Just after Ryan Deasy missed a point chance from outside the D in the 58th minute on Wednesday evening, albeit under incessant pressure from Ronan Kilroy and Robert Loftus, Noel Furlong took off his hat, rubbed his left hand through his hair and looked vacantly across the Páirc Uí Chaoimh field for a second. Cork had already missed ten goal chances but their conversion rate was heading into meltdown at a stage when failing to burn Clare off was becoming an excruciating penance for the Cork management – and all of Cork’s supporters. When Michael Collins won a breaking ball amongst three Cork players off the resultant puckout, he raced towards goal before offloading to his Clonlara clubmate, Diarmuid Stritch, who clipped the ball to the net. Clare won the Cork puckout, but Cork turned it over and Johnnie Murphy was fouled for a free. Barry Walsh had a chance to equalise from inside his own 65 but he pulled his shot to the right and wide. Again, the TV cameras flashed to Furlong, who put his left hand on the back of his head, before clapping his hands together in frustration. Furlong’s worst fears were being realised in front of him. The home side still had almost four minutes to land an equaliser but they couldn’t buy a score at that stage. Barry O’Flynn was wide off the resultant puck-out. Cork won the next Clare puck-out too, which led to another Cork free. It was a difficult shot from 86 metres, which Walsh again pulled to the right. Cork had one desperate final chance to land an equaliser with the last play but Collins secured possession and the referee blew the final whistle. DEVASTATING It was a devastating loss for Cork in the circumstances, especially having created so many goalscoring chances. Cork’s overall conversion rate of 51 per cent was better than Clare’s 44 per cent but Clare’s two green flags was ultimately the difference between the teams. Just as importantly, Clare were far more composed down the home straight. Clare bagged 1-2 from their last five shots, whereas Cork missed their last seven attempts. Cork’s conversion rate in the fourth quarter was just 18 per cent. And still, it’s very hard to be critical of Cork. Finn O’Brien had a goal shot blocked by John Cahill in the 50th minute. Seconds later, Mark Sheedy made an outstanding save from O’Brien. That was the sorrowful pattern of Cork’s evening. Cork kept hunting for a green flag, but just couldn’t find it. Adam O’Sullivan’s chance in the 27th minute, which he flicked over Sheedy but which hit the crossbar and rebounded out to two Clare defenders, encapsulated the frustration of Cork’s evening. It was Cork’s best performance of the season. It wasn’t enough but the display was a reminder of how well-oiled the conveyor belt now is in Cork, and how well-stacked the county is of high-quality young players. Timmy Wilk, Barry Walsh and Adam O’Sullivan will be on Pat Ryan’s radar in the next two years. Finn O’Brien has the potential to be a good senior too. So have Barry O’Flynn and Johnny Murphy (Mallow). Walsh, O’Brien, O’Flynn and Murphy are U20 again next year. Eleven of the panel are eligible to play again in 2026, seven of whom played on Wednesday evening. Walsh, who has the potential to be an exceptional senior player, ideally fits the prototype Ryan is now looking for as a forward; a big man able to win his own ball, loaded with pace and a desire for scoring goals. Cork will have to play really well to beat Waterford in Friday’s Munster minor final but that is a multi-talented Cork team full of players with the potential to play for the Cork seniors. Colm Garde, Michael T Brosnan and Cormac Deane already look fully equipped to make the step up to play U20 next year. Darragh Heavin, Denis Fitzgerald, Cian Lawton, Bobby Carroll, Tom A Walsh, Ruairc Donovan, Craig O’Sullivan and Ryan Dineen could be U20 panellists in 2026 while still under 18. All of those players are still developing. Nothing is certain but the hardest part for the talented cohort between 17-21 in the coming years will involve having the patience and willingness to hang in when making the Cork senior panel has never looked so difficult. Cork have rarely had as many talented young players at the same time but the case study of the 2023 All-Ireland U20 winning team underlines just how difficult it is to get on the senior panel now. Only five of that group made Ryan’s 37-man squad announced in February; Eoin Downey, Diarmuid Healy, Brion Saunderson, Micheál Mullins and Darragh O’Sullivan. Ben Cunningham has been hampered with injury while William Buckley and Jack Leahy will probably make the senior panel next year. James Dwyer may make that step up in the coming years. So might Adam O’Sullivan. The Barrs' Ben O’Connor would have made it if he hadn’t gone to rugby. Fifteen players from the U20 teams that won successive All-Irelands in 2020-’21 are part of the current panel. They are more mature and developed than the players coming behind them, but the age profile of the team was far different when they first came into the side than it is now. As a result, the task of nailing down a place for the players coming behind them is going to be much more of an ordeal. The one consolation with Wednesday’s defeat is that Cork have loads of young talent coming. Yet the biggest challenge for some of those players – which will be much harder than dealing with Wednesday’s defeat – will be in trying to break into the Cork senior team in time.