All-Ireland U21 Final Team Guide: Clare
Cork v Clare - Bord Gais Energy Munster GAA Hurling Under 21 Championship Final
All-Ireland U21 Final Team Guide: Clare
By Brian Murphy
Ahead of their Bord Gáis Energy All-Ireland U21 Championship final clash with Wexford on Saturday evening, we take a closer look at the Clare team.
Click here for a guide to the Wexford team
PEDIGREE
All-Ireland champions for the last two years and the winners of the Munster Championship three years running, this Clare team has an unmatched pedigree. Tracing their lineage back further, many of this group won Munster Minor titles in 2011 and 2010. The success of this group, managed for the last five years by Donal Moloney and Gerry O'Connor, is all the more remarkable when you consider Clare failed to win a game at minor or U21 level between 2000 and 2007 (inclusive).
The extent to which the group has remained together since their minor days is part of their success. Of the team that lined out from the start in the 2011 Munster MHC final win over Waterford in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, a quite remarkable 11 players are expected to start again on Saturday and eight of those have already played for the Banner County in the senior hurling championship. Those numbers are staggering when you consider most counties would be more than satisfied to have a fraction of that number from a single minor team moving on to the senior ranks.
(10 July 2011; Clare players celebrate their side's victory. Munster GAA Hurling Minor Championship Final, Clare v Waterford, Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork.)
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This, quite simply, is the most talented group of underage hurlers ever to come out of Clare, and should they win on Saturday, can legitimately claim to be one of the best underage hurling teams of all time. While Cork, Tipperary and Limerick have all won All-Ireland trebles in the grade, the U21 grade is now more competitive than it ever has been and the standard is getting higher all the time, making this team's achievements all the more remarkable.
PATH TO THE FINAL
Munster U21 Quarter-Final, June 4 Clare 2-20 Limerick 1-14
Munster U21 Semi-Final, July 16 Clare 5-19 Tipperary 1-25 (AET)
Munster U21 Final, July 30 Clare 1-28 Cork 1-13
All-Ireland U21 Semi-Final, August 23 Clare 4-28 Antrim 1-10
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Take your pick. Clare have some of the most exciting young hurlers in the country in their ranks. From Seadna Morey and Jack Browne in defence to Colm Galvin in midfield, Tony Kelly at centre-forward and Shane O'Donnell in the inside forward line, the Banner County are brimming with established senior inter-county players and All-Ireland medal winners.
Tony Kelly, however, is their leader and go-to man. Whether he plays in midfield or at centre-forward, the Ballyea man is the heartbeat of the team and, for another month at least, is the reigning Hurler of the Year. Although opposing teams have learned to curb his influence a little, Kelly has learned a few new tricks of his own to find the space he needs to work his magic. He's a marked man every time he puts on a blue and saffron jersey now, but the 20-year-old still has the guile and craft to stand out at this level. His scoring return of just 1-9 in four games to date may be down on last year, but his ability and leadership qualities have not waned one bit.
Colm Galvin is another young man in his final year in the grade and his experience with the Clare senior team over the last two seasons is almost invaluable at this level. Galvin, whose pace, athleticism and beautiful ball skills mark him out at this level, has chipped in with 0-10 over the course of the campaign and the Clonlara clubman forms a formidable midfield partnership with one of Tony Kelly or Eoin Enright.
In attack, Clare's front six have all played senior championship for the county. Bobby Duggan is their top scorer with 0-31 and shares free-taking duties with Cathal O'Connell, who has struggled to get back into the team after struggling with a hamstring injury earlier in the campaign. Shane O'Donnell also missed the early rounds in Munster through injury, but the Éire Óg man returned to score a goal against Cork in the Munster final and should be back to his best against Wexford. Aaron Cunningham, at full-forward, is perhaps their most dangerous attacking weapon, having hit 6-10 in four games, including a hat-trick against Antrim in the semi-final.
STRENGTHS
Apart from the depth and quality of their squad, one of their main strengths is the maturity of this group and the sheer length of time they have been together. Many of them have been together for the last five years under the careful stewardship of Donal Moloney and Gerry O'Connor, and for the likes of Séadna Morey, Colm Galvin and Tony Kelly this is their last game as underage players. In fact, 10 of the team expected to start on Saturday evening are in their final year at U21 level.
While they have already achieved great things, there is an unmistakable sense that this side has been building towards winning three All-Ireland titles in a row, a feat that would seal their place among the great underage teams in the long history of the GAA.
While some will argue that Clare's failure to put up a decent showing in the defence of their All-Ireland title at senior level could have a detrimental impact on the U21 side, it should in fact have the opposite effect. Tony Kelly has already spoken of the opportunity the competition provides for redemption after the senior team's dispiriting defeat to Wexford in the Qualifiers. On top of that, while Donal Moloney and Gerry O'Connor's preparations for the latter stages of the competition last year were hampered by the All-Ireland senior final and replay against Cork, the joint-managers have had far more time with their players 12 months on and should be far better prepared for the huge challenge Wexford will present.
ON THE LINE
When Clare beat Cork in the Munster final, Tony Kelly used his acceptance speech as an opportunity to highlight the influence of joint-managers Donal Moloney and Gerry O'Connor. There was genuine affection in his voice as he paid tribute to the pair he was first coached by as a minor five years ago.
Ahead of the semi-final win over Antrim, Kelly revealed a little more about their management style. "They build all their focus on just one particular game," he said. "They just build it all up on one particular team and one game and don't get carried away if it is a semi-final or a final. They make nothing out of a Munster final, it is just a game and they dissect each opponent and base our training on them and that's what we focus on and try and carry out the game plan and more often that not they are spot on."
The pair first took over the Clare minor team in 2008, but after a heavy beating by Waterford in the Munster semi-final that year, they brought in young coach named Paul Kinnerk, a Limerick footballer who was working in Shannon who has since also linked up with Davy Fitzgerald's senior team. After the Munster successes at minor level in 2010 and 2011, the trio moved on to the U21 level and the rest is history. Jimmy Brown and Barry Fitzpatrick are also part of the back-room team.
TRACK RECORD
Clare have won three All-Ireland U21 titles, in 2009, 2012 and 2013. Prior to the 0-15 to 0-14 All-Ireland final win over Kilkenny in 2009, they had never contested a final. 2009 was also the year they won their first provincial title in the grade, having lost 12 successive Munster finals before that. As already stated, Clare failed to win a championship match in the eight seasons between 2000 and 2007 so their emergence as the dominant force in underage hurling really has been a spectacular one.
Clare play Wexford in the Bord Gáis Energy All-Ireland U21 Championship final at 7pm in Semple Stadium, Thurles on Saturday.