Doesn’t hinder Dalo.
A smashing player. A vital under rated coil in any good Clare performance in recent times.
He’ll put plenty into the bar till anyway.
The future never happened for that group of Clare players, well not after 2013 anyway. You’d be worried for them that they might fall into an Offaly style slump in the near enough future. Their underage performances have been dire since they last won the under-21 in 2014. I think Lohan has done quite well to keep them very competitive over the last couple of years.
Two factors there - the defence of the 2013 team was getting old & Davy had them hurling an awful style
There is a third factor to it as well which Galvin is the central figure
Good management would have weeded that out ,
100%
The defence was hardly that old - in 2013 there were two 28 year olds, one 25, one 24, 22 and 20.
Conor Ryan having to retire was a big blow to them. He was a colossus in 2013.
Then a good few other lads either faded off the scene or only had the odd good year thereafter. Tony Kelly has only started fulfilling his potential in the last couple of years.
Davy definitely stayed on at least a year too long.
When I think of that Clare team I think of the GOAL Challenge where O’Donnell needed a Garda Escort to get out after it.
Was that the last ever GOAL Challenge? What a shame to see such a tradition end…
Clare had solid minor teams in 207, 2018 and 2019 but have been desperately unlucky at injuries at 20/21s the past few seasons. Every year they lost three or four of their standout hurlers close to championship and the depth simply wasn’t there to replace them.
There is a relatively decent pool of talent there between 19 and 23 but the problem is more so the 24 to 27 bracket is pretty bare.
Lohan has done more to keep Clare hurling relevant at all levels in the last 2 and a half years than the executive have done in 15. He is doing huge work behind the scenes cutting through bullshit and getting decent men involved in underage sides along with a lot of fundraising which he could easily try end just keep for the seniors but he appears to see the bigger picture.
Ya Conor Ryan was huge loss but Bugler and Donnellan had a lot played . I think Donal Donovan played little enough thereafter . Cian Dillon had injuries
Darach Honan has fitness issues too
Clare’s last couple of years remind me a bit of the '04-'08 period where they were still pretty competitive and notched some decent wins - mostly over Wexford who they always seem to beat, but just about hanging on to the coat tails of the stronger counties. There was a big slump after '08 though which was only arrested by the rise of the 2010/11 minor group, who were particularly gifted, to add to the 2009 u-21s. Be doing well to get such a gifted group emerging again.
I think there was no doubting he was extremely talented and in full flight a fine hurler. But his performances from minor and 21s skew how he is rated in my opinion. He was the standout performer on that 3 in a row team and all but unplayable at that level and he was excellent when he first burst on the scene with the seniors in 2012 and 2013 but aside from a handful of performances there after he never got close to that level again. Came to a point that he was pretty ineffective if he had to go toe to toe with his man and wasn’t able to drop behind his centre back or drift back towards left half back to get on balls out of defence.
He was excellent v Galway in 2016 and both days as a sweeper v Galway in 2018 but aside from them days there aren’t any other noteworthy performances after 2013. He looked miles off the pace in all four games last year
Between Cadogan and the woman Aussie footballer FFS
How is Carthac Og getting on?
I’m sure you’ll find out in tomorrow’s examiner