Council ceremony honours Clare’s 1995 heroics

The feats of Clare’s 1995 All-Ireland winning hurlers were honoured at a Clare County Council-organised civic reception held this week.

The event was held, at the behest of several councillors, to mark the 20th anniversary of Clare’s All-Ireland final win over Offaly. Earlier that summer, Clare won their first Munster hurling title since 1932, bridging a 63-year gap.

Clare beat Limerick in the 1995 Munster final in Thurles, following heavy defeats in the 1994 and 1993 finals.

Although double All-Ireland-winning captain Anthony Daly was absent, due to his involvement managing the All-Stars team in Texas, the majority of the panel, who played in Clare’s march to their first All-Ireland win in 81 years, were present at Monday’s ceremony, including legendary manager Ger Loughnane and current Clare senior hurling manager, Davy Fitzgerald.

Loughnane spoke on behalf of the players whom he said he admired even more now than he did then, given that so many of them have since made a huge contribution to the GAA and to their communities in various roles.

Loughnane also highlighted a comment made by Cyril Lyons in a recent Clare FM documentary on that summer when the Ruan man said that what he enjoyed and missed most were the early morning training sessions in Cusack Park, when the players and management were alone in their work.

The double All-Ireland winning manager said that he too was most at ease, far from the huge crowds, cajoling his players to greater effort.