Will third time marking Kelly be lucky for Lohan?

NOT for the first time in the last few minutes, Frank Lohan shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

The subject being discussed is Eoin Kelly, Tipperary's outstanding corner-forward and Frank's likely direct opponent in

Sunday's Munster championship first round game at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Third year in a row for Tipperary and Clare to meet in the Munster championship, third meeting in a row of Lohan/Kelly. Becoming a bit familiar with him then, Frank?

"I presume you're talking about Eoin Kelly?" he asks, and there they are, the signs of unease. "Yeah, I've marked him a few times now, twice, maybe three times."

Nothing added, so another probe. He's made a bit of a name for himself since he broke through to senior inter-county scene while still a minor?

"He's been a good forward, an outstanding forward since he came on the scene. He's good all right."

Another shift, the eyes, the body language suggesting this line of questioning should end soon. But not yet.

Is it getting harder to mark him, as he grows into full maturity (Kelly is still U-21 this year, but already a double Allstar), or does it get easier with the growing familiarity with his style?

"There's no point in me trying to answer that. If he scores 2-9, you'll have the answer there yourself. I won't go into it," he says.

"Well, have you figured out the best way to mark him, from behind, alongside, aggressively, going hard from the front?"

"Quite honestly, there's no point in me talking about that. If I say I'll play him from the front, and...," and here he pauses, a little laugh, a look of finality.

"Ah look, there's no point in talking about an opposition player, what happens on the day is what happens.

"He might get only two balls in the game, you look good, he might get three balls, three goals, you look bad. It's always been that way and that's never going to change."

Closure on that topic at least.

This will be his third time marking Kelly in championship, and at the moment honours are even.

Their first clash, in 2001, was won by the Clareman, Kelly confined to a single point before being shifted to wing-forward in the 21st minute (no consolation to Lohan however, as Clare lost the game).

Their second meeting, last year, saw a swing in the head-to-head, a fall on the slippery surface by Lohan allowing Kelly in for a spectacularly-finished goal in the 22nd minute, which he followed up with three points from play.

Tipp won that one by just two points, 1-18 to 2-13.

Heading into their personal championship rubber match then, the most obvious first question didn't meet with the obvious blasi reply, for what should have been an obvious reason.

Lohan is as straight off the field as on; he's frank Lohan, doesn't play 'the game'.

Kelly? Ah yeah, super player, one of the best around, almost impossible to try and mark, that phenomenal skill, first touch, the low centre of gravity, size, strength, coolness under pressure, even that deceptive turn of pace.

We've had a couple of good battles, and I'm looking forward to another tussle now on Sunday.

Should be a good game, you know yourself."

No, that's not Lohan's way. He's not a tough interview, not a monosyllabic kind of guy; in fact he's friendly, intelligent, ready to talk.

Just please, stay away from the bone. Personal rivalry, personal battle? Cutting too close.

What he will discuss however, are Clare's chances this weekend, and the fact that up to recently, Clare chances were being dismissed in a lot of hurling places.

"Maybe it's not so much that we're being written off, just that they're looking at Tipp's league form which was a lot more impressive than ours. We were mediocre to poor, probably leaning more towards poor. We took it seriously, didn't get the results, and it's now just a case of living or dying by Sunday.

"We don't want to go the back route again, a long road. We were fortunate last year in the way the matches fell for us, and we played some good teams along the way.

"But we played Dublin, they had only six days to recover from their loss, we played Wexford, the same thing where we had three and four weeks leading into those games.

"That suited our team, we were improving all the time."

Improving that is until they met Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final.

"Yes, that was a major disappointment, that we didn't put it up to Kilkenny. Giving away the early goal, a ball I missed, caught between myself and Quinno. That gave them a lead, a good head-start, and you can't do that with Kilkenny."

Everest almost scaled last year, back to the bottom of the hill now, being dismissed already even by many of their own.

And yet, a major point being overlooked by many commentators is that this is a hugely experienced Clare side, the bulk of the defence intact for several years. Colin Lynch still starring in midfield, Ollie Baker ready to be sprung from the bench.

Lohan however, would like to single out an unlikely bunch for praise, the Clare forwards.

"I think we have great forwards. I know the media have a habit of picking on them, we get most of the plaudits (in the defence), yet we've given away some huge scores in the last few years.

"If you go down through each of our eight or nine forwards, they're all talented guys. You're not going to get a game where all six click, or where someone is dominating for the whole game.

"If you lose, invariably your forwards get the blame because obviously there are chances that will have been missed. If you win, they're great, they've got the scores."

Can Clare win on Sunday? Is there another All-Ireland in this side? "We'd be hoping things will go well on Sunday, but you don't know, you just don't know."

Lohanspeak for 'what am I, a prophet?' he's not, but he is a player. And even without a crystal ball, this much can be forecast with absolute certainty. Kelly will earn anything he gets on Sunday.