By Stephen Barry

Clare minor manager Brian O’Connell believes the Banner’s All-Ireland victory is proof of the work going on behind the scenes in the county.

His side produced a monumental team performance to claim their first minor All-Ireland in 26 years from their fancied rivals Galway by 2-22 to 4-11.

“There’s a lot of work going on and I’m glad this has come to fruition and we lifted the trophy because it’ll only give belief to the groups coming behind us,” he said.

“Everything that’s being done is going to lead to more days like this.”

O’Connell was suffering from a vomiting bug before the match and joked that his celebration will be going home to rest.

In all his planning, he was always sure his side could give Galway a different challenge than their string of double-digit victories.

“We knew Galway had not been tested. All their games they were going into the last 10 minutes with a cushion.

“We focused on making sure we were still in the game with 10 minutes to go and putting them under pressure and making sure if they were going to win it, they were going to earn it.

“They died with their socks on and Fergal (Healy) can be very proud of his team.”

O’Connell also explained the significance of the ‘K2’ stamp on the back of his hand.

“Eoghan (Gunning, captain) made a speech after the Munster final and straight away in his speech he referenced K2.

“They’d accomplished Munster but they knew they had more in them and K2, the mountain which isn’t easily accomplished and takes teamwork to get up there, was the All-Ireland. That was their own thing. I put it on my hand to support them today.”

They completed their climb on the toughest possible route too.

“If you’re going to win an All-Ireland, beating Waterford, Tipp, Limerick, Cork, Kilkenny, and Galway, that’s probably the route you’d love to do it in. When you reel them off like that, such strong hurling counties, it’s a massive achievement.”

O’Connell was full of praise for his captain Gunning.

“He’s a fantastic hurler, a real joy to watch. He’s a crowd favourite. He plays in the forwards for his club so we had rows about where we were going to play him but he was a Minor All-Star with us last year so we weren’t going to take him out of corner-back.”

He also hailed the team effort, evident in the pressure applied from their full-forward back on Galway’s short-passing game.

“I thought we hurled exceptional all the way through.

“Our style is belief. It is a simple game. When you have the ball you use it well, when you don’t you get it back. That is pretty much the message from us. Everybody buys into it.

“Two goals down right from the start you can be scratching your head and wondering what is going on, but I thought we were still in control of the game.”