New breed of Banner are force to be reckoned with

HELL-BENT on hurling heaven. It's not 1995, when they were determined to atone for over 80 years of frustration; it's not 1997, when they wanted to prove that the first one wasn't a fluke.

Make no mistake about it however, this Clare side is on a mission. They have had enough of not having enough, are sick to the teeth of being told what a great team they WERE, what an unlucky team not to have added to those two All-Ireland titles.

Tired of being told that they should have won in 98, maybe even in 99, when they were caught in the Munster final by a super-charged young Cork side; tired of being told that they are, in fact, a tired team, worn out, finished. Patently, obvious to every one of the near 60,000 crowd in balmy Croke Park yesterday, they are not. Nearly finished alright - the finished article, as close to perfection as any fifteen that took the field through any of those glory years. The irony is that in any other season, we wouldn't know that.

Said goalkeeper Davy Fitzgerald: "We lost by two points to Tipperary last year in the first round, two points this year, which was very, very hard to take. We feel we've been up in the top teams for the last few years and yet people were writing us off, putting us down, saying we were gone. All we needed was a small break to show we're as good as any of them that are out there."

That break came in the form of a re-organisation of this year's championship, a new format whereby all beaten teams got a second chance, in a new All-Ireland qualifier series. For those who took part in that series, so far it can be said to be an unqualified success (Tipperary, losers of the Munster final, face Leinster champions Kilkenny next Sunday).

Clare lost a tight, tense, opening round this year, again to Tipperary, reigning All-Ireland champions, but that was on a day when many of their neon-light marquee names ended the hour candlelit. Seanie McMahon taken to town by Conor Gleeson, Colin Lynch chasing the shadow of Noel Morris, Jamsie, Niall Gilligan, Alan Markham, chasing their own shades, Shamen who had once led the Clare cavalry charge.

Only one, captain Brian Lohan, still stood tall but on that day, it was the young guns, David Hoey, Gerry Quinn, John Reddan, Tony Griffin, David Forde, these were the guys who gave respectability to the Clare cause. But the old dogs? Worn out, it appeared, by the hard road.

That was before yesterday. Game by game, Clare have been regaining the form that made them such an awesome force through the mid and latter part of the 90's.

Game by game, one by one, all their big guns have been re-bored, re-primed, re-loaded, so that by the time they met Waterford yesterday, all that heavy artillery was back in action.

Frank Lohan, scorched by Eoin Kelly, a youngster, that day in Cork, rejuvenated now, devouring another highly-rated fledgling, John Mullane; Ken McGrath had almost beaten the Tipp defence on his own in a second-half performance that bordered on the miraculous, snuffed out yesterday by an imperious Seanie McMahon.

Lynch, back to his lung-bursting best for several games now, Jamsie proving the confidence is back, three points yesterday, all firmly struck, Markham with a goal and a point just before the break, the scores that turned this game upside down inside a couple of minutes, and at the most crucial time.

Gillie, well, everything was there but the shooting. Five wides in the second half, two poor options taken with a loose man is support, but the signs are still good.

One man of the old guard however, stood head and shoulders above all others. Yes, even above Tony Griffin, who proved his own brilliant 6 point performance against Tipp was no fluke, with seventy minutes of real quality yesterday, especially at midfield in the second half. But in a defence that is truly magnificent, Brian Lohan just gets better and better, and none better to articulate that than the man behind him.

"I didn't have one ball to save today", reckoned Fitz, then re-thought; "just one in the first half, and that was it. But the blocking, the hooking, the tackling of the backs, and so disciplined in what they did. Fantastic, fantastic. Brian Lohan - he's exceptional. He comes out with the ball there, unreal, fellas trying to hit him but they're only wasting their time, he's built like a tank, he'll get out, and it lifts everyone, everyone."

A little cameo near the death highlighted exactly what the fired-up Clare keeper was saying.

Paul Flynn, who had been moved onto Lohan for the final minutes of the second half, attempted to shoulder the colossus from Shannon over the line as he was making another trademark charge from defence. The big man checked his charge, the unfortunate Flynn blew harmlessly by, almost into the lower seats of the Hogan Stand, Lohan blew the ball downfield. "Brian was never going to end up over the sideline, there was no fear of that," Davy Fitz laughs; "he's so cool out there, totally in control of himself, you wouldn't believe it."

And so, they're back. Bigger, boulder, better, still with more than a spark of the anger you need to win big games, big championship games in Croke Park. "What a feeling, hard to describe," says their keeper, the fire that's still in his eyes, in his belly, typifying what's in this Clare side as a whole.

"We got beat in two semi-finals, 98 and 99; 98 was particularly hard to take, but you'd wonder if you were ever going to get back there again. But we are, in another All-Ireland, representing Clare again; this again; this is fantastic, hard to describe, are the thoughts of going out there today and losing, no way."

It showed.

One to fifteen, it showed. Waterford? The Munster champions just got caught in maelstrom, caught by a system that allowed a faltering giant to recover and build up its strength on a feast of gently increasing courses. One game to go, but who, now, would write off the men from Clare?