On the dusty and deceptively quick Walsh Park surface, Clare once again got the upper hand on Waterford at underage level. That's three wins in five years at under 21 to go with the two Munster minor final victories. They have found the right formula.
Waterford's wait continues. Five consecutive defeats since the 2009 semi final success over Tipperary is cause for concern. They very nearly ended that dismal run last Thursday night. Plan A worked well for the hosts up to Paudie Prendergast's dismissal and even for a few minutes afterwards. For the final quarter however, Clare cut through with greater regularity and two goals killed the contest. The cracks became clear for Peter Queally's men in that period. They leaned far too heavily on Jake Dillon who was somehow ignored for the man of the match gong. Five points from play reflected their struggles up front. The leadership and guile of Pauric Mahony and Gavin O'Brien were sorely missed. The game plan also minimised the prospect of goal chances developing. While they clogged up the middle third with Colin Dunford moving to midfield and Kieran Power dropping deep, the two man inside forward line were always outnumbered. It was more of a team effort from Clare as eleven players contributed to their 2-15 total. The injury to Tony Kelly could have been a fatal blow but they stuck at it. Trailing by three entering the final quarter, the likes of Cathal O'Connell, Peter Duggan and Alan O'Neill kept them moving forward. Seadna Morey and Aaron Cunningham barely registered on the radar for long stretches before suddenly appearing to hammer home Clare's numerical advantage.
The first yellow rather than the second one mystified the Waterford management afterwards. Peter Queally was close to the action when Prendergast received his first yellow after a mini melee. "I have no arguments with the second yellow but I could not make head nor tail of the first yellow. I’m just absolutely baffled." Selector MacDara MacDonncha also expressed his dissatisfaction. "Johnny Ryan came over and he hadn’t a clue. He spoke to his linesman and he had no clue either and how they could pick one man out of fracas where there were seven or eight players and award one yellow." It's the third time in four years that the under 21s have lost a man in provincial fare.
So another campaign comes to a close and another exciting bunch fall short at the first hurdle. It's a difficult grade to gauge with the senior commitments and getting the preparation just right for one day in the sun. Five months of hard work almost bore fruit but again Clare left with victory and a fourth Munster final in five years to look forward to. With the talent at Waterford's disposal, this latest losing streak is hard to fathom but it's about finding the right formula and system to maximise the ability of the players available. The Banner found that bit more last Thursday.
Under 21 Record 2009-2013
2009 semi final
Waterford 3-21 Tipperary 2-14
2009 final
Clare 2-17 Waterford 2-12
2010 quarter final
Cork 1-16 Waterford 1-3
2011 quarter final
Tipperary 4-12 Waterford 1-16
2012 semi final
Clare 2-22 Waterford 0-9
2013 semi final
Clare 2-15 Waterford 0-17
No comments:
Post a Comment