought the standard of hurling from both sides was fantastic — in many another year our team would have won the All-Ireland title.

“I thought we were in a very good position at half-time,and I thought we’d be able to push on in the second half but in fairness to Clare, that was just a phenomenal performance by them. The majority of their team is underage again next year (10 of the starters), as is ours, but there’s a little gap there now between them and everyone else, there’s no doubt about that. We’ll try and get back at them again next year. When we beat them in 2010 (in the minor All-Ireland final) they were extremely gracious to us, their management team of Donal Moloney and Gerry O’Connor; it’s my turn now.”