WATCH | “The lads kept going and going” | Diarmuid Mullins praises resolve of U20s as they scrape past Clare

Limerick U20s managed to edge out a win against Clare with two last minute scores snatching the opening round win.

The Limerick U20 hurlers scraped their way to a 3-7 to 0-15 victory over Clare last night in the first round of the Munster Hurling Championship.

Clare led by three in injury time but Cathal O’Neill was on hand with 1-1 in a minute to turn the contest.

Against the strong breeze the Treaty side were down by 0-12 to 1-2 at the half.

But the side managed to rally well and snatched victory in the nick of time with O’Neill to the fore.

Manager Diarmuid Mullins reflected on the game in the wake of the result and praised his side who kept going to the final whistle despite Clare looking in control for the vast majority of the game.

“As the second half wore on Clare were in control but I would say, in fairness to our lads, they just kept going and going and I think I’d like to look back at it again but we probably missed chances before we got the goal and point at the end.

“Our concentration levels weren’t great leading up to half-time we gave away some needless frees, like I think the free count was 10-2.

“If you look at it on the macro level seven points down and to win by a point is a great result but we huffed and puffed a bit in the second half and we didn’t really get any flow into our game.

“We weren’t happy with how we played but as I said to the lads there was no need to panic a half-time I didn’t think seven points was a big lead and we’ve been well able to reel in those scores in our preparation for the game.”

Limerick’s performance was far from the ones that saw them lose out the Munster final by just a point to eventual All-Ireland winners Cork.

Mullins’ insisted that their form coming into the game was strong but they were able to find the crucial goals on the night that had been hard to come by prior to the Gaelic Grounds clash.

“We’ve played really well up until this. I think we’ve played ten challenge games since the start of the year we’ve won the last seven, we’ve been averaging probably 1-20, 1-22.

“I know conditions were difficult there tonight but if you said to me 15 scores to 10 scores and one of the things we haven’t got is goals up until now.”

Limerick could find themselves in the semi-finals of the competition by the time they next play Cork on 20 April. Should the Rebels defeat Clare next week, then Limerick’s place in the last four will be confirmed before their Pairc Ui Chaoimh clash.

Nonetheless, Mullins’ is focused on that game regardless of results in the meantime.

“The reality is Cork have won the All Ireland the last two years, they had a fantastic minor team last year so they’re the team to catch in Ireland so we’ll be going down there looking for a result.”

Watch the interview with Mullins in full below.