GOD, the father figure, and the whole spirit that Clare showed to edge out Cork in a classic final were embodied in Brian Lohan at the post-match press conference.
The Banner boss sat beside his latest successor as full-back, Conor Cleary, who had his injured shoulder in a sling, and reached out to open a bottle of rehydrating drink for him.
Clare’s collective effort on the pitch had just seen off the Rebels, but they were still looking out for each other. Some inspiration, divine or otherwise, also helped.
Clare captain Tony Kelly had hailed Lohan as a god in the religion of hurling in the county during his acceptance speech, and the manager reciprocated the praise for the man whose genius brought All-Ireland success again after an 11-year wait.
Kelly had been quiet at midfield but then scored a stunning goal and added four points, one of those another miracle score.
“When Tony is playing, there is a different dimension for us,” said Lohan. “When he’s there, there is always that threat, regardless of what position in the field he plays in, whether he is in the middle of the field, centre-forward or full-forward, there is that threat.
“And if a team ignores him, they will suffer. And we are just delighted to have him, absolutely delighted that he has gone up as captain of the team and collected the Liam MacCarthy. Just thrilled for him and thrilled for Conor as well, our vice-captain.
“Tremendous guys, Conor collected the league trophy earlier on and now Tony has collected the Liam MacCarthy.”
Clare have suffered so much Championship heartache in recent years, and after losing a third consecutive provincial decider against Limerick Lohan revealed that they didn’t feel able to accept another such setback:
“Every game takes on a life of its own, and every season takes on a life of its own. After the Munster final we took a break and the thinking was that if we were going to go back into it, that we’d prefer to lose a quarter-final rather than losing a semi-final or an All-Ireland final.
“The team came back with just tremendous freshness and they were ready to go – and real desire about the squad.”
Even so, Cork’s flying start looked like piling on more pain for Clare, but the Banner men’s response then was the winning of this title, felt Lohan:
“Aido [McCarthy] getting that goal brought us right back into it, and then we were able to relax a bit and I think we hurled well from there on. So, I suppose that and, look, Tony just caught fire in the second half and on into extra-time.”
Despite losing Cleary and Peter Duggan among others to injury ahead of extra time, Lohan pointed to intangible qualities which gave him confidence of ultimate success:
“We had great faith in the group, great faith in the panel of players that we picked. We didn’t expect it to go to extra-time but, when it did, there was good belief in the group…
“I’m delighted to win that game; delighted for the lads to get the ultimate reward in hurling, and delighted for Tony that he was able to go up the steps of the Hogan Stand and collect that trophy on behalf of the county. Just brilliant for all the panel of players, and in particular brilliant for all those guys that have got their second All-Ireland now.”
