O’Connor: Clare have all the tools to take down Limerick

Patrick O’Connor won’t be lining out for his third Munster Final this Sunday due to his continued rehabilitation from a cruciate injury. However as the captain of Clare’s last two provincial deciders, he would be only too delighted to see the Banner finally bridge a 24-year gap to their last title in Semple Stadium.

“I’m in a different place now in that I’m currently transitioning from running straight to twisting and turning and in that current condition, I’d have no place out on the field. It might be different six or eight weeks further down the line but for the moment, I’m happy to be supporting the lads from the sideline.

“Look, there are so many lads out there that I’ve soldiered with for a long long time that there would be no happier person in Thurles on Sunday to see John [Conlon], Tony [Kelly] or lads like that get their just rewards for sticking with it and driving things on and dragging standards up over the years.

“Brian [Lohan] too, you’d have to say has done an amazing job in firstly galvanising the group and then galvanising the county to the extent that everyone is now rowing in behind him. So you’d just be so happy for the group and the amount of work that they have done if they were to get their reward on Sunday.”

That thirst for a Munster crown has always been there but as O’Connor reflects, it was in 2017 that the players themselves put the emphasis on trying to reach that pinnacle.

“I have to say that having played in a Munster Final was special. I mean having grown up with stories of Munster Final day, it was great to finally say that you experienced it yourself because we had been long enough watching them at home or in the stands.

“We felt that we had a team capable of doing something and going back to 2017, we had made a big thing in the player group about the fact that we had never really threatened doing anything in Munster.

“I mean it stands to this day that ’98 is the last time we had won a Munster title but more worryingly there was only one more visit to a Munster Final in the intervening period and that was in 2008. So you had a lot of excellent players that had never graced a Munster Final day and we really wanted to put that right.

“Back in that time, it was still the old format so our first game was a semi-final against Limerick and we immediately identified a route into a Munster Final by having to only win one game and we were determined to do so.

“For the Munster Final itself, there must have been some mistake with the tickets because it was 95% Cork supporters in Thurles and it was a real cauldron.

“You could almost say that it was a home game for Cork and so it proved as the result was a bitter disappointment. We didn’t perform to how we would have liked and we threatened at certain stages to open them up but ultimately left ourselves with too much to do.”

In 2018, the hurling landscape altered dramatically with the installation of a new round-robin format, with Clare’s return to the Munster decider following four championship outings a clear validation of their final merits.

“One hundred per cent. With the round-robin, we definitely felt that we deserved our place in the Munster Final that bit more the following year.

“And look, again we left it after us against Cork but I must say that we hurled as good as we ever did for the first 35 minutes that day. Well, 34 minutes anyway because Cork hit us for 1-1 just before half-time which ultimately gave them a lifeline back into the game.

“The place was electric that day, the Clare supporters were full behind us and I’ll never forget either that we were in the middle of a heatwave as even there was patches of grass that were burned in Semple Stadium.

“So with that huge backing of support, that was a real Munster Final atmosphere, it’s just that we came out on the wrong side of the result again. It still hurts an awful lot but all you can do as a player is drive on.”

The ongoing debate over whether Clare could have stopped the Limerick revolution in its tracks if they had reached the subsequent All-Ireland Final that year doesn’t still haunt captain O’Connor’s thinking at least.

“We would have beaten Limerick in ’16, ’17 and ’18 in the championship and also in league games so we certainly didn’t fear them and felt that we had the edge over them. But realistically what has happened since, you couldn’t justify it now.

“Everyone knew that Limerick had something special coming but you have to doff your hat to them because they have been exceptional. The greatest compliment that you can give to a team is that you know that they will give everything on Sunday because their set-up is excellent and you know that the training is excellent because of the consistency of performance.

“So I think this Limerick team was coming regardless but what an occasion an All-ireland Final between Clare and Limerick would have been.”

It could still come to pass this year of course but first Clare have to contend with the might of Limerick for the Mackey Cup, something that is eminently possible due to Clare’s impressive upward trajectory.

“On the evidence of this year so far, Clare appear to have wrestled some of that gap between Limerick and the chasing pack back now. Brian [Lohan] has put together a really, really strong, fit and mobile unit and I think that they’ve all the tools to really put it up to Limerick on Sunday.”

“It’s a great opportunity in that you can just have a cut and regardless of what happens, you do have the bank of the Munster Championship campaign as well as an All-Ireland series to look forward to too. It’s really set up to have one hell of a cut and see where you are.”

“We’ve already had three matches against them this year and the latter two in particular were arm wrestles to the highest degree and there’s nothing to suggest that Sunday will be any different.

“Sometimes you can think too much about trying to avoid a particular team or qualifying in third place but I really think that to get up to that level and be the best, you’ve got to play the best as often as possible. That’s the only means of true evaluation.”