No excuses from Justin as Banner beat Deise

Waterford manager Justin McCarthy did not make excuses for his side after they slumped to a 2-26 to 0-23 defeat to Clare in today's Munster SHC quarter-final clash at the Gaelic Grounds.

"All our outstanding players that won All-Stars in the last three years were practically missing for us today," McCarthy lamented.

"Having said that, you must give credit to Clare as they played outstandingly well today I thought. They were flat out physically and moving the ball at pace and they got some great scores.

"They put very few things wrong and they hurled with a great passion and confidence as well and the goals were a factor also."

But for McCarthy and his players, it is now all about picking up the pieces for the All-Ireland qualifiers in a few weeks' time.

"The lads who are injured will take another two or three weeks to get over their injuries so at least we have time for the next game coming up," he enthused.

"It's going to be hard - that's the nature of the championship - and you have to get on with it and put that behind us. Best of luck to Clare in the remainder of the games."

Meanwhile, Clare boss Mike McNamara was very happy with his side's win - the Banner's first in the Munster SHC since 2003.

Out of a tally of 2-26, 2-19 came from open play, something which delighted McNamara.

"The boys had to produce it today. We haven't been at our best in Munster or haven't shown our best either in Munster in a long number of years," he said.

"We wanted to present ourselves properly and show that we are a force in Munster hurling, which we feel we are. We want to be and we had slipped down the ladder in that regard."

And McNamara was thankful that the months of hard work and preparation came to fruition in the heat of the championship sun.

"We put in a huge performance today, there was huge preparation in training and I suppose we got the ultimate reward," he concluded.