Davy: We’ll learn and we’ll be back

Clare boss Davy Fitzgerald admitted his side ran out of steam at Semple Stadium.

Limerick had come through two facile qualifiers against Laois and Antrim before last weekend – and had an extra week to prepare.

Clare, in contrast, were asked to go again seven days after coming through a bruising encounter against Dublin with 14 men.

And Fitzgerald said: “When you have an extra week, it makes an awful difference. I think the GAA have got to look at that. You spend weeks there doing nothing and then you have to come out one week after another. If they could space it out – if everyone got two weeks, you’d be better off. That can be accommodated. But in saying that, we went out and played the game – let’s not make excuses about that. They beat us and we were playing catch-up for the second half. And in that second half, they deserved their win.

“We didn’t throw in the towel today – we kept fighting to the very end. But fair play to Limerick – they deserved it. We know we lost our way for a bit and we have to learn from that. This isn’t going to happen overnight. There’s two or three years in this building (work).

“And I’m happy with the lads. I’m gutted today for them, to see the state of them inside in the dressing room. We’ve worked very hard. It’s a long road – we might get knock-backs again next year but in the long run, we’ll keep trying and keep going.”

“Trying to beat Limerick four times in the one year is a tough thing to do.”