Banner buzzing after blast from past

When wing-back Nicky O’Connell picked up his second yellow card in just the 37th minute of this hurling qualifier in Ennis on Saturday evening it should have signalled the end for Clare.

Already trailing by 0-11 to 0-7, Paul Ryan pointed the resultant free and a minute later David Treacy added another Dublin point, leaving the home side trailing by six, reduced to 14 men, facing a seemingly impossible situation.

So what the hell happened? A whole number of things, and not one of those in favour of Dublin. First, the man disadvantage very quickly disappeared. No, Dublin didn’t have a man sent off, the Clare supporters in the announced crowd of (9,827 but sounded like twice that!) found their voice. The echoes of the old Clare roar began to ring around Cusack Park and they found their 15th man.