Davy Fitzgerald had Clare so pumped up

I made my way to my usual spot in the middle of the North stand in Cusack Park yesterday. I didn’t bother going to the newly redeveloped stand. The architect’s drawings online make it appear like a smaller version of Croke Park but it looks on the outside that it just got a new paint job; I presume for planning reasons, they couldn’t make it bigger.

For all the newness, they still played the same old tape of the national anthem. I said to myself, ‘Jeez, with 10,000 here, would ye not get someone to sing the national anthem.’ It’s the same auld tape poor old Pa Casey, the Lord have mercy on him, used to turn on 20 years ago. It’s a kind of fast version of the old tune. You could nearly dance to it.

One thing for certain after yesterday is that the big days will be back in Ennis next year. Clare were by far the better team. They were professional and got the job done. After all the recent momentum generated by Na Piarsaigh, Mary Immaculate College in the Fitzgibbon Cup and Ardscoil Rís’ run to the All-Ireland Colleges final, yesterday was a shuddering halt to that Limerick surge.