Tony Kelly insists the Clare senior hurling team's early championship exit hasn't placed any extra pressure on the U21s in their quest for a three-in-a-row of All-Ireland titles.
Speaking to reporters ahead of Saturday's All-Ireland U21 final against Wexford at Semple Stadium, the Clare captain and current Hurler of the Year explained: "Inside our own camp we don't pay much attention to papers or any of that public talk outside our own camp. I don't think there's pressure on us. We just want to go out and have a performance.
"We don't even talk about winning games. If we can get the maximum performance out of ourselves then we feel that will be good enough to win on the day."
The Ballyea clubman also remembers the Banner's Munster semi-final extra-time victory over Tipperary as being the perfect antidote to the seniors' replay loss to Wexford four days earlier.
"I suppose after a heavy defeat like that you don't want to be hanging around thinking about it," he recalled.
"We had the bonus of coming into an U21 set-up where lads were fresh and looking forward to a Munster semi-final. The battle that night brought the panel closer together. Getting over that big battle really tested the character of the group and from then on relationships have been beginning to build between the new lads that were coming in this year and the old lads that were there."
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