You wouldn’t normally associate Clare’s Cratloe Woods with the sun-soaked Costa del Sol but as David Moriarty watched the Tipperary footballers go through their paces, he was filled with a renewed sense of hope.

Clare might have made an underwhelming fist of defending their All-Ireland title but 2014 has still been a very special year for Conor McGrath, confirming the 23-year-old’s status as one of the country’s leading hurlers.

MICHAEL MURPHY was just 18 when he died following a freak hurling accident in south-east Clare three years ago.