Banner ready for battle Royal

Of all the metrics we can use to calibrate Colm Collins’ success with Clare, the county’s Championship record before and after he took over is most revealing.

Clare hadn’t won two Championship games in a row in the qualifier era before the Kilmihil man took the reins in late 2013 — winning just seven of their 31 Championship matches in total since 2001 — and had claimed just one summer-time win in the previous five seasons.

Now they are riding a wave of momentum, an established Division 2 team on the cusp of qualifying for the Super 8s if they can beat Meath next weekend. It is undoubtedly the Round 4 draw Meath wanted, yet also the draw Clare wanted.

Under Collins, Clare are a different team — their Championship record under him a highly respectable: Played 26, Won 14, Lost 11 (6 times to Kerry), Drawn 1. Another win would also match the achievement of 2016 when Clare won three Championship games in a row, an unheard of statistic before Collins’ arrival.

Anthony Daly reviews the hurling weekend with Brian Hogan, TJ Ryan and Ger Cunningham. In association with Renault - car partners of the GAA.

“We’ve got momentum, we’ve got two wins in a row now,” said Clare captain Gary Brennan. “It’s rare enough for us to have two wins in a row in the Championship so it is certainly building a bit of momentum. But that momentum could be killed in the first 10 minutes the next day if we’re not ready for the battle.

“It was a big jump up to play Westmeath and I’m sure it’ll be an even bigger jump next weekend. We’ve got plenty to improve on if we’re going to be able to compete.”

Brennan has been central to the Clare turnaround in the last six seasons. He was also captain three years ago when they lined up against Kerry at Croke Park.

And it was he who pulled off two spectacular catches late on in last weekend’s Round 2 win over Westmeath just as the win looked like it might elude them. In the end, Clare held on for a one-point win.

“It was time to do something, it was time to shake a leg,” said Brennan of the memorable fetches.

Listen, that’s my job. I went up and caught the first one and kicked it straight out over the sideline on the far side. If I hadn’t got hold of the second one, it was probably going to be on me at that stage.

Meath beat Clare by 1-12 to 1-7 in Ennis in March on their way to promotion from Division 2 of the Allianz League.

But the Royals’ morale was dented by a heavy Leinster final loss to Dublin when they scored just four points while Clare look to be gathering a head of steam following wins over Leitrim and Westmeath.

Brennan said they still need to improve after just about holding on to deny a Westmeath side that was significantly under strength following the early departures of John Heslin (black card) and Ger Egan (injury).

“It felt in the second-half that we were a little bit wasteful, not so much in the shots department but we were breaking down moves between the 45 and the inside forward line, we got turned over quite a few times and gave them opportunities to break,” he said. “Credit to Westmeath, they put a lot of pressure on us and crowded that area and forced us into mistakes. I think that’s an area we’ll have to tidy up on.”

Despite being so close now to making history and hauling Clare through to the Super 8s, Brennan said that he’s refusing to let himself consider being part of the last eight.

“We won’t be thinking about the Super 8s unless we’re in it,” he said. “It’s a Round 4 qualifier against a team that’s been in a provincial final. It would be foolish of us to think that last weekend’s level of performance will be good enough again. If we’re in the Super 8s next Sunday evening, that will be fantastic but it’s about producing a 70-minute game. We have to go out and produce a massive performance.”