When Brian Lohan’s men take to the hallowed turf at the GAA headquarters on Sunday, this will be only the third time in six years for the majority of this squad of players. Standing in their way of a first All-Ireland final appearance in a decade, a familiar foe in Kilkenny. This weekend’s opponents dismantled Clare’s dreams of reaching the 2022 decider after a humbling 2-26 to 0-20 loss at the hands of a then Brian Cody led Kilkenny side. However, time has now passed, old wounds have healed and it’s been little over a year and redemption is on the cards for the banner side.
Clare fans who are expected to travel in their thousands to the capital will be hoping for an improvement this time round if they’re to see their team reach the 2023 All-Ireland final. David Fitzgerald, who lined out at wing forward for the banner in that defeat, is optimistic that Clare can come out on top this time round and feels that his team need to be more economical with their shooting, having tallied 24 wides in the encounter 53 weeks ago. “Firstly, It’s great to get back to Croke Park, Kilkenny will be a massive challenge. We struggled against them last year and we hit a lot of wides throughout the 70 minutes. The overall goal of the quarter final was to get back to Croke Park. The performance wasn’t perfect, and we have lots to work on ahead of the Kilkenny game.” Clare will know they will have to improve from last year’s encounter when they face off against the current Leinster champions. Since then, a few changes have occurred when these two last did battle, most notably with Derek Lyng stepping into the hot seat, replacing the longest serving and most successful manager the game has seen, having amassed eleven All-Ireland titles in his 14 year tenure.
A Martin Keoghan goal moments before the half time whistle sounded, helped Kilkenny surge fourteen points clear last time out and the Inagh-Kilnamona native mentions how key it is to eliminate any complacency seeping in against Sunday’s opponents.“ Staying in the game is obviously important, as we saw last year when you give a top team like Kilkenny a lead of that magnitude, you are always going to struggle to pull it back.”
Coming off the back of an 18 point victory over Dublin in the quarter final stages, Fitzgerald feels the team are coming into Sunday’s crunch tie with renewed vigour than the previous year, digging deep to survive a scare against Wexford last season. With injuries healing up, the University College of Dublin graduate senses they’re in a solid position to go head-to-head with Lyng’s outfit. “The panel is quite strong at the moment, with lots of competition for places. It was great to have the likes of David Reidy back the last day and the bench made a good impact against Dublin the likes of Reidy, Flan (Paul Flanagan), Shan ( Aron Shanagher), Nolan and more”.
Although narrowly finishing up short against Limerick in the Munster final at TUS Gaelic Grounds, the 27 year-old admitted Brian Lohan and his team have taken positives from a difficult outcome,“The loss against Limerick was disappointing, the overall team performance was decent, and we took a lot of areas to work on from it. The semi final against Kilkenny is mutually exclusive to the Munster final and the All-Ireland quarter final the last day. We will be looking for an improved performance again from the quarter final the next day.”
Chipping in with four points against Dublin in the last eight fixture, Fitzgerald has become somewhat of a leader for the banner county. The Shannon based Finance and risk manager at Stratos, who specialize in aviation leasing, was rewarded for his noteworthy displays on the hurling pitch for his county, ending last season with an all-star, along side team-mates Shane O’Donnell and Tony Kelly – a first for the Inagh/Kilnamona man and indeed a first for the Combo club since its inception in 2008. Clare may very well require all-star performances from Fitzgerald and his team mates on Sunday if they are to be victorious over the Noresiders for the first time in championship since 1997.
A late goal from Cillian Buckley deep into injury time secured a 75th Leinster title for Kilkenny, and impressively their fourth in a row. Clare will hope to heed the warnings of last year’s systems failure in GAA headquarters. Fitzgerald is under no illusions that the task in hand will be difficult and has acknowledged that they won’t be underestimating their seasoned opponents come Sunday. Speaking to The Clare Champion he said “It will be a big challenge, it was great to get over the quarter final against Dublin. These games usually take on a life of their own. Kilkenny are in great form at the minute, played really well throughout Leinster.”
While the Cats enter the game as underdogs – according to the bookmakers anyways – this game is finely balanced and a grain of rice could be what tips the scales in either side’s favour. Top class all-round team performances have been a hallmark of the Brian Lohan years. It may very well be which individuals rise above the parapet and grab the initiative that helps steer Clare to a first appearance at ‘The big dance’ since 2013. Based on current form and his positive big game temperament, Fitzgerald is ideally positioned to have a significant influence on Sundays proceedings.

Jamesy McConigley