Fitzgerald: ‘Tipperary were on fire’
Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald felt his side came up a better team, as Tipperary booked their place in the Allianz Division 1 Hurling League final, following a seven-point win over the Banner County at the Gaelic Grounds this afternoon.
Fitzgerald felt that Tipperary were son top form as they advanced to a final against Kilkenny.
"Tipperary were on fire today and we came up against a great team," he said.
"They were absolutely unreal today and they will be massive going forward. We have to regroup, get back together again and just do a bit more work and get ready for the Championship now."
The Banner boss lamented his sides poor shooting in front of the posts, as one of the reasons why his side failed to advance to the decider.
"We hit 14 wides, they had 9. They had 15 scorable frees and we got eight. You can tell a lot by that. Maybe we weren't as bad as we seemed, but Tipp were very good. They were on fire today and fair play to them."
Fitzgerald did feel his side didn’t get the rub of the green from the referee at certain stages of the game.
"I thought we kept fighting away, but the second goal that they got was a free to Clare instead of a free to Tipp 100%.
"Everybody in the stadium could see that except Colm Lyons, but they are decisions that will go against you every now and again. That swung it, it changed the momentum when we had it and then it changed it back the other way."
"That's life, we are more than happy to say Tipperary were the better team today, and fair play to them."
Fitzgerald added there were plenty of positives to take from the League.
"I'm absolutely delighted that we stayed up. I would have liked to go another step today. Tipperary are a major force coming during the summer and we'll have to get back to the drawing board and see how we get on."
