Banner must now drive on for greater days ahead
I was in Broadford on Saturday evening for a tournament game between Broadford and Clarecastle.
The event was to mark the 40th anniversary of Gerard Moroney’s death, a young player from the village who lost his life tragically after training, at just 15.
The club erected a plaque in Gerard’s memory just outside the dressing room.
I was asked to say a few words after the unveiling. I’m not a Liverpool supporter but that famous sign at Anfield came in to my head, and how the players always used to touch it before they entered the field.
There is a totally different kind of history attached to both clubs but when you lose one of your own, especially someone so deeply connected and ingrained in the locality, any symbols connected to the memories of that person should mean everything.
They certainly do in Broadford. The place is entrenched in the hurling heartland of east Clare. We had some fair battles in Clarecastle with the men in green and gold because they were passionate boyos.
You could feel that passion and enthusiasm on Saturday night, their absolute love of hurling, their desire to see Clare do well. The only thing everyone was talking about was yesterday’s game.
We all knew it was big but the fervour and intensity in the discussion was another reminder of just how big this was for Clare.
The county needed a win. It’s been a long time since Clare hurling was so desperate for a result.
The final whistle was magic yesterday because this was the win that we have been waiting for since the 2013 All-Ireland final replay.
It wasn’t exactly a vintage performance but the heart and desire and ambition of the players lifted it to another level.
And that makes it even more satisfying, especially when so many of those qualities in these players were doubted over the last few years.
Everybody stepped up at some stage. Clare didn’t have to rely on John Conlon as much as they had in their two previous games.
Tony Kelly had some bad wides in the first half. Shane O’Donnell couldn’t get on the ball in that period but other fellas grabbed the responsibility at key periods in the game, especially Peter Duggan.
His free-taking was brilliant all through but he had the nerve and the bottle from play when the need was at its absolute greatest late on.
Podge Collins was brilliant. In lots of ways, he turned the game.
Apart from his three points from play, and his assist for the goal, Podge’s sheer energy and enthusiasm, especially his lust for the battle, was massive during stages when Tipp just seemed to be edging closer and closer to the finishing line.
Clare did get some big breaks late on but you won’t win any match on breaks unless you’re in pitching for them, and then ready to take those opportunities when they drop. And Clare absolutely cashed in those chips when the roulette wheel seemed about to spin off the table.
This was a tough defeat for Tipperary. It was their best performance of the summer. Their workrate was phenomenal. They were savage in the tackle.
Clare had some desperate wides but many of those were down to the absolute intensity of Tipperary’s play in the tight.
They will look back, too, with real regret after Jake Morris’ goal chance hit the post and Clare counter-attacked up the pitch like lightning to score their goal.
They will wince too when they think of Jason Forde’s missed free which would have pushed their lead out to three down the home straight.
The point which had left Tipp two ahead came from Seamus Callanan moments earlier.
It was probably the wise decision in the circumstances but the Callanan of two years ago would have taken that chance on a couple of more steps and buried it in the corner.
Tipp probably did run out of gas.
They were outscored by 1-6 to 0-2 down the home straight but that had probably as much to do with mental fatigue as physical tiredness, yet Tipperary kept going.
They emptied themselves but those little mistakes, or lack of composure late on, was more a reflection of tired minds than bodies just breaking down from four games in 21 days.
Tipp had a great start. They managed to keep Clare at arm’s length for most of the second half but you still felt that Clare had turned a corner after about 20 minutes. They got on top around the middle.
They had more of a grip on possession but Tipp just seemed to be able to get their scores that bit easier.
Their shooting economy for most of the second half was top class. But Clare’s was absolutely dead-eyed when it had to be.
A couple of lads said to me in Broadford the other evening that they didn’t know if these boys had the killer instinct.
They proved they have now but Clare need to use this win as a platform to drive on for even greater days ahead.
The potential is certainly there. The Clare crowd was massive. The momentum is building again.
If the main men step up even more, anything is possible.
Next Sunday in Limerick looks set to be the epic of all epic local derbies. It will be some way to conclude this round-robin Munster championship because most of the games have been brilliant.
Yesterday’s game in the Gaelic Grounds wasn’t but Waterford put so much into last week that they just didn’t seem to have anything left.
Their injury toll also left them exposed and a serious Limerick team went to town on that opportunity.
Kilkenny seized their chance, too, on Saturday evening. You just have to admire them. They are not the team they used to be but just don’t do giving up.
Wexford should have buried them when they were on top but when Kilkenny get a sniff of blood, the kill is always inevitable.
Broadford is at the opposite end of the county but as we watched the game the other evening, I thought of a famous saying they have back in west Clare: ‘If you have the name for getting up early, you can stay in bed all day’.
It was similar in many ways in Nowlan Park, almost self-fulfilling prophesy kind of stuff; despite how much they were struggling, Kilkenny knew they were going to come back. And Wexford almost seemed to know it too.
Once Kilkenny got on that irresistible roll, Wexford just couldn’t halt it.
They had the chances to kill Kilkenny’s momentum on so many occasions but they almost seemed strangled by the inevitable reality of how this was going to play out.
Dublin didn’t follow the expected script in Pearse Stadium on Saturday evening.
Dublin will be disappointed to have gone out so early but I’m sure Pat Gilroy is still privately delighted with how his players performed in this championship.
Dublin know now that they’re not that far away, and that they can have a right cut at it next year.
The confidence will have increased no end. The experience will have been invaluable to the young players but I’m sure the conditions will be far more conducive for management, too.
They were without the Cuala lads for the entire league; the team which lined out against Kilkenny hadn’t played together once beforehand.
Everything seemed to be against them but they were excellent.
So what could Dublin be capable of next year?
Galway got the job done again. They are the only team in the championship to have won every game.
That will please Micheal Donoghue.
But I’m sure he is smirking even more when he digests the continuing reality of what has played out to date; that most teams left in the championship have been emptying themselves; and that Galway are still only getting warmed up.
