The most frustrating part of Éire Óg’s Munster Senior Club Football Semi-Final exit is that they and the entire county knows that the Clare champions are much better than they showed on Sunday against Loughmore-Castleiney.

With the race of the Munster Senior Club title wide open, it seemed as if the stars had finally aligned for the Townies to take their place amongst the great teams in provincial history. However, despite back-to-back home ties and avoiding the Kerry champions until the final, the Ennis side simply couldn’t rise to the challenge, something that clearly left manager Paul Madden crestfallen and bemused in equal measures afterwards.

“I haven’t quite put my finger on it yet what happened but maybe just on the day we were a little bit flatter than we normally would be. We showed bursts of energy and great play at times whether it was Ikem [Ugwueru]’s run to win the penalty or Ciaran Russell’s one to create Gavin Cooney’s goal and we also linked up well for a couple of points in the second half but we just couldn’t put it together for the full hour.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it being a five point defeat as the last goal they got we had all pushed…

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