Low key Banner still have a ways to go

IT’S been a remarkably quiet couple months over on the other side of the Shannon Estuary. Barely a peep out of the place in fact. A far cry from previous years when one man dominated all before him.

Clare under Davy Fitzgerald were box-office for a while. The quality of hurling they played in their All Ireland winning season was par

excellence, scintillating in fact and the former shot-stopper deserves all the praise in the world for pulling off that particular coup.

The team and the manager each had what the other needed during that 2013 campaign. As Shane O’Donnell was banging in the goals against Cork in that late September replay, the sky seemed the limit for Davy and his team of baby faced assassins.

Those glory days were never repeated under Fitzgerald’s management, however. Nowhere near in fact. The last time a Clare team played in Croke Park it was the footballers. Since the win over Jimmy Barry Murphy’s men, the hurlers haven’t set foot in the place except as spectators.

Even then Clare retained a certain glamour, as would befit any recent All Ireland champion. The Banner were still box-office. Davy was still box-office and, in the end, maybe that was the problem.

Davy became bigger than the team. Davy being Davy that was inevitable we suppose. Love him or loathe him – and we’re somewhere in between, admiration tempered by occasional exasperation – the guy is larger than life.

No doubt he’s a remarkable motivator. The impact he’s had in Wexford tells you that. Now Wexford were no bad team before he arrived – Liam Dunne did a decent job with the players at his disposal, they beat Cork in Semple last summer let us not forget – but Davy has taken them to a whole new level.

After a time though you do wonder if the same thing will happen him in Wexford as happened in Clare (and before that in Waterford). After the initial boost it seemed to become a case of ever decreasing returns.

Eventually stuff like what happened during the National League semi-final with Tipperary begins to grate and, we suspect, that’s what happened by the end of Davy’s tenure with the Banner.

To regain that certain joie de vivre Clare needed a change and to Davy’s credit he knew that too. He didn’t dig his heels in, point to his record – he’s only the second man to lead Clare to glory in the last thirty years – and demand to be retained.

In choosing his successor the Clare County Board took a different tact to what had gone before. They could have given the gig to Anthony Daly, a big personality, a great hurling man, but instead went for Gerry O’Connor and Donal Moloney, the managerial duo who had so much success at Under 21 level.

At a stroke everything was that little bit more low key, which is not to say there wasn’t excitement within the county at the appointment. All the same for a team of their potential – and given what they’d already achieved – Clare have flown pretty low beneath the radar this term.

The talk was of Cork and Wexford (and Davy!), Galway and Waterford, almost as if the hurling world had passed this Clare generation by. A dangerous assumption to make.

Last Sunday came and again Clare were somewhat under the radar – thanks largely to their game with neighbours Limerick game being on Sky Sports – and after it that’s likely to be their lot for another while at least.

Not that you’ll find O’Connor and Moloney complaining about the situation. It suits them down to the ground. Let all the attention be on the newly revived Rebels and Derek McGrath’s Waterford in a fortnight’s time.

In last weekend’s game there were flashes of the Clare of old and not just because O’Donnell – really back to his old self for the first time in a long time – bagged two goals in the first half to leave Limerick reeling.

If anything the performance of John Conlon was the one to really catch the eye. If Clare are going to do anything this summer they’re going to need his physicality on the half-forward line.

A lack of too many really big guys could count against the Banner when the fat hits the fire, but they’re just so skilful and pacey that you have to imagine they’ll find a way to impose themselves on teams, just as they did in 2013.

For now they’re a long way off 2013. Clare really need Tony Kelly to recapture some of the magic we know he’s capable of. At the moment it looks like Ballyea’s unsuccessful run to the All Ireland club final is weighing him down a little. That said you can easily imagine Clare improving by exponentially should the maestro recapture his muse. He’s that good. On his day he’s the best hurler in the country and we all know the game isn’t short of top players at the moment.

We shouldn’t forget either that this was the Banner’s first Munster championship victory since they won the All Ireland. That’s a big deal. Clare are on the way back. Slowly but surely and under the radar.

A refreshing change of pace.