Peter Keane disappointed by defeat but encouraged by Clare's second half fight

Irish Examiner

04-05-2025

Former Kerry boss and current Clare manager Peter Keane believes the Kingdom's fast start in the Munster final left his side with too much to do, and then turnovers silenced the Banner roar.
'I think we started very slowly, and I'd say we were down 1-2 to nothing after three or four minutes," Keane explained.
"Turnovers hurt us. We had about seven turnovers in the first half, but we conceded 3-1 from those turnovers. That really hurt us.
'We went in at half-time well on the wrong side of the scoreboard, and I thought our lads showed great character and resilience in the second half.'
Failure to take their goal chances also cost Clare according to Keane.
'They came out and they fought, we had a couple of goal chances which we didn't convert, but if you look at the scoreboard at the end of the day, it was the goals that were the difference,' he said.
'It hurts you and you've got to remember you're talking about a team in Division 3 versus a team that were champions of Division 1. They're playing at a higher level regularly, and they're playing at home.
'I'm proud of the way the lads came out and, particularly in that second half, they didn't lie down. They fought very, very well to bring it back to what we got.'
Clare trailed by 15 at half-time. What was the Banner manager's message at the break?
'The thing was to keep doing what we were doing, but to cut out the mistakes, and improve the scoring efficiency. We were something like 40% in our scoring efficiency in the first half, and Kerry were at something like 80%.
'In the second half, they were at something like 90%, but our shooting did improve in the second half because, in the first half, it wasn't good.
'The tempo of the game goes up when you go into championship. You're playing against a team that won Division 1 of the National League, and that split second might go against you. That will only improve with the lads as they play better teams. That's how you improve.
'Very (encouraging), and when you mention turnovers there, we had less turnovers than Kerry in both halves, but it was just that the turnovers that happened hurt us.'
Keane maintained that Clare did not travel to Killarney just to make up the numbers.
'You would be confident any day that you go out. You would be confident even before you came in here today that you could do something. It just didn't happen for us today, but we are playing Down in the first round at home.
'Down are a team who kicked very, very big in their league games this year, and Division 2 was an exceptional competition this year with the amount of scores, for and against, all the teams. They will kick big, so we have got to compete with that.'
Keane said he felt a mixture of disappointment with the result but encouragement from his side's second half performance.
"Predominantly, you are playing in the Munster final, and you want to win it. All your hopes and ambitions coming down the road today are that you will. You don't, so that's obviously going to be a disappointment.'