Brian Lohan: 'We were unlucky with injuries, and that’s just the way it is'
INJURY HIT: Brian Lohan felt it was important to sign off on a luckless All-Ireland defence with a victory as Ryan Taylor’s second-half goals saw Clare past Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds. Pic: ©INPHO/James Lawlor
Brian Lohan felt it was important to sign off on a luckless All-Ireland defence with a victory as Ryan Taylor’s second-half goals saw Clare past Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds.
Mark Rodgers’ 1-8 inside 46 minutes put the Banner in a winning position before Taylor raced forward to net a brace in front of 32,133 fans.
Regardless of their flat performance in this dead-rubber contest, the Treatymen will host Cork in the Munster final next Saturday week. Clare must lick their wounds and wait for next year.
They were hampered by injuries from the outset of their title defence. Hurler of the Year Shane O’Donnell made a long-awaited first start of 2025 and was fouled for five of Rodgers’ pointed frees.
Diarmuid Ryan had his first appearance of the year off the bench. His first touch was to release Taylor for his second goal.
Free-taker Aidan McCarthy departed the set-up earlier this month. When asked about his absence, Lohan replied: “He’s not on the panel. We’ve loads of guys on the panel, and that’s who we’re going to talk about. Aidan’s not on the panel.” Lohan continued: “I don’t think hunger is an issue. We were unlucky with injuries, and that’s just the way it is.
“We were okay in our approach, but we did miss crucial guys at crucial periods of time. Broken bones, they take 14 weeks, 16 weeks, and we’d three guys with broken metatarsals.
“We never had a broken metatarsal for the last five or six years. This year, we had three guys went down.
“The Munster Championship started maybe two or three weeks early for us.” Clare’s slim hopes of progression ended with Limerick’s victory over Cork last weekend, which rendered this fixture a dead-rubber.
John Kiely opted for eight changes as Declan Hannon made his first appearance of the season, and Shane Dowling lined out for his first championship game since the 2019 All-Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny.
The manager was left agitated on the sideline as his side uncharacteristically misplaced passes and dropped balls throughout.
Lohan’s three late switches included a change of goalkeeper, with Eamon Foudy taking over between the sticks.
“It was a strange week to be out of the championship early,” Lohan added. “We’re a lot more ambitious than that. Look, we’ve no one to blame but ourselves.
“It was just a very frustrating year. In fairness to the boys, their attitude was excellent during the week. They kept positive and kept working hard.
“Regardless of what team Limerick picked, they were determined to put in a performance.
“We got some of our guys back on the field and got a good performance and a good result, which was important.”
Clare began with a strong wind at their backs, but Limerick landed the first three points through Diarmaid Byrnes, Séamus Flanagan, and Gearóid Hegarty.
Clare responded with a pair of four-point streaks as they enjoyed success off the Treaty puck-out. Tony Kelly slotted one from under the Mackey Stand while falling. Peter Duggan arrowed over his first of two sidelines. Cathal Malone also picked off a brace.
They led 0-8 to 0-5 as Byrnes missed three early frees. But the Treaty came back to level for a third time with three in a row from Hegarty, Peter Casey, and a Byrnes free.
Clare outscored them 1-4 to 0-1 from there to the break, beginning with Rodgers’ goal in the 26th minute. He capitalised after Foudy’s long puck-out was knocked down by Duggan and into the Scariff man’s path.
As the rain lashed down, Rory Hayes thundered out of defence to point after a brilliant turnover. Clare took shelter 1-13 to 0-10 ahead at half-time.
They built on that lead to move eight ahead with three points from Rodgers and David Reidy’s second.
Tom Morrissey clipped three in response, but Clare moved ahead by 10 with Taylor’s opening goal. Malone secured the sliotar and Rodgers played the final pass for the midfielder to jink onto his left and fire to the roof of the net. Kelly’s third point made it 2-19 to 0-14.
However, Limerick fans sensed a comeback as they reeled off the next six points. Substitutes Adam English and Barry Nash got off the mark. Cathal O’Neill tagged on his first of three second-half points. Morrissey’s tally reached 0-7 (5 frees).
Aidan O’Connor was also supplied by Byrnes with a goal chance but dropped the sliotar and whipped wide.
With five minutes remaining, Taylor put a pin in their hopes with his second goal after being fed by Ryan for a 3-19 to 0-20 lead.
Limerick ended with four replacements registering as O’Connor and Donnacha Ó Dálaigh raised white flags.
Lohan hailed the Clare supporters for sticking by his side.
“We didn’t really know what to expect, whether supporters were disappointed with us, but we got stuck in traffic on the way in, which was a good sign.
“They’ve given us brilliant support and we really appreciate it. We thank them for what they have done for us. It’s just been brilliant to be a part of for the past couple of years, and supporters are almost like a crutch, they’re so crucial for us.”
: T Morrissey (0-7, 5 frees); D Byrnes (0-4, 2 frees); C O’Neill (0-3); G Hegarty, S Flanagan, P Casey (0-2 each); A English, B Nash, A O’Connor, D Ó Dálaigh (0-1 each).
M Rodgers (1-8, 0-7 frees); R Taylor (2-1); T Kelly (0-3); C Malone, P Duggan (2 sideline cuts), D Reidy (0-2 each); Rory Hayes, S Meehan (0-1 each).
: S Dowling; M Casey, D Morrissey, B Murphy; D Byrnes, D Hannon, C Coughlan; D O’Donovan, W O’Donoghue (capt); G Hegarty, C O’Neill, T Morrissey; S Flanagan, S O’Brien, P Casey.
: B Nash for M Casey (32-34, temp), A English for O’Donovan (44), B Nash for Murphy (50-f-t, temp), A O’Connor for O’Brien (53), D Reidy for Byrnes (59), D Ó Dálaigh for Flanagan (61), P O’Donovan for P Casey (66).
: E Foudy; Rory Hayes, A Hogan, Darragh Lohan; D McInerney, J Conlon, C Galvin; R Taylor, C Malone; T Kelly (capt), D Reidy, J O’Neill; S O’Donnell, P Duggan, M Rodgers.
: Daithí Lohan for Darragh Lohan (14, inj), I Galvin for Reidy (60), D Ryan for McInerney (65), S Meehan for O’Donnell (66), A Shanagher for Duggan (67).
: T Walsh (Waterford).
