Clare v Waterford

Apologies, I haven't been around to do a preview of this. Clare won't line out as named. Fergal Lynch will replace Barrett and talks are that Podge Collins will replace his brother Sean in the starting team. Some rise for him, he was on the football panel earlier this year before joining the senior setup when the league ended and now looks to be making his debut at the age of 20 after some very impressive performances in training

lare Senior Hurling Team v Waterford, Munster Senior Hurling Championship
1. Patrick Kelly Inagh/Kilnamona
2. Domhnall O Donnovan Clonlara
3. Cian Dillon Crusheen
4. Conor Cooney O.C.Mills
5. Brendan Bugler Whitegate
6. James McInerney Newmarket
7. Patrick O Connor Tubber
8. Nicky O Connell Clonlara
9. Patrick Donnellan O.C.Mills ( C )
10. Enda Barrett Newmarket
11. Sean Collins Cratloe
12. Jonothan Clancy Clarecastle
13. Colin Ryan Newmarket
14. John Conlon Clonlara
15. Conor McGrath Cratloe
16. Donal Touhy Crusheen
17. Seadna Morey Sixmilebridge
18. Liam Markham Cratloe
19. Brian O Connell Wolfe Tones na Sionna
20. Fergal Lynch Clooney/Quin
21. Aaron Cunningham Wolfe Tones na Sionna
22. Padraig Collins Cratloe
23. Colm Galvin Clonlara
24. Darach Honan Clonlara
25. Eamon Glynn Inagh/Kilnamona
26. Camin Morey Sixmilebridge


Good to see Davy giving the young lads their place in the squad, Diarmuid McMahon, Pat Vaughan and Cathal McInerney who all played against Tipp and Galway in the championship have failed to make the 26.

With the weather promised bad it may not suit our young side but a decent start and I think we will win with a bit to spare. But Waterford while also having a youngful enough team have a decent enough spine and a bit more experience but I think if we start well the chinks in their morale and their management team will be shown up.

Clare by 4 with a fully fit Honan and Tony Kelly to strenthen our forward options even further ahead of the Munster final

'What we have won is all in the past, the future needs looking at'

John Conlon will be a central figure as Clare seek to end their slump at senior level, writes Damian Lawlor



DANNY CHAPLIN needed a favour. A family friend dropped by looking for a prominent sporting figure to welcome a group of cyclists on a charity venture into Shannon Airport.

The notice was short but Chaplin had good contacts from his playing days with Clare and as a selector during Ger O'Loughlin's tenure in charge of the senior team.

"They needed someone well known but more importantly someone obliging, a lad who would get into the spirit of the thing," Chaplin says. "John Conlon was the first man I rang. I apologised for the short notice, explained what was required and he just asked what time he needed to be there -- that lad would do anything for anyone. You won't get a better young man."

Already the 23-year-old Clonlara man is the team's primary ball-winning target. In the league he notched 1-3 against Laois, 0-4 against Limerick and 1-2 against Wexford as part of a two-man full-forward line. Indeed his form has been out of the top drawer for some time, whether at full- or wing-forward, right back as far as the 2011 Division 1B final defeat to Limerick when he was named man of the match.

With Davy Fitzgerald's new-look Clare likely to put men behind the ball this afternoon, Conlon's job will be to gain possession when it crosses halfway. It will be lonely at times and he'll have to fillet the Waterford defence at every opportunity.

"Long-term, I would say that centre-forward is his position," remarks Chaplin, "but he is a leader whether playing at wing- or full-forward. He's not the type to go roaring around the dressing room but I always go back to the 2009 under 21 All-Ireland final. Who stepped up in the second half when most needed? Conlon. He hit three great points that day."

Conlon himself, however, is sick of reliving that occasion when Clare edged past Kilkenny to win the under 21 championship for the first time. While he tolerates talk of a senior team on an upward curve, with classy minors from the past two years also coming through, he dismisses the notion that Clare have their best days ahead.

"Ah, we should be up there with the best of them as it is," he says. "It's an exciting time but I'm fairly sick hearing what great potential and promise we have. We really have to drive on. I'm hoping that there will be an explosion in hurling over the next few years, teams like Limerick, Waterford, Dublin and ourselves are fast coming through at underage level and will really threaten Kilkenny. We want to be part of that.

"We're getting a bit of steel back and I thought we showed our real potential in the first half of the league semi-final with Kilkenny, even if things didn't work out in the second. We just have to keep that intensity going for 70 minutes and build from there. It's about time we started believing in ourselves now. I'm 22, so are most of the lads, and the way hurling is going, you'll be doing well to last into your 30s. 'Tis all over before you know it."

Davy Fitzgerald has put them through a rigorous regime -- sources close to the camp say they trained 30 out of 34 nights from January onwards and the physical stature of the players has most certainly changed. "We worked hard on strength and conditioning but we needed that," insists the Clonlara man, who also practises yoga.

"The big thing is that every player got his own programme whereas in the past it was the same across the board. It's more specialised now and we haven't really done any mad running -- everything is with the ball and we work really hard around tackling."

The manager is quick to reward them for their commitment. When they attended their first session under Fitzgerald, training gear was laid out, tops with their names on the back hanging from pegs. They received four sets of gear and trained in UL and other floodlit venues with the best of facilities. The players have wanted for nothing.

