Bannermen prove they are made of stern stuff

THERE mightn't have been a desert island in sight, but it was an afternoon suited to survivors in Croker. And from it all, emerge Clare.

Remember them? The team that had been pronounced dead; the team we weren't supposed to hear from in a while.

The Banner are back, winning the sort of games they used to win. Colin Lynch had the final say, scoring the crucial points he used to score. Yesterday, in front of 41,691 people at headquarters, Clare hurlers proved they aren't the wizened, wheezing old men people proclaimed to be. It was only a couple of years ago Brian Lohan was unquestionably the classiest defender in the game. The way he zip-locked Eugene Cloonan in the second half yesterday, you wondered why people were using the past tense.

In the 55th minute, with Galway clinging on desperately to the last point of their half time advantage, Lohan and Cloonan had one of their many tussles in the corner. Cloonan had lurked with intent all afternoon and eagerly tried to scoop up the loose ball. However, he had Lohan for company.

As the game progressed, it was obvious Lohan would be the victor this particular day. Shorn of his helmet, the Clare captain escaped with the sliotar, belting it down the wide expanses of the new Croke Park. Clare won a free, directly from that ball, which Jamesie O'Connor pointed.

If Lohan borrowed his performance from the Clare glory years, Jamesie must have been time warped back to the mid-90s at half time. Despite his endeavour, nothing went for him in the first 35 minutes. Like all the Clare forwards, his shooting was wayward. When they retreated for the interval, no Clare forward had scored from play.

However, in the second half, O'Connor emerged re-energised. hurler. Hurling like his younger self, he terrorised Galway, finishing the game with five points. His display came from the conviction that this team were better than they had shown in the first half.

"Incredible" a breathless O'Connor said afterwards. "We never hurled at all in the first half, and we promised ourselves at half time we would leave whatever we had inside ourselves out on the field in the second half. We knew we hadn't been hurling. We knew we couldn't give a second half performance like the one we gave in the first half."

They didn't, and O'Connor certainly didn't.

"Jamesie made a big difference in the second half, " Lohan agreed. "I didn't say anything to him at half time, but you could see how disappointed he was with his own performance. He sat on his own, didn't talk to anyone. He came out and played brilliantly."

Another of the old school, Ollie Baker, left the bench at half time, adding muscle to the mix. Brawn was needed and Baker wasted no time in informing Richie Murray he was ready for the battle. in the second half. Baker brought presence and experience.

"We had more presence in the second half, especially around the middle of the field," Lohan said. "I think that was helped by Baker coming on there."

It has been three years since Clare last won a big game ironically against Galway. Yesterday was not the classic that game turned out to be, but if nothing else, it was absorbing. Clare were supposed to huff and puff valiantly but ultimately, come unstuck against Galway. side full of verve and energy. Clare were never a team for following scripts too closely.

"It looked bleak early on," O'Connor said, " but in modern hurling, teams will have periods of domination like that. And we are an experienced team and we don't panic when we go behind like that."

The damage might have more severe, but for the first cameo from the glory years. Damien Hayes, Galway's sprightly corner-forward, let fly with a shot seemingly destined for the top corner. Davy Fitzgerald showed everyone his agility hadn't left him with a fine save. Still, Clare were trailing by five points and struggling.

They needed a break and got a fortitiutious one. A highly contentious free 24 yards out. Diarmuid Cloonan was alleged to have pulled Tony Carmody when they were each tugging the other's jersey. Those decisions always fall in favour of the attackers, though. As O'Connor was lining up the shot, Niall Gilligan shell-shocked Galway with a goal.

"We needed a score really badly at the time," Gilligan recalled. "I thought it was going to be a 21 yard free, but it was actually 23, 24 yards out. So, I just decided to hit it and luckily, it went in."

Where did it all go right? Cyril Lyons had the answers. "The trump cards for Clare were guts, determination and hunger. They got us through a hole this day and we had players who had the class. If you wanted to mention the brilliant hurlers, you would talk about Colin Lynch, you would talk about the defenders and Jamesie too, he got some great scores when we needed them in the second half."

For Clare, it is onward to Waterford. A novel and romantic pairing in the depths of summer when Cork and Limerick are kicking their heels. But, if Clare can rid themselves of the lethargy of the first 35 minutes, it's potentially a cracker.

Another championship slips Galway by without even entering August. Your heart goes out to players like Gregory Kennedy and Ollie Canning, both who played superbly. But if a team dominates a half as completely as Galway did the first half and only leads by three points at the break, can they really deserve to win?

Clare went through, as did their most hated rivals 90 minutes earlier. Kilkenny and Waterford will be tough obstacles, and both teams will have to over- come difficulties in scooping the ball from the surface onto their hurl, but it is shaping up for a repeat of 1997. Believe it. Could just happen.