Having finished with a win, Clare's Diarmuid Ryan now wants to start with one

Clare's Diarmuid Ryan in action. Pic: ©INPHO/Bryan Keane.

Depending on how you cut it, it’s seven months and nine days or 223 days since Clare last met Limerick. Since Clare last struck a ball in anger.

A disappointing defence of their 2024 All-Ireland crown will be cast aside when they face their neighbours in Tulla on Saturday afternoon in their opening Co-Op Munster Senior Hurling League.

This game and the January 7 clash with Cork may be the county’s only taste of Munster opposition until the championship so there is an onus on them.

Diarmuid Ryan isn’t dwelling too much on the past but to finish last year’s championship with a win over Limerick was significant. Even if Clare’s fate was sealed, pride was on the line.

“You wanted to just finish on a win in the whole year of it, how the whole year was going to pan out. On the day, win or lose, it wasn't going to make any difference what's going through, but winning it was important for us.

“You want to win every game that you play, and just having the first couple of games that went so bad, you want to just finish on that, and playing Limerick as well, you always want to win whether it's the Munster League on January 3, or the Munster championship.

“We were still decimated in terms of numbers that day, but the lads stood up again that day, the lads stood up the whole way throughout the championship, it was just a point here or there, it was just unfortunate.” Clare’s Munster SHC round record is impressive but they have lost their last three opening home games and their only win first day out in Ennis came against Waterford in 2018.

As The Déise come to town in April, it’s obviously a focus for Ryan and company. “If you win your first game, or win your home games, you're absolutely onto a winner. The year we won the All-Ireland, we were under pressure losing our first one (to Limerick) we turned it around down the road in Cork.” Like Waterford last year, the early part of Clare’s season will be slightly obscure in Division 1B as more attention will be on the top flight games.

Ryan acknowledges that but knows they can't take any team lightly as they look to make a quick return to Division 1A. “Like we're playing Dublin first, we've Antrim above in Antrim. The last time we played Antrim above, they beat us, so we're under no illusions how tough these teams are going to be, so yeah, we want a good league campaign, if we can come out of that league, great.

“The more you get into that league, you're playing a league final, two weeks out from championship, and that's going to be obviously a huge test as well, and it gets you primed. I think however many weeks we're in that league for, we have to make the most out of it.” Come championship, there could be a new rule in place if Congress supports the Hurling Development Committee’s motion to bring in a 30-metre free advancement for dissent.

Ryan, who has experienced the football rule with Cratloe, has mixed views on it. “We get frustrated as players when calls don’t go your way. it's only natural to get frustrated, and look, referees have an important job, but you see in football, it can cause absolute carnage, like it did a couple of weeks ago, but they're the rules, and if the rules are forced, you just, whatever rule it is, you just have to learn them, and abide by them.”