Brian Lohan: Clare have a lot of soul seaching to do now

SOUL SEARCHING: Brian Lohan during the Munster GAA Senior Hurling Championship Round 3 match between Clare and Limerick. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.

Clare have a lot of soul-searching to do to try and find out what went wrong in Ennis on Sunday, according to manager Brian Lohan.

A relentless Limerick put the lacklustre hosts to the sword to the tune of 2-30 to 1-18, one of their biggest defeats since the introduction of the round-robin Munster championship.

In their second home game of the series, many were of the opinion the absence of Hurlers of the Year Cian Lynch and Aaron Gillane presented an opportunity to land a victory. But it was 14-man Limerick who picked up their first set of points.

A 13-point half-time deficit (2-15 to 0-8) grew to 15 by full time.

”We just didn't do anything like we wanted to. We were very ponderous on the ball, touch very poor for long periods and obviously it was a very poor first half,” Lohan said.

"It's disappointing for ourselves and obviously all our supporters as well.

"Look, we didn't want to perform that way, but we have to deal with it now.

"I'd say the first half performance was probably the most disappointing (now in his seventh season as manager), yeah.

"We probably did turn around performances (before) but I don't think we had a performance as poor as that. We have to look at that and we have a lot of soul searching to do now over the next while.

"Numerous players failed to control the ball the first time, failed to get it to hand and dropped ball numerous times in the first half. Didn't get the return, didn't get the scores that we could have got and I suppose missed an awful lot as well.”

Clare are third in the table. Limerick have moved from fifth to second, with all five teams having played twice.

Clare’s final two games are away from home against All-Ireland champions Tipperary, followed by All-Ireland runners-up Cork.

"Yeah, it's tough. The Munster championship is tough,” he continued.

"We've got to go down to Thurles. I suppose the only positive from the performance is that we're not out of the competition and we have a chance to go back at it two weeks in.”

The Black Card remains a contentious topic with the manager. When Adam Hogan brought down Shane O’Brien midway through the first half, the corner-back was black-carded and Diarmaid Byrnes blasted the resultant penalty.

When Tony Kelly was hauled down in the second half, Kelly converted the penalty but there was no Black Card.

"The black card rule, it's a very funny rule. I think there's a couple of teams in Munster that's never got a black card. That's five that we've got now. Obviously, I'm not a fan of the black card. I think the penalty is very severe for the crime.

“Particularly for us, as I say, five times that we've got black cards. I don't think Tipperary have ever got a black card. Or Limerick haven't got one, I think. zero, maybe one. So, it's a difficult rule for us.”