Clare boss O’Connor demands more from under-21 hurlers

Antrim 1-10 Clare 4-28

Clare demolished Antrim by 27 points in Saturday's Bord Gáis Energy All-Ireland U21 hurling semi-final but joint-manager Gerry O'Connor is demanding improvement ahead of the final with Wexford on September 13th.

Clare are on the verge of completing the three-in-a-row in this grade and this massive win was five points bigger than last year’s final demolition job on the hapless Saffrons.

This game was over as a contest early on as Clare roared into a 1-7 to 0-0 lead before Antrim opened their account with an 18th minute goal from Seán McAfee.

Aaron Cunningham, scorer of 3-3, notched a second goal before half-time and Clare were 2-16 to 1-1 clear at the break.

The Banner County piled on the misery for Antrim in the second half as 2013 Hurler of the Year Tony Kelly and Cunningham added further goals.

And O’Connor admitted: “It’s not ideal preparation heading into an All-Ireland final. We were expecting a tougher test, based on what we had been hearing during the course of the last two months.

“Ultimately, once the first goal went in, and when we went four or five points up and the sweeper system wasn’t working for them, that was really game over after about ten or 15 minutes.”

But O’Connor added: “We’d be very disappointed with some of our defending throughout the game. The first goal would have been unacceptable defending in relation to how the ball was allowed to get there and how nobody got back to help Jack (Browne).

“Anybody can be exposed once from a ball like that but ultimately your defence needs to work as a unit. And there were certainly lots of occasions when our defence did not work well.”

Deflated Antrim manager Kevin Ryan admitted that he expected a better performance from his side, and hoped that they could finish the game within “10 or 12 points” of Clare.

Ryan highlighted Clare’s “physicality” and “lifestyle of fitness” as key differences between the sides.

But he hinted at major changes in Antrim hurling over the next two years, revealing: “We know what we have to do. We have plans to change all that and it’s not dream stuff in the future. It’s things that we have happening in the next month or two. We’re going to take that opportunity over a year or two to seriously close that gap. And that’s our ambition.”

ANTRIM: B Butler; M Dudley, P Burke, M Bradley (0-1); R McCambridge, J McGreevy, T Ó'Ciaráin; E Campbell, N McKenna; D McCloskey, Stephen McAfee (0-3), D McGuinness; D McKernan (0-1), Seán McAfee (1-0), C Clarke (0-3, 1f). Subs: C Burke (0-1) for McGuinness (30), S McCaughan (0-1) for McCloskey (h.t.), J O'Connell for McKenna (38), M Connolly for McCambridge (44), E McGaughan for Seán McAfee (51).

CLARE: K Hogan, J Colleran, J Browne, S Morey; G O'Connell, A O'Neill, J Shanahan (0-1); C Galvin (0-2), E Enright (0-1); B Duggan (0-5, 3f), T Kelly (1-3), P Duggan; S O'Donnell (0-2), A Cunningham (3-3), D Reidy (0-3). Subs: C O'Connell (0-6, 5f) for Reidy (30+1), N Deasy (0-1) for B Duggan (h.t.), S O'Brien for Morey (46), S Gleeson (0-1) for Galvin (46), A McGuane for Shanahan (51).

Referee: P O'Dwyer (Carlow).