Reigning champions St Thomas will meet Turloughmore in the semi-finals of the Galway SHC, while last year’s runners-up Liam Mellows will take on Cappataggle following the quarter-finals at the weekend.

Before I led the Clarecastle team out at half-time of yesterday’s Clare county final, to collect our 25-year anniversary plaques, somebody handed me the 1994 county final programme. We beat a young St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield team that afternoon and, as I scanned the teams, Ger Hoey’s name jumped out at me.

It will be at least another three weeks before Clare will appoint a senior hurling manager for 2020.

The 2019 Clare senior hurling panel have expressed their frustration at not being consulted on the managerial selection process.

Louis Mulqueen is now considered the front-runner for the Clare senior hurling manager's position after outgoing co-boss Donal Moloney pulled out of the race today.

A Tommy Larkins side who won their only Galway SHC title back in 1971 will bid to dethrone the reigning champions St Thomas’ in the quarter-finals of this year’s title race.

St Thomas’ claimed their third Galway SHC title with the largest winning margin in nine seasons as Darragh Burke inspired them to a memorable victory at Pearse Stadium.

He’d know plenty about it already but the last couple of trips up the M18 from Ennis have given Louis Mulqueen great insight into the Galway psyche.

Cuala (Dublin) 1-17 Liam Mellows (Galway) 0-11: The champions of the last two years will meet in the All-Ireland club hurling final, but it will take a monumental performance from Na Piarsaigh to deny this Cuala team a two-in-a-row.

As he watched his former Galway colleagues reaching the peak on All-Ireland final Sunday from the Croke Park press box in his brief as an analyst, there was plenty of mixed emotions for David Collins, writes John Fogarty.

Liam Mellows 3-12 Gort 1-15: There have been few more joyous vistas in Pearse Stadium than that witnessed yesterday as Liam Mellows ended their 47-year wait for a senior Galway hurling title.

Hopes are high Davy Fitzgerald will be fit enough to take some if not all managerial duties for Clare in tomorrow’s All-Ireland quarter-final in Semple Stadium.

Davy Fitzgerald is aiming to be on the sideline for Clare’s All-Ireland quarter-final on Sunday having had minor heart surgery yesterday.

While expressing disappointment with referee Diarmuid Kirwan’s decision to award Tony Kelly an equalising free deep in stoppage time, Waterford boss Derek McGrath hailed the resilience of three men who carried personal grief into yesterday’s Allianz Hurling League Division 1 final.

Back in late 2013 when the memory of Clare’s intoxicating All-Ireland breakthrough was all that existed in the close season vacuum, the mind throbbed with possibilities.

Tomorrow, Clare and Limerick cross swords, a term used advisedly. Louis Mulqueen will be in the Banner management team, and he’s also realistic about what to expect so early in the summer.

An indignant Clare hurling camp last night insisted the issue concerning the disciplinary breach that prompted the departures of Davy O’Halloran and Nicky O’Connell from the panel was dealt with fairly.

Driving home and listening to some of the post-match interviews yesterday on RTÉ Radio 1, they didn’t appear to tell you anything yet they told you everything, writes Anthony Daly.

The chairman of the GAA’s medical, scientific and welfare committee has launched a stout defence of the rule which saw Clare hurler Podge Collins red carded during Saturday’s All-Ireland qualifier clash against Wexford at Cusack Park.

The Clare County Board have opted to go ahead with the majority of this weekend’s second round club championship fixtures — despite receiving an appeal for a postponement by Davy Fitzgerald and his management team.

Now that the dust has settled on Sunday’s loss to Cork the focus in Clare is on how to resurrect their challenge for September glory.

Clare’s player strengths lie in the fact that they are high achievers on the field and off it, according to the county’s coach Louis Mulqueen.

Clare senior football captain Gary Brennan has emerged as a target for Davy Fitzgerald’s hurlers.

ALLIANZ HL DIV 1A:

The colour scheme at Croke Park on September 7 this year will consist of saffron and blue and black and amber. Saffron and blue because Clare will be a better team in 2014 than they were in 2013.

Cusack Park in Ennis is the headquarters of Clare GAA, the field on which the All-Ireland senior hurling champions of 2013 were fired and forged.

Last Saturday night, Clare’s All-Ireland winning captain Patrick Donnellan spoke of a magnificent unbreakable bond between this Clare team and their manager, Davy Fitzgerald.

The great thing about the hurling just having finished is that it’ll soon start all over again — sort of.

Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald has revealed how a three-hour meeting with the players in his sitting room, during which they had MiWadi orange and biscuits, got the Banner's Championship campaign back on track.

It began with a phone call 11 months ago. Louis Mulqueen got in touch with Shane O’Donnell’s father looking for his son’s number.

SATURDAY, Sept 28, 2013, is a day Clare people will remember forever. It was the day we saw boys become men before our eyes in Croke Park.

Five years ago work on the revival of Clare hurling got underway in earnest. This weekend they are reaping the rewards — and even brighter times may lie ahead.

Louis Mulqueen on what drives the Banner.

Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald is playing down his knowledge of the Limerick team ahead of Sunday's All-Ireland SHC semi-final showdown between the counties at Croke Park.

Whether it’s a team of battle-hardened veterans like Brian Cody’s Kilkenny or a team of tyros like Davy Fitzgerald’s Clare, the ongoing challenge is to have their heads right for every game.

Fingers crossed on the double for Clare senior hurling selector Louis Mulqueen in advance of this evening’s Bord Gais Energy Munster U21 hurling final against Tipperary in Semple Stadium (7.30pm).

Cork’s lines all stood up to the task against Kilkenny at Semple Stadium yesterday

Jimmy Barry-Murphy has had some stick since he got the Cork management job, unfair criticism; this was an answer for a lot of people.

Even among seasoned hacks it’s a major point of discussion coming into the Munster SHC semi-final at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday — who should be favourites?

We all know how nervous players can get before big games.