Now to surpass ’90s on pitch too

There are All-Ireland home-comings, and then there was Clare last Sunday, a homecoming with a difference — certainly different to what we saw in the ’90s.

The first eye-opener for me was at Limerick train station; two buses, one for the players, one for the backroom staff. It spoke to me of a level of professionalism that we would normally associate with Manchester United or some such team.

The first port of call was my own native club, Cratloe, and from there, on to Clonlara. When I think back to ’95 and ’97 there was no one from either of those clubs on that team; on Saturday last they provided nearly half the starting 15 between them, three players each (Domhnall O’Donovan, Colm Galvin, John Conlon of Clonlara and Conor Ryan, Podge Collins and Conor McGrath from Cratloe, plus selector Michael Deegan) along with several subs.