This week in the GAA we get a breather from the senior men’s action with the under-21 A and B hurling finals in Thurles and the camogie finals in Croke Park top of the bill. The A final looks like a routine win for Clare against Antrim and with good reason. The GAA website previews the final with the tagline: “Come See The Future” – they’re not wrong. Clare are going for two in a row at this grade and are expected to stroll to victory over Antrim – a team who even appear reluctant to travel to Thurles.

When the Ulster champions shocked Wexford three weeks ago, they started complaining about the final venue, hinting between the lines that they might not even travel to Tipperary for the final. This was and is strange carry-on given that the GAA decided back in 2010 to make Thurles the permanent under-21 All-Ireland final venue. Antrim have known about this and travelled to Semple Stadium for the semi-final with no quibble.

It would be more in Antrim’s line to support their under-21 team. For their heroic semi-final win over Wexford, they only travelled with 19 players togged out, with the rest of the panel staying at home because of club football matches the following day. Antrim manager Kevin Ryan spoke after their semi-final win about training nights for his panel with less than 10 players in attendance.

Despite their hinting at a boycott, Antrim will be there on Saturday and are worthy finalists. Clare will know that, they will give them the respect they deserve on the field and, backboned by the stars of the senior championship, they will beat them.

These are remarkable hurling times for Clare. The harvest has arrived a year or two early and it is bountiful. We’ll win our second under-21 title in a row on Saturday and, of the starting 15, 14 are members of the senior panel. That is truly remarkable.

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Camogie finals

Best of luck this Sunday to the players of Kilkenny and Galway who meet in the senior camogie final at 4pm. This is always a good day’s action and, with three matches down for decision, it’s also good value (€30 gets you a decent stand ticket). Galway are contesting their third final in four years, losing the 2010, 2011 deciders to Wexford, while Kilkenny return to the final for the first time since 2009. With Wexford out of the way, Galway will fancy their chances of putting those recent final losses behind them. The other finals taking place see Laois and Kildare meet in the junior decider at noon, while Limerick and Galway contest the intermediate at 2pm.

Senior replay

Last Sunday in Croke Park we saw another epic hurling match, fitting in such a year of quality drama. Cork and Clare served up a masterpiece and the only pity is we have to wait over two weeks for the replay. This first week Clare see almost half of their panel training with their under-21s and away from the senior set-up, giving everyone the ideal two-week run-in to the replay. Cork have decided to do something similar and will probably play championship club hurling this weekend, leaving their players to return to their clubs for a week.

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The players need the break and the key in such a three-week gap is freshness. An All-Ireland senior hurling final is virgin territory for both sides – ensuring the squad don’t overdo it or go stale won’t be easy. I wonder will Jimmy Barry or Davy give Brian Cody a ring to see how he handled it so well last year!

Sunday’s game ended with as dramatic a finish as I’ve ever enjoyed at an All-Ireland hurling final. It really felt like Clare won the game afterwards as we were resigned to what would have been a heartbreaking loss.

On Sunday night, the team banquets went ahead and I was at the Clare gathering, which appeared to be considerably more upbeat that the Cork gig. That’s understandable. Cork hadn’t played that well but goals win matches and they got three of them in the second half.

With time as good as up and the Rebels ahead, they had a sideline cut that they hit right back to Clare, instead of tapping it into the corner flag to waste time. They were deflated and that was obvious in their body language.

Protein shakes were the order of the day in the players’ lounge after the game for some Cork players, while Clare had a pint. Jimmy Barry Murphy will have to address that disappointment because if Cork think they missed their chance, then they are in real trouble. They’ll have to get their heads right in a hurry.

Clare heads were happy ones on Sunday night. They got out of jail and it was a most unlikely jail-breaker in Domhnall O’Donovan. We had Domhnall’s parents Sean and Marion at our table on Sunday night and naturally they were very proud.

Earlier in the day, the best team of players in the 1980s never to have won an All-Ireland final were presented to Croke Park. This team included John Callinan, former Clare great, who was also at our table on Sunday night (John being Domhnall’s godfather). His father Sean actually played hurling for Limerick, so the young Clonlara engineer has plenty of pedigree.

He joined us too for a while and as you’d expect from a no-nonsense corner-back, albeit a very stylish one, he almost didn’t understand the fuss.

Replays can be won and lost in the hours immediately after the drawn match. I’m a firm believer in a team being happy with the draw regardless of whether they really are or not. You must come out all smiles after a draw and say you are lucky to get it. Set the tone for the replay, let your team and supporters see that you’re delighted to get a second chance.

On Sunday it was Clare who were able to go down that road, mainly because a corner-back without a history of scoring points wandered up the field and hit for hope off his bad side with the last puck of the game. Why wouldn’t we be delighted!

“When was the last time you scored for your club or county?” I asked Domhnall in the early hours of Monday morning.

“You know, I can’t remember,” he answered. “In fact, I’m not really sure if I’ve ever scored before at all!”

On such shoulders rests the future of Clare hurling and the GAA in general is safe. Our next fairy tale is now only nine or 10 days away, for Mayo are about to reach the promised land.

We live in special times. CL