Eoin Cleary's Clare exit a sign of worrying times for Munster football

Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary were relegated this spring.

TESTING TIMES: Eoin Cleary will be just one of a number unavailable to Clare in 2024. Picture: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

Eoin Cleary’s announcement over the weekend that he is taking a year off the inter-county stage in 2024 is not good news for Clare football. Neither is it good news for the competitiveness of the Munster football championship.

Cleary’s departure from the Clare set-up serves as further evidence of the likely fall off of the province’s lesser football lights. It's the latest piece of evidence that the Munster football championship is about to revert to its long-held pecking order of Kerry, followed by Cork, followed by a sizable gap back to the remaining four.