Electric Ireland Munster Minor Hurling Championship – Clare 1-24 Waterford 0-9

Clare defeated Waterford by 1-24 to 0-9 in the Electric Ireland Munster Minor Hurling Championship on Wednesday April 5th at Cusack Park Ennis.

Clare's White hope-minor midfielder Keith White was the top scorer for @GaaClare v @WaterfordGAA @MunsterGAA minor highlights Mon 8pm #TG4 pic.twitter.com/nwUTwYkI94

— GAA 2017 (@GAA_2017) April 7, 2017

Clare turn on the power to crack gutsy Waterford

Report by Gerry Quinn for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Clare 1-24 Waterford 0-9

A powerful second-half performance saw Clare ease into the Munster Minor Hurling Championship semi-final in front of a crowd of 1,622 at Cusack Park in Ennis last evening. The performance after the break was a commanding one and they outscored their hapless opposition 1-15 to 0-2 over the second half hour.

With midfielder Keith White putting in a towering performance — he led by example and hit six points from play before being substituted two minutes from full time. At the end of a relatively evenly matched opening half, Clare went in two points to the good (0-9 to 0-7) but poor shooting cost them a greater lead.

They shot nine wides over the half-hour with many of them of ascoreable nature. The Banner county were 0-2 to 0-0 ahead after three minutes thanks to scores by midfielder White and wing-forward Conor Tierney. Sean Crotty got Waterford off the mark in the fourth from a distance and the sides were level when Billy Power fired over on eight.

Ian Beecher gave the visitors the lead and they held on to it until late in the half when Clare shot four unanswered scores in as many minutes to gain a two point advantage at the whistle. Waterford keeper Eoghan Browne pulled of a fine save in the seventh minute when he denied Breffni Horner a certain goal. Few could have predicted the route that was to follow.

Clare had quick points from Conor Tierney and Tiernan Agnew to pull ahead And Browne came to Waterford’s rescue, pulling off a second goal bound shot, this time from full-forward Gary Cooney. By the time the visitors got their opening score of the half, a ’65 by Billy Power, the scoreboard read 1-21 to 0-7. The game’s only goal arrived in the fifty-fourth minute when a Colin Haugh rocket hit the roof of the net from a distance, giving Browne no chance.

Scorers for Clare: K White (0-6), C Haugh (1-1), L Brack (0-4) 2 f’s, G Cooney (0-3), D Ryan, C Darcy, C Tierney, T Agnew (0-2) each, R Considine, G Cahill (0-1) each.

Waterford scorers: B Power (0-5) 2 f’s 1 ’65, I Daly, I Beecher, S Crotty, T Douglas (0-1) each.

CLARE: E Foudy; C McInerney, R Hayes, C Ferns; D Ryan, C Minogue, A McCarthy, C Darcy, K White, L Brack, G Cahill, C Tierney, T Agnew, G Cooney, B Horner.
Subs: R Considine for Tierney (40), C Haugh for Cahill ((51), P Corry for Brack (56), S Crowley for Ferns (56) E Wallace for White (58).

WATERFORD: E Browne, C Giles-Doran, J Flavin, T Foley, M Power, L O’Brien, S Whelan-Barrett, I Daly, I Beecher, C Power, S Carton, T Barron, T Looby, S Crotty, B Power.
Subs: T Douglas for Carton (40), N O’Keeffe for Looby (42), D Booth for Crotty (46),C Whelan for Barron (52), E McGrath for Daly (57).

Referee: J Mullins (Limerick)