McHale hoping Clare can go forward with more self-belief

IF there is any man in gaelic football who knows heartbreak, it’s Mayo’s Liam McHale.

In the context of an All-Ireland first-round qualifier in Ennis between Clare and Down it may seem facile to introduce the All-Ireland final of 1996.

That year, however, but for the early decision of an errant referee who sent McHale to the line, Mayo may well have won the All-Ireland title and thus ended decades of suffering for the Connacht county.