‘As near as Clare have come to Harlem Globetrotters stuff’

BEFORE a sliotar was struck in the 2022 championship, an easy way to fill some space before any battle was joined was to do a round of the pundits, be they ex-players or ex-managers who have been there and done that, or the GAA hacks who actually do this thing for a living.

See what they think. See what their expert predictions are from the hurling ditch, for good or for ill, and why. See what shall come to pass after all the ash has been clashed — not forgetting the bamboo too — and the dust of hurling’s late spring and high summer campaign has finally settled.

What’s it to be lads, and lassies too as we’re well down the road to having gender quotas [and there’s nothing wrong with it] in the world of GAA punditry?

Who will the movers and shakers be? Or, parsing it down to the bare facts, who is going to come out of the province? We’re only concerned about Munster here, and suffice to say we’re only really interested in Clare. Where do they stand? Poor Clares or Banner Abú?

Shooting for the stars in the search of a first Munster title since the year the Good Friday Agreement was signed or also-rans in a province that included the reigning Munster and All-Ireland champions Limerick, reigning League champions Waterford, the last team before Limerick to win an All-Ireland in Tipperary, or last year’s All-Ireland finalists Cork who have beaten Clare six times in championship since that famous night under the Croke Park lights in 2013?

It doesn’t come as any surprise what some of the great and the good of punditry decided upon — it was the Poor Clares all the way, so much so that they scarcely gained any mention anywhere where the contenders in Munster were being talked about. Put simply, Clare did not exist. Nada. Faic. Feck all!

Independent Newspapers rolled out six experts — all six marked down both Limerick and Waterford as coming out of Munster; Cork got four votes, while Tipperary got two. Clare didn’t warrant a mention in any dispatch.

Move over to RTÉ and it was nearly the same — Liam Sheedy, Shane Dowling and Ursula Jacob went for Limerick, Waterford and Cork, with the only dissenting voice being Clare’s own Anthony Daly, who plumped for Limerick, Waterford and Clare, because the “logistics might swing it — two in Ennis, two in Thurles. We know where we’re going and there are a few injuries coming back.”

Maybe he who lifted the Munster trophy that year of the GFA had the inside track from his old pal Brian Lohan, or maybe he was being patriotic ahead of the first puck, in playing the Clare card and confidently calling them out as contenders.

Whatever the motivation and wherever it was coming from, it was inspired — just like Clare have been inspired throughout a campaign that has lifted the spirits of a county and its people over the past month as all roads out of Clare now lead to Semple Stadium on June 5 and that chance to win a first provincial title since the year of the GFA and in the process prevent Limerick winning a Munster four-in-a-row for the first time ever.

With that greater goal of taking down Limerick and winning Munster in mind, maybe Sunday’s game would be reduced to getting it over with and out of the way, without suffering any casualties to injury along the way.

A nod to that line of thinking surely came in the team selection that saw four certain Munster final starters in Tony Kelly, John Conlon, Diarmuid Ryan and Paul Flanagan left out of the squad altogether to see no action at all, apart from being put through their paces in a mini-training session on the field after the game.

However, that it was a match that Clare wanted to win to feed into the hoary old sporting proverb that ‘winning is a habit’ didn’t take long to come hurling home. Minutes in and Clare were to the pitch of it, while Waterford may as well have been on a different pitch.

Correction, you could actually say seconds, because inside a minute clubmates David Reidy and Shane O’Donnell had fired over.

If it was too early to call it there and then, there was the fifth minute by which time O’Donnell again and captain Cathal Malone had found the range, while Waterford had still to mount an attack.

Or if you still need convincing what about when Reidy’s second ensured that Clare had eight points in as many minutes? After that, the final game over offer is from the 24th minute when Reidy scored again, only this time it was a goal.

This play was Clare’s season to date in microcosm — the mark of where the team is coming from and a statement score, without any of the frills, thrills and derring-do that Tony Kelly produced from all angles and from everywhere in the Limerick game. No less important though.

Peter Duggan on the shed side of the field at the old scoreboard end and making a nuisance of himself in chasing down a lost cause, turning over ball he had no right to, moving it on to Ian Galvin, who in turn fed Reidy and he rifled home.

It was a thing of beauty in its own way, because of the honesty, hard-work and selflessness that made it happen.

Clare had that all day, like they’ve had it all championship — Waterford had nothing.

So it was that long before the end, Cusack Park was home to a strange kind of Clare carnival. Despite another huge crowd, as 16,144 filed through the turnstiles, it was far removed from the
Limerick game.

None of the tension, none of the hard-hitting, none of the not-an-inch on either side and nothing like the cauldron that made Clare v Limerick more Galatasaray than GAA.

All because, for that, you need two teams with the belly for battle — not just a ravenous Clare side that hit the 40-point mark for just the second time in championship history that stretches back 135 years.

In 2016 Clare hit 4-32 against Laois in Cusack Park, but 3-31 against the league champions and second favourites for the All-Ireland before a sliotar was struck was a much better tally, particularly when you consider they also hit 20 wides.

This championship clash [clash is really too strong a word] was a procession and an exhibition game for Clare, with those on the shed terrace — the covered Kop you could call it — having the best perch in the house and raising most cheer during a purple patch in the second half when the game was reduced to Clare scoring for fun.

Cathal Malone led the way, while Robin Mounsey and Shane Meehan also got in on the act.

All the while Shane O’Donnell was a force of athletic nature, and an All Star elect if any of those pundits were actually looking on.

It was sensational stuff — as near as a Clare team have ever come to Harlem Globetrotters stuff against elite and bona fide Munster and All-Ireland contenders, like Waterford were after their impressive National League win.

We heard ‘Eye of the Tiger’ before the game — this was more what being in the ‘Eye of the Storm’ is like, and there was no escape.

And to round it all off, Clare even had time to make history as they went.

It came in the 54th minute when Feakle’s Adam Hogan came on as a sub for another All Star elect Rory Hayes. Hogan was full-back on the St Joseph’s, Tulla team to win this year’s Harty Cup — we think he’s the first to play championship hurling for Clare in the same season as winning a Harty since Scariff’s JJ Bugler followed up winning a Harty with St Flannan’s in 1945 by playing championship against Kerry and Limerick that summer.

He’ll remember those two special days in a special year for the rest of his life.