TONY KELLY STRUGGLED to wrap his head around the scenario.
In the days before last year’s All-Ireland club final, he was getting set for a seismic occasion for his native Ballyea. They had qualified for the St Patrick’s Day showpiece to cap a remarkable campaign but featuring in a national decider with his club was not the only area of significance for Kelly.
The game represented the end of a wait since September 2013 for Kelly to get a run out in Croke Park. It was a notable absence for a player who scooped up the Hurler of the Year and Young Hurler of the Year accolades in 2013, but was reflective of the difficulties Clare had endured since that moment when they seemed poised to become a ruling force after lifting the Liam MacCarthy Cup.
That it was club colours he would wear while hurling in the stadium was tricky for Kelly to comprehend.
“To get here with Ballyea is a bit mental,” he stated prior to that 2017 showdown.
“We definitely won’t get back here again I don’t think anyway. A club like ours only gets this chance once in a lifetime.”
That 2017 club final showing was not the springboard for days out at headquarters last summer for Kelly. Instead that wait for Clare drifted on until 2018 when finally last Saturday’s win over Wexford drew a line under the issue. The county’s flagship team will be heading back to play in Croke Park.
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Tony Kelly in action in the 2017 All-Ireland senior club hurling final. Tommy Dickson / INPHO
Tommy Dickson / INPHO / INPHO
On 28 July – two months shy of the five-year mark since their dazzling September triumph – Clare will test themselves on the All-Ireland semi-final stage against Galway. Irrespective of the outcome, featuring at the venue will represent a breakthrough.
Kelly and defender Jack Browne had that day out with Ballyea. Podge Collins sampled some action there twice with the Clare footballers in 2016, defeating Kildare in a league final and losing out to Kerry in the last eight of the championship.
But for the rest of the squad there have been frustrating experiences at getting so far and no further in the summer.
Clare have watched everyone else in Munster get an afternoon on the Croke Park turf in an All-Ireland semi-final since 2013. Limerick reached that juncture in 2014, Tipperary have been there the last four years, Waterford for the past three seasons with Cork present in 2014 and 2017.
Kilkenny and Galway have three All-Ireland semi-final outings apiece from August 2014 on. Dublin and Wexford have been there on Leinster final days. Offaly got a chance in late January just gone to play at Croke Park and capitalised with a rousing win in the league.
Even when Clare got paired against Dublin in league encounters, the fixtures did not fall neatly for them to get back playing on Jones Road – hurling in Parnell Park in 2014, Cusack Park in 2015 and the Ennis venue twice in spring battles in 2017.
It was a statistic that annoyed the Clare hurling camp, a stick to beat them with after every championship campaign ended and something to prompt accusations that all their youthful talent had not been nurtured properly since 2013.
They were clearly tired of being reminded about it, players and management alike speaking openly before the last two Munster finals of the desire to win, not only to secure silverware but also to clinch a passage to headquarters. Slipping up to Cork both times darkened the mood yet on Saturday they corrected their pattern of quarter-final reversals in 2016 against Galway and 2017 against Tipperary.
A dejected Shane O'Donnell after the loss to Tipperary last year. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
The attendance might have been paltry, the venue may have rendered the atmosphere low-key and Wexford’s second-half fightback may have stirred up anxiety, but it was still a win for Clare to be satisfied with.
A formidable first-half showing, a late blast of points to close out the match and the sight of Kelly, Shane O’Donnell and John Conlon scoring freely from play, will all nourish Clare’s hopes. The scale of the semi-final challenge is obvious given Galway’s pace-setting standard this year, the sheer physical obstacle they pose and the confidence gained from breaking through that barrier last September.
But it already feels like 2018 is a qualified success for the Clare hurlers. They have already beaten Waterford, Tipperary and Limerick in championship ties. Two of those heavyweights are watching on for the rest of the summer. They have journeyed further than a Leinster quartet in Kilkenny, Wexford, Dublin and Offaly. They have halted that quarter-final losing streak and most crucially addressed the Croke Park factor that overshadowed them.
