Lifting the Banner’s spirits

IN all the years I’ve been doing this column, the one major disappointment for me is that I’ve never been in a position to analyse a big win for Clare.

It’s great to analyse the success of other counties, especially when that success is unexpected, but doing it for your own, that has to be a bit special. On Wednesday evening, in Dungarvan, Clare won the Munster U-21 hurling final, our first ever.

I say ‘our’, because regardless of the fact that I try to be as objective as I can in these columns, you never stop supporting your own. It was a special evening for Clare supporters, and not just because it was the county’s first at this grade. It was the manner of the win, going down to the heart of Waterford, taking them on in their home place, giving them a great start, then pegging it back and eventually, recording the victory.