Warrior instinct leads Clare to glory

AS this Clare team’s most trying hour veered unsteadily between glorious triumph and wordless deflation, their collective warrior spirit inched them beyond Kilkenny, hurtling them into the regal  sporting annals of this county. The swashbuckling nature of their wins over Limerick, Waterford and Galway were supplanted by a terse mid-September afternoon in Croke Park, where every involvement had to be manfully fought for, with space so scarce that successfully inhaling air was an achievement, let alone eking room to hurl freely.

Cormac O’Donovan’s winning point was, in itself, indicative of the eventful path his team has taken en route to All–Ireland glory. Initially, it looked as if it was heading well right and wide before eventually swinging back inside the post and over. Has a ball ever taken so long to decide where it was going before finally landing?
Clare’s odyssey towards hurling immortality was a path pock-marked with deep caverns, the deepest of which probed the mental fortitude of this outstanding group of young men and their wisened management.
Last year’s Munster final defeat in Cusack Park was either going to finish or mould this group. While it’s too simplistic to say that that alone was what made them, it was definitely a factor. Having to head to Dungarvan to take on Waterford two months ago didn’t deter them either. Nor did Galway when Joe Canning cut loose in Thurles.
So when Clare trailed by two points in Croke Park, 11 minutes from full-time, their DNA had built up sufficient resistance to ward off the menace of panic or even mild alarm.
Of course, Donal Tuohy’s sublime save from Richie Hogan, when he tipped over a rocket from the Kilkenny attacker, also had a lot to do with Clare remaining competitive. 
Had they gone four down, rather than two, maybe their spirit would have snapped.
Colin Ryan and John Conlon displayed glacial nerve and Zen-like calm to point Clare 0-13 to 0-12 up, six minutes from time.
At this stage, Clare supporters quivered and quaked helplessly. Even the press box wasn’t a pressure free zone. Such was Michael O’Connor’s inability to keep the head, the Crusheen man threatened to be the first representative from his parish to experience what it’s like to head into orbit. 
Ostensibly stationed in the media area to report on the match, O’Connor was every bit as wrecked afterwards as Donal Tuohy, Cian Dillon or Ciaran O’Doherty, all of whom he bellowed and gesticulated wildly at for the full hour. 
As all around them had shed theirs, Clare somehow clung onto their nerve, which must have been thinking of betraying them as Kilkenny shot into a one-point lead two minutes from full-time.
Displaying remarkable serenity for the ninth time last Sunday, Colin Ryan levelled it before Cormac O’Donovan, placed by a prescient Conor McGrath pass, arched over the score which brought the county’s first ever U-21 All–Ireland title down the N7 and across the county boundaries.
Thousands of delirious and possibly disbelieving Clare supporters barrelled their way onto Croke Park, a trek not completed by a man, woman or child from this county for 12 years. Plans A, B or C was not going to halt their surge.
Not long afterwards, the Clare dressing room hummed with pure satisfaction, although they didn’t have much time to reflect as they headed for the 7.20pm train from Heuston.
County board officers, the Mayor of Clare Tony Mulcahy, Ger Loughnane, Munster council chairman Jimmy O’Gorman and a couple of furrowed reporters trying to top up their dictaphones, all crammed (companionably) into a heaving Clare dressing room.
While last Sunday’s display of iron will won it for Clare, this magnificent triumph has been two years at least in the hewing.
Clare just seemed to do the simple things to a very high level, a reflection surely on what they had been coached to execute. 
Common sense also played a significant role in helping this U-21 side go where no team has travelled before.
Of course, without having top class hurlers willing to put all they have into hurling for Clare, management would have had nothing to work with. But what they had to work with, they maximised.
Now that they have brought so much glory and colour to Clare, the county must reciprocate by not burdening this admirable group of players and management with unrealistic expectation.
Enjoy this for what it is but don’t saddle them with responsibility for restoring Clare to a respectable rank at senior level. This perhaps encapsulates how the Clare public should address this panel’s achievement.
The memories invoked by the desire, passion and ability this team displayed while representing the county this summer will winter well.
Most of all though, their warrior instinct, when the furnace was at full throttle, is what stood to Clare and is what will define them for generations to come.