Anthony Daly: Unexpected Clare last four carries bonuses for Lohan 

Suddenly, we have semi-finals nobody would have predicted.

Clonlara's John Conlon and Sixmilebridge's Jason Loughnane in action during the Sixmilebridge V Clonlara Senior Hurling Quarter final at Cusack Park Ennis on Sunday. Picture : Eamon Ward

I didn’t go to any match yesterday, not that I didn’t want to, but because I couldn’t; I just didn’t have the heart to face anyone in Cusack Park. I was in Corofin on Saturday evening to see my own club Clarecastle lose an intermediate quarter-final to Tubber. We were beaten by a better team but it was all the more disheartening again when we only scored 1-12.

I was as low as a snake’s belly afterwards. When we were relegated from senior last year, the easy assumption to make was that a club with our tradition and culture would bounce straight back up. But it doesn’t work that way. Not in Clare anyway.