It’s 1998 since Lohan was a central figure on the last Clare team that won the province and now, as manager, his team are intent on bridging that long gap
The Munster final had imposed a limit on everything: their ambition, their status, their horizon; glory. In their experience so much about it was oppressive, and yet it was a boundless source of wishful thinking. They were infatuated by it, and inflamed by it, along with everyone else.
“The Munster championship is just such a massive competition for us – and historically it’s such a big competition for us.” Cork's Kevin Hennessy and Ger Loughnane of Clare during the 1986 Munster final at Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney. Cork won by three points, 2-18 to 3-12, to prolong Clare's long wait for a provincial title. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho
“My sister-in-law Anne started clapping in a genuine show of affection or appreciation,” wrote Daly. “Nobody joined her. They were looking at her as if to say, ‘What are you applauding those chokers for? They’re after sh**ting themselves again.’ “I’m a bit of a contrarian here,” says Callinan. “I don’t give a s**t about the Munster championship. I honestly don’t. The Munster championship was a sacred cow, and it was overblown. I’ve never been a supporter of the provincial championships. In my naivety, when the back door came in, I thought the Munster and Leinster championships would be done away with.
It took 17 years for Loughane’s prophesy to come true. More than anybody else, he burst the dam in the Clare players’ minds. A couple of days after the 1995 Munster final he reflected on a life’s work. Under Loughnane they won three Munster titles in four years but have won none since. In the last 25 years Clare have contested just five Munster finals, and lost them all.
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