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.