"It's the most professional set-up I've ever seen," Conlon shrugs. "Work hard for Davy and he'll work hard for you -- the camp is unreal and no one can give out that the set-up is not professional. Any county player would like it and if you can't feed off Davy's passion you may as well not be there. Another big thing he has rammed home is that our transition term is over. What we have won is all in the past, the future needs looking at."

Despite stepping up from a successful underage set-up, and being part of a Clonlara team that won historic county championships at minor, under 21, and senior at their first attempt, Conlon is still waiting for a first senior inter-county championship win.

"We feel we're close. Against Kilkenny, we lacked experience, our heads dropped, we stopped defending and then lost our intensity -- they ripped us open when they saw that. People say they were only in third gear, and maybe they were, but it drilled into us what was needed for Waterford."

It's a unified team, even with a bunch of disappointed promising young players snapping at the heels of more established guys. There are 35 on the panel, only 25 get jerseys and the other ten must sit in the stand. The dynamic of all three groups will switch from game to game.

This weekend's unlucky 10 were told on Tuesday that they wouldn't be part of the squad today. "Maybe before players would get a little negative," he says, "but anything that happens this year stays inside our panel -- nothing gets out. In the past some lads were happy just to be part of the Clare squad but now everyone is driving it on. Darach Honan and Pat Vaughan are back from long-term injuries and Brian O'Connell returning from Australia has brought a bit of experience and leadership back into the ranks. We probably need to become more vocal as a group too."

Fitzgerald's in-depth knowledge of the Waterford team will surely help. "Davy knows them pretty well," Conlon accepts, "but things will have pushed on and changed. And every championship game is different -- sometimes plans and tactics go out the window once a game starts. We can only look after ourselves."

Away from the set-up, Conlon is in the midst of a teaching degree at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick. In February, he flew to Ethiopia for a 12-day trip with the Playing For Lifecharity group. Gavin O'Mahony and Graeme Mulcahy from Limerick, former Clare goalkeeper Philip Brennan and Dublin defender Niall Corcoran were also in tow. They set up base in the northern territory of Tigray where the ancient Ethiopian game of karsa, which also involves a wooden stick and a ball, is played. While there they conducted coaching sessions and also sampled the local sport.

Conlon and his colleagues worked closely with a group of 18-19-year-olds and raised nearly €30,000 which went towards projects such as the improvement of sports facilities and assisting single mothers in business.

"John is very thoughtful like that," adds Chaplin. "He sees the bigger picture. And even though he's totally focused on hurling, he knows there are more important things in life too. I just hope the Clare public come out today and back him and the lads. I've gone on record to say how disappointing the levels of support are in this county at times. They need to support the likes of John who would put his hand in where other lads would be afraid to stick a hurley."

Conlon knows that reaching a Munster final would certainly help get people back onside.

"Yeah, there's a good old buzz in Clare but we need to start winning a few games to get the supporters back," he says.

Rather than start a new thread I'll jot my comments here....

Shambolic stuff, all day as per TV....Granted, I'd had to batter away grandchilder, but the skill levels were woeful...
Granted, none of the 4 lacked pluck or desire, but the skill levels on display bordered on horrendous. The ability to rise a ball in one swift move has been abrogated to two, at least, shovells at it....

Cody's ample pate is bereft of sweat as I type.......

A poor enough game alright somewhat saved by the fact that it was tight and well contested. If you were to go back to the National League thread I said that I didn't expect too much from Clare this year and that we are still a couple of years away from being back competing with the big boys and yesterday showed. For all intents and purproses it was the same personnel that the Sparrow had available to him that started the game yesterday along with the addition of young Podge Collins. While we had a bit more structure to our play the same limitations were there to be seen that were there under the Sparrow's regime. The fact is that there are just too many average hurlers on this Clare team at present and the problem is most of these lads are our more experienced hurlers. Given the quality of young hurlers in the county between the age of 17 and 21 i would be very surprised in two years time if any Cooney, Bugler, McInerney, Fergal Lynch, Clancy and Colin Ryan were making the team.

While we could have won the game yesterday had we taken our chances it doesn't say much for Waterford that they allowed us to still be in the match with a half backline that was cleaned out for the 70 minutes. There are plenty of positives, despite being at fault for the second goal Pat Kelly had a solid game aside from that. Domhnall O'Donovan and Cian Dillon are developing into very good hurlers and are much improved on the players they were 2 years ago and would be better again if they had a decent half backline in front of them while in John Conlon and Conor McGrath we have two forwards that would stand out for any side in the country. No doubt there will be changes for the next day with the likes of Sean Collins, Sedna Morey and Tony Kelly coming into the side while come next summer I would expect the likes of Colm Galvin, Aaron Cunningham, Stephen O'Halloran and Peter Duggan all being very close to the team.

The intermediates were very comfortable winners over Waterford yesterday despite missing all the players involved in last years A/I winning team and it was for all intents and purposes the 21's team minus the 6 under 21's on the senior side.

I thought it was very entertaining. Clare were a little unlucky and I think that little bit of extra experience saw the Deise over the line. Nicky O'Connell missed 3 crucial frees too which could have been the difference.