Clare v Antrim: UNSURPRISINGLY, PATRICK O'Connor plays it down but Clare are expected to steamroll Antrim in Semple Stadium tomorrow.
That would mean safe passage to a second All-Ireland final in four years. O’Connor and Conor McGrath survive from the 2009 panel that served notice of The Banner’s imminent return to hurling’s top table.
That so many of the current under-21s were involved in Davy Fitzgerald’s senior panel this summer is further confirmation.
O’Connor came off the bench in Clare’s impressive victory over Dublin at Cusack Park last month, joining fellow under-21s Seadna Morey, Colin Ryan, Colm Galvin, sharper-shooter Tony Kelly and McGrath.
Fitzgerald’s team ran out of steam against Limerick in the next round but they’ve already shown enough to suggest they will become a serious force in the coming seasons.
The same, however, can be said of Dublin, Waterford, Cork and Limerick. Hurling should get very interesting for the remainder of the decade.
“Yeah, particularly in Munster with Limerick and Waterford and Cork,” said O’Connor. “I remember Diarmuid O’Sullivan saying this summer that he can’t wait for the Munster championship in a few years’ time. That it’s just going to be so competitive.
“We’ll get back training soon and will be hoping to be there or thereabouts.”
What will be essential is the development of the current crop into men capable of handling the physicality of the senior grade.
“You’d be foolish if you said there wasn’t a physical difference,” O’Connor continued. “From playing both, the skill and speed of hurling is much the same but at under-21 it’s a lot more free. There seems to be less tactics because teams are together less.
“That leads to more open, free-flowing hurling. At senior level you’d have to deal with men the size of Séamus Prendergast. You’re not going to find them at under-21 level. There’s a huge physical difference and teams are so finely tuned now that they can really pick your weaknesses.
“I was actually on Séamus Prendergast for a while this year in the Waterford match and I remember thinking ‘this is a different kettle of fish here’. Teams are so well trained to tackle now, and dispossess, you have to find a man in a better position as fast as possible and that takes work on both your speed and your speed of striking as well.”
In the meantime, Clare can add some more silverware to the cabinet. The Munster title was already captured the hard way. After a string of wides, Niall Arthur’s late goal saw them edge out Tipperary by two points.
“We kind of cantered home against Waterford but Tipperary proved a very stiff test and we really got to see where our strengths and weaknesses were in that game.
“There was huge expectation on us after the Waterford game and even before that, given how many players that were on the seniors.
“They were kind of building us up to maybe be better than we actually are but after the first two balls went wide confidence seemed to drain out of the lads who were shooting. I felt we were playing well at the back and on top in midfield and were making scoring opportunities. We just weren’t taking them.”
