Mulqueen keeping fingers crossed on Banner’s double-jobbers

Fingers crossed on the double for Clare senior hurling selector Louis Mulqueen in advance of this evening’s Bord Gais Energy Munster U21 hurling final against Tipperary in Semple Stadium (7.30pm).

First, obviously, he’s hoping that the reigning Munster and All-Ireland champions win and maintain their recent outstanding record in this grade. Second, he’s hoping that those on the senior panel emerge unscathed for Clare’s All-Ireland semi-final clash on Sunday week against Limerick.

“Everything depends on the U21 final,” he said ahead of the Limerick match. “18 of our panel are involved in the U21 setup so you don’t know how they’re going to emerge from that. At the moment we have a lot of niggly little things but we’re hoping all of that will have cleared up come Sunday week.”