David McInerney celebrates Saturday's win for Clare over Wexford. Tommy Dickson / INPHO
Tommy Dickson / INPHO / INPHO
Now that they are at the last four stage, they will push hard to seize an opportunity that has eluded them. Yet for Clare there is a victory to be found in simply being back at the business end of the season.
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Croker Calling - Clare's season already feels like progress after they return to semi-final stage
TONY KELLY STRUGGLED to wrap his head around the scenario.
In the days before last year’s All-Ireland club final, he was getting set for a seismic occasion for his native Ballyea. They had qualified for the St Patrick’s Day showpiece to cap a remarkable campaign but featuring in a national decider with his club was not the only area of significance for Kelly.
The game represented the end of a wait since September 2013 for Kelly to get a run out in Croke Park. It was a notable absence for a player who scooped up the Hurler of the Year and Young Hurler of the Year accolades in 2013, but was reflective of the difficulties Clare had endured since that moment when they seemed poised to become a ruling force after lifting the Liam MacCarthy Cup.
That it was club colours he would wear while hurling in the stadium was tricky for Kelly to comprehend.
“To get here with Ballyea is a bit mental,” he stated prior to that 2017 showdown.
“We definitely won’t get back here again I don’t think anyway. A club like ours only gets this chance once in a lifetime.”
That 2017 club final showing was not the springboard for days out at headquarters last summer for Kelly. Instead that wait for Clare drifted on until 2018 when finally last Saturday’s win over Wexford drew a line under the issue. The county’s flagship team will be heading back to play in Croke Park.
On 28 July – two months shy of the five-year mark since their dazzling September triumph – Clare will test themselves on the All-Ireland semi-final stage against Galway. Irrespective of the outcome, featuring at the venue will represent a breakthrough.
Kelly and defender Jack Browne had that day out with Ballyea. Podge Collins sampled some action there twice with the Clare footballers in 2016, defeating Kildare in a league final and losing out to Kerry in the last eight of the championship.
But for the rest of the squad there have been frustrating experiences at getting so far and no further in the summer.
Clare have watched everyone else in Munster get an afternoon on the Croke Park turf in an All-Ireland semi-final since 2013. Limerick reached that juncture in 2014, Tipperary have been there the last four years, Waterford for the past three seasons with Cork present in 2014 and 2017.
Kilkenny and Galway have three All-Ireland semi-final outings apiece from August 2014 on. Dublin and Wexford have been there on Leinster final days. Offaly got a chance in late January just gone to play at Croke Park and capitalised with a rousing win in the league.
Even when Clare got paired against Dublin in league encounters, the fixtures did not fall neatly for them to get back playing on Jones Road – hurling in Parnell Park in 2014, Cusack Park in 2015 and the Ennis venue twice in spring battles in 2017.
It was a statistic that annoyed the Clare hurling camp, a stick to beat them with after every championship campaign ended and something to prompt accusations that all their youthful talent had not been nurtured properly since 2013.
They were clearly tired of being reminded about it, players and management alike speaking openly before the last two Munster finals of the desire to win, not only to secure silverware but also to clinch a passage to headquarters. Slipping up to Cork both times darkened the mood yet on Saturday they corrected their pattern of quarter-final reversals in 2016 against Galway and 2017 against Tipperary.
The attendance might have been paltry, the venue may have rendered the atmosphere low-key and Wexford’s second-half fightback may have stirred up anxiety, but it was still a win for Clare to be satisfied with.
A formidable first-half showing, a late blast of points to close out the match and the sight of Kelly, Shane O’Donnell and John Conlon scoring freely from play, will all nourish Clare’s hopes. The scale of the semi-final challenge is obvious given Galway’s pace-setting standard this year, the sheer physical obstacle they pose and the confidence gained from breaking through that barrier last September.
But it already feels like 2018 is a qualified success for the Clare hurlers. They have already beaten Waterford, Tipperary and Limerick in championship ties. Two of those heavyweights are watching on for the rest of the summer. They have journeyed further than a Leinster quartet in Kilkenny, Wexford, Dublin and Offaly. They have halted that quarter-final losing streak and most crucially addressed the Croke Park factor that overshadowed them.
Now that they are at the last four stage, they will push hard to seize an opportunity that has eluded them. Yet for Clare there is a victory to be found in simply being back at the business end of the season.
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