Kieran Shannon: The hurling gods decided all debts to Clare had been cleared

Whoever is over Clare next year will have to handle the inevitable transition wisely. Players cannot be allowed to retire en masse. 

John Conlon turns 36 next month. The two-time Clare All-Ireland winner may be one of those to retire from inter-county dury. Pic: John Sheridan/Sportsfile

The last time Clare’s year finished this early, the only current player of theirs who’d have even been alive was John Conlon.

He would have been a month shy of his second birthday when they exited that 1991 championship after a three-point first-round defeat to Limerick in the Gaelic Grounds in front of less than 15,000 people. The following year the county managed to last a week longer, forcing Waterford to a replay before losing by a couple of points in front of just 8,000: the very day Anthony Daly was told by his marker that maybe he and his county should stick to their traditional music.