There was no major surprise on Saturday in Semple Stadium when the Galway hurlers were well beaten by 1-16 to 0-7 by a star-studded Clare outfit in the All-Ireland u-21 final.
Clare led by 0-5 to 0-3 at half-time, however they totally overwhelmed Galway in the second half and ran out extremely convincing winners by 12 points.
Once Clare’s Cathal O'Connell scored the game's only goal early in the second half, Galway never really looked like getting back into contention.
Such was Clare’s superiority that they could replace their senior stars Colm Galvin and Tony Kelly well before the finish and still run out easy winners.
Galway’s lack of competitive action was a major disadvantage for the management team of Johnny Kelly, Dinny Cahill and Tony Keady, but there can be no arguing with the current gulf in ability between the two outfits based on their respective displays.
Clare will face Antrim in the All-Ireland final after Antrim shocked Wexford in the other semi-final.
Galway: S Mannion; P Killeen, J Hanbury, B Keane; P Huban, D Burke, M Keating; A Tuohy, P Claffey; T Flynn, C Cooney 0-3, J Glynn; P Brehony, C Mannion 0-3, J Flynn. Subs: C Keane for T Flynn (38 ); S Maloney 0-1 for J Flynn (48 ); S Sweeney for Claffey (53 ); J Carr for Mannion (57 ).
Clare: R Taaffe; P Flanagan, D McInerney, J Browne; S Morey, A O'Neill, S O'Halloran; C Galvin, T Kelly; P Duggan, P Collins, S O'Donnell; C O'Connell, A Cunningham, D O'Halloran. Subs: C Malone for Cunningham (30+1 ); D Keane for O'Donnell (47 ); M O'Neill for Collins (51 ); J Shanahan for Galvin (54 ); E Boyce for Kelly (54 ).
