Galway crush Clare spirits

ANOTHER loss for Clare in the 2009 Allianz Hurling League and, though their relegation to Division 2 was already decided, this one still hurt, and a decent-sized home crowd trundled away from sunny Cusack Park with spirits low.

Forget altogether about the prospect of Division 2 hurling. A season that began on such a high — a 100% record of a very different kind in January, as Clare powered their way to victory in the Waterford Crystal tournament — has since seen expectations well and truly crushed.

“Again we’ve got no goal in a league game,” said manager Mike McNamara. “That means we got a total of one goal from a member of the starting 15 for the whole campaign — that’s an alarming statistic. There wasn’t a big difference between the sides today, but goals win matches.”