Banner roar needed once more

As Clare’s flagship hurlers make their final preparations for a first All-Ireland Senior Championship Final appearance since winning it in 2013, manager Brian Lohan is hoping that the county will make a united stand in Croke Park this Sunday (3.30pm).
Having led the Banner to All-Ireland success as a player in those unforgettable groundbreaking years in 1995 and ’97, the four-time All-Star is now hoping to do so as a manager aided by a Banner backing that has had a remarkable bond with the four-time All-Star since the first sighting of that famed red helmet in a saffron and blue jersey.
Amidst a wave of buoyancy, bunting and banners throughout the county these past two weeks, Lohan is looking to give the Clare support something more to cheer about this Sunday.
“Clare hurling is a great brand in the county so it’s brilliant to be involved in Clare hurling and it always has been. I think there’s a real affinity between the supporters and this team and the individuals that populate it. They see the work that they’re doing, how committed they are and every day that they go out the players give it their all and that really resonates with the supporters and we get a great response from them.
“I don’t know what the official breakdown of supporter percentages between Clare and Kilkenny was in the semi-final but I’d say it was 4 or 5 to 1 in favour of Clare and that from a team that lost the previous two All-Ireland Semi-Finals and were very disappointed with how we played in the Munster Final. In both matches against Limerick this year really we made some mistakes so they were still willing to support the team and get behind the team.
“So there is a great affinity there and we’re conscious of that and delighted with it too and I’ve no doubt that they will be behind us in numbers on Sunday too.”
If the desperate scramble for tickets is anything to go by, Clare will be well represented in Croker on Sunday but so will Cork who after a 19 year All-Ireland famine, the longest in county’s entire history, will see this as a golden opportunity to redress the balance, especially after lowering a five-in-a-row chasing Limerick twice en route.
“The best teams make it to the All-Ireland final.” Outlined Lohan who is now in his fifth year in charge. ”We can have complaints going back looking at last year or the year before or whatever it was but at the end of the day the two best teams are in the All-Ireland final.
“It’s Cork now and they’re there on merit. They’ve beaten Limerick twice and I was in the stand watching the last day and it was just a brilliant experience and a brilliant game.
“The desire they had, the pace that they had, the spirit that they had. The levels of skill. Just the relentless running, the relentless attacking. It was just a real advertisement for hurling and everything that is good in Cork hurling.”
Clare did get the better of the Rebels in their provincial meeting on away soil back in April, a showdown that ultimately kickstarted both championship fires.
“I thought that was a good game too, a really good game. We played really well and it was probably our best performance of the year so far, even though we went seven down just after half-time. So we had to be really good to win and being honest I don’t think we’ve gotten to that level since then.”
That day, Shane O’Donnell showed superb leadership in scoring 1-1 but also setting up 2-6 for others, with the back-to-back All-Star’s consistency of potency, threat and scores driving Lohan’s men to new heights this year.
“The rarest commodity in the game right now is a half forward who can win their own ball. So he’s one of those rare guys but he’s also a deadly inside forward as well so the question is where do you use him and where do you get the best use out of him?
“That’s a great problem for us to have but he’s the kind of individual that would perform at an exceptional level in either of those two lines of the field.
The return of David McInerney, Tony Kelly and most recently Ryan Taylor from injury have also provided the incremental boosts to gather momentum for their latest All-Ireland assault, having encouragingly won the National League for the first time in eight years with a new-look side.
“I suppose when you get to championship, it doesn’t really matter what happened in the league but from our perspective and from the group’s perspective, it was a big deal for us. We were delighted to win that league, particularly when we had lost to Kilkenny in the previous two big games that we had played against them.
“It’s a big deal playing inter-county hurling now and when you’re coming up against any of the top teams, the way the competitions are tiered, there are big differences between the Munster League and National League and again from that to the championship.
“So we try to build a panel accordingly too. In the Munster League we try to give an opportunity to players who had done well in the club championship by giving them a Clare jersey and seeing how they perform. Some of them perform really well and are able to progress to a National League team and then hopefully a championship team.
“We’ve seen one or two examples of that this year as we had a couple of high profile injuries and did use the league to get more players on the field up against good quality opposition and good players.
“We didn’t have Ryan [Taylor], we didn’t have Tony [Kelly], we didn’t have Shane [O’Donnell] and David [McInerney] a lot of key guys so it was left to younger players who were only learning and only developing to get experience. And they did really well and we went onto win the league so we’ve progressed since then and we’re happy with that.”
There’s still room for more improvement though according to the Shannon native who feels that their underwhelming first-half showing against Kilkenny has only spurred them on over the past fortnight.
“It was a big game, particularly after the last two years of not doing what we hoped that we would do and what we wanted to achieve. So losing those two games, completely different games as it turned out, put us under pressure to make up for that and get the result by whatever means possible to get to the final.
“There was a lot of frustration at half-time that we didn’t play well and while we were much better in the second-half when we went down by six, we had to think on our feet. It was kind of a test of character as well. So absolutely it was a good way to win and we feel we can get better and obviously we have to get better as well.”
They certainly do, especially with a high-flying Cork brimming with confidence, having outmanoeuvred perennial champions Limerick in a shoot-out in the other semi-final. Cork’s quick restarts were central to upsetting the holders’ flow noted John Kiely afterwards, something which Lohan echoed when contemplating Sunday’s match-up.
“Limerick love structure and they love when a referee has to blow the whistle twice before the ball is pucked out as they are great on opposition puck-outs and every player knows exactly where he is supposed to be.
“So obviously when we were playing Limerick and Cork the same, we wanted to get that ball out quick to avoid that structure but essentially you’re governed by the referee and whether he’s happy to allow quick puck-outs or not because if he doesn’t, it restricts you.
“You have to go with it and the question that we have almost every day we play is primarily ‘is the referee going to allow that quick puck-out?’ so typically when it’s a score, the referee needs time to write down the score but if it’s wide, you can generally get the ball out a bit quicker.”
Raising the Banner to Cork’s intensity will be the priority for Lohan and Co. but with a clean bill of health amongst his squad for the first time in his tenure, he is equally confident that his players are experienced and level-headed enough to be able to enjoy this week’s build-up and still make the desired step up when required on Sunday afternoon.
We’re happy with where we’re at and obviously we know what’s in front of us as well and also the levels that we have to get to.
“It’s brilliant to be in an All-Ireland Final and there’s great excitement in it. You have to try and enjoy the excitement that’s there and embrace it while at the same time keeping in mind that this is a real competitive game and it’s a game that everyone wants to play in but no-one wants to be in a losing team in an All-Ireland Final.
“It’s worse than losing a semi-final or a quarter-final, it’s a bad place to be so while you’re conscious of enjoying it, you do want to stay concentrated and be tuned in to get the best out of yourself and show the best of your abilities on that big day.”