Ger Loughnane likens Clare to Mayo in quest to climb their K2

The two-time All-Ireland winning Clare manager presented Liam MacCarthy medals to the Banner players on Saturday. 

CLARE CRUSADE: Clare manager Brian Lohan celebrates with his former manager Ger Loughnane after winning the 2024 All-Ireland SHC final against Cork. Picture: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Ger Loughnane has called on Clare to conquer their K2, “The Savage Mountain”, and back up their All-Ireland success with the county’s first Munster SHC title in 27 years.

Presenting The Banner’s players with their Celtic Cross medals in Dromoland Castle on Saturday, the 1995 and ‘97 All-Ireland winning manager likened Clare’s poor record in Munster championships, six wins in 31 finals, to Mayo’s in the All-Ireland senior football championship.

Loughnane, who led Clare to three Munster crowns and lost two finals as a player, acknowledged the hurlers for climbing their equivalent of Mount Everest in claiming the Liam MacCarthy Cup last year.

However, he spoke of what it would mean for the county to win an elusive Munster title, using the analogy of reaching the more attritional summit of K2, which is over 200 metres smaller than Everest.

“For every one person that dies on Mount Everest, 24 have lost their lives on K2,” Loughnane told the gathering. He continued: “In my opinion, the Munster championship for us has been what K2 has been for mountain climbers.” 

The Feakle man recalled how the county took winning the 1955 Munster final for granted after stopping Cork’s four-in-a-row bid in the first round and then defeating Tipperary in the semi-final only to be beaten by Limerick by 10 points in the decider.

While mentioning some of Clare’s provincial final defeats since 1998 have been “inexplicable”, he said it has become as much a psychological challenge for the county as lifting the Sam Maguire Cup has been for Mayo who are trying to bridge a 73-year gap to their last national championship triumph.

“What is it that we can’t get over the Munster final?” he asked. “We’re like Mayo. Mayo have been in 18 All-Irelands (finals) and only won three. We’re the same way, we’ve won six Munster finals. So, lads, if you were to win a Munster final… we all appreciate what ye have done, we idolise ye but if ye were to win a Munster final…” 

Loughnane recounted how Clare in 1997 needed only up to 80% of their Munster final performance that year to beat Tipperary again in the All-Ireland showdown. “That will tell you the greater difficulty that Clare people of winning the Munster championship than an All-Ireland. So if you win it again, lads.” 

Loughnane’s cajoling comments echoed ones he made when he presented the medals to the All-Ireland winning Clare team of 2013 and challenged them to win a second Liam MacCarthy Cup to be considered a great side.

He paid tribute to manager Brian Lohan for his leadership and the decision by the management team to transform Diarmuid Ryan and John Conlon into defenders. He commended Lohan’s positivity after meeting him soon a couple of weeks following the 2023 All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Kilkenny when he himself admitted he didn’t believe Clare would return to Croke Park. 

“I lost the faith. Eoin Murphy, when he made that save, I said, ‘We’ll never be back here again. That’s it. We won’t see Croke Park again.’” 

He criticised the media for not giving enough credit to the likes of Conor Cleary and Cathal Malone last season nor highlighting the saves Eibhear Quilligan made during the championship. 

“They (the media) focus on a few individuals, a few incidents in every game. They don’t appreciate what it takes to make a team.” 

He also applauded the work of the review committee who in 2021 proposed a plethora of recommendations to reform the county board. Clare commence the defence of the Allianz Division 1 title when they face Kilkenny in Cusack Park on Sunday week.