1. The best team in 2013 claim the Liam McCarthy Cup
They needed extra-time in April to avoid relegation to Division 1B. They bowed out of the Munster championship by the semi-final stage.
It took extra-time before they won their Phase 3 qualifier in July after having lead by six points with 15 minutes remaining. And they needed a final replay before they won the All-Ireland title.
But under the floodlights in Croke Park on Saturday, the best hurling team in 2013 claimed the Liam McCarthy Cup. For overcoming obstacles and having to think their way to victory during eight games between June 2nd and September 28th, Clare demonstrated their credentials.
The Big Three – Kilkenny, Tipperary and Cork – had swept up the 14 All-Ireland senior hurling titles between 1999 and 2012. It needed a special side to break that hegemony. Clare proved to be that team.
2. Goals prove the catalyst for final glory
When Tipperary finally landed an All-Ireland crown in 2010 after an absence of nine years, it was the raising of green flags that proved critical to their ability to topple Kilkenny.
In 2009 they couldn’t hit the net and saw PJ Ryan repel them with a string of fine saves. Twelve months on they bagged four with Lar Corbett’s hat-trick the centrepiece of their stunning final success.
Clare’s display on Saturday was redolent of that. In their seven 2013 championship ties before Saturday, they hit eight goals. But they drew blank on two occasions and it took extra-time before two of their goals arrived against Wexford.
In the drawn match against Cork, they failed to hit the net. But they showed their clinical edge on Saturday and smashed in five goals past a Cork side who had only conceded one goal – to Dublin’s David Treacy – before that this summer.
Shane O’Donnell rightly grabs the headlines for a sensational hat-trick. But it was Conor McGrath and Darach Honan, who both displayed an eye for a goal at underage level, that killed off Cork’s challenge on the biggest stage of all.
Clare’s Darach Honan celebrates his goal on Saturday
Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne
3. Clare’s older core are rewarded for perseverance
Claiming three All-Ireland U21 hurling titles over the last five years was the natural springboard for Clare’s route through their 2013 senior campaign.
Of the 26-man panel that was selected on Saturday, 20 of them had been part of those underage glories. They mastered the art of winning as youngsters and replicated that at senior level.
For the older crew on the Clare squad, it was different. The defensive lynchpins Patrick Donnellan (28) and Brendan Bugler (28) and goalkeeper Patrick Kelly (26) all started while Fergal Lynch (30), Jonathan Clancy (27) and Conor Cooney (26) were all on the bench.
They’ve all had to be patient. Donnellan, Bugler and Clancy played in the 10-point championship loss to Galway in July 2009. That trio were joined by Cooney and Lynch on the side hammered by 13 points by Dublin in July 2010.
And the same quintet were in Salthill in July 2011 when Galway pummeled them by 17 points. Kelly, a 2005 Croke Cup winner with St Flannan’s, came into the starting side between the posts last year.
That group had all suffered chastening experiences but they persevered. They were rewarded on Saturday and their manager didn’t forget them.
“Lads who didn’t play this year like Conor Cooney, Jonathan Clancy, Fergal Lynch, they have played for years,” said Davy Fitzgerald. ” Fergal Lynch gets a doing in Clare from supporters that is so unjust and so unfair.
“They do not realise his value to the Clare team. Fergal Lynch is so immense as a leader. He is a special guy.”
Clare’s Fergal Lynch lifts the Liam McCarthy Cup
Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
4. Davy Fitzgerald’s achievement
It’s a select group who have experienced the joy of winning the Liam McCarthy Cup as a player and as a manager. Over the last 20 years the list has seen additions in Eamonn Cregan, Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Brian Cody, Nicky English, Donal O’Grady and John Allen.
It’s an elite hurling group and now Davy Fitzgerald becomes the latest member. It’s a massive feat by the 42 year-old. He crowns a list of managerial accolades that already features a Munster senior title with Waterford and two Fitzgibbon Cup crowns with Limerick IT.
But more than that, he broke a 16-year impasse since Clare last won the Liam McCarthy Cup, he fast-tracked the progress of a gifted bunch of youngsters and devised a system that broke down the gameplans which had held sway in recent years.
5. The future for Clare’s youngsters
When you win an All-Ireland senior title with a team that contains 12 players aged 25 or under, the future is full of excitement. That promise grows all the more when you consider that seven are aged 22 or under.
Five of the players who featured in the 26-man panel last Saturday – Tony Kelly, Seadna Morey, Colm Galvin, Shane O’Donnell and Peter Duggan – are U21 next year. Aaron Cunningham, Cathal O’Connell and Jack Browne who featured on this year’s triumphant U21 side will also be back in those ranks in 2014.
Tony Kelly and John Conlon celebrate
Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
As a group of hurlers, Clare are young, talented and fearless. The prospects are bright as regards their future development. Tipperary after 2010 looked set to conquer the hurling world but it has not quite happened for them since then.
Clare certainly have the potential to thrive. With a bunch of established opponents eager to reassert themselves in 2014 and other emerging outfits who will feel that can replicate Clare’s rise, next season already looks fascinating.
Well done Clare. I greatly enjoyed the match, mainly because Cork were beaten.
I think Dublin were the best team this year. They beat Kilkenny and hammered Galway and then unfairly had a man sent off v Cork which was the losing of the game.
As I commented under a different topic Clare were very lucky to avoid Dublin, Kilkenny and Tipp this year. I doubt they will be as lucky next year and will also have to contend with Galway on their good year. For those reasons I just can’t see Clare win 2 in a row not to mention even dominate. I hope it doesn’t ruin this win for them as Donnellan and Davy seem like they want to talk about winning it again instead of just enjoying this win first.
Clare will surely have to beat one or two of the big guns next year in order to win the two in a row which I cant see happening. The fact they didn’t have to beat any this year and won through the back door leaves a few question marks about the victory.
What a 24-Carat plonker you really are!
In the Cork-Dublin game, Ryan was sent off legitimately by the ref for what he deemed as being two bookable offences! Perhaps mildly debatable whether he got it right or wrong, but the ref deemed the incidents worthy of punishment each time! Hardly the stuff of the Great Langer Conspiracy which you and some other “challenged” people have been babbling on about on this site recently! Even if you disagree with the Ryan sending-off, Rushe should definitely have gone for his wild swing so it all evened out in the end!
I have plenty of Dublin friends who were more than accepting of the final scoreline, but you seem to have been clearly given-up/banished by your Cork parents many moons ago and have a vendetta against all things Cork since! Let it go, they didn’t/couldn’t love you, for obvious reasons, move on!
Oh, and Clare were the best team, not Dublin, hence why ol’ Davey Fitz is currently in bed with a bloke called Liam! Simple really! And Cork were 2nd best (i.e. Runner-up) and then you have your little debate then from there on out!