Clonlara and Cratloe had 6 each on the panel I think
Cratloes dual ambitions probably got in the way of them winning more?
Most definitely.
Yes basically when they were at their peak and then didnât have enough coming through to freshen things up
With the spread of talent ye had in the mid 10âs an all-Ireland club title shouldnât have been out of the question.
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Cratloe in 2014 were probably good enough, they had an absolutely preposterous run of games that autumn winning the hurling and football. They were favourite for the Munster football that year I believe. Lost to kilmallock aet in the muster hurling final
Itâs easy to see how Podge, Conor Ryan and McGrath couldnât keep it going.
They werenât good enough to win Clare. There are a lot of factors. The older lads who were excellent leaders and solid heads departed in the few years after the 2008 win were never really replaced. Six lads tied up with I/C and mentally exhausted years from hurling under Davy didnât help, panel lacked leadership and too many lads tolerated by weak management/politics undermined a lot of stuff. You would also have a case where the OâConnells would be working night shift in their jobs and Domhnall OâDonovan would be travelling back from Naas for matches and would travel a lot for work, add in your county lads being unavailable most of the year and the team would struggle for continuity and leadership.
Lads who were solid hurlers got fed up of just playing league games and invariably struggling without the county lads, only to find that they wouldnât get a look in come championship so would just commit to the second team after a season or two instead.
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Kildangan should do a case study on ye to ensure the same thing doesnât happen them with all their moving parts.
The lack of panel depth can be summed up by the fact that a lad who gave up hurling at 14 and didnât go back playing again until he was 25 around 2012 or so started the 2015 and 2016 county finals. He was roasted both days out.
He didnât really play any other sports in the intervening decade when he opted out either.
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Thatâs mad.
Whole thing a sorry mess. You must have been happy to get out of there.
Yerrah life moves on. Iâm 11 years and 4 different gaa clubs removed from it at this point. There are only a handful of lads I hurled with still plugging away for the second or third team as the years pass my ties to it grow less and less truth be told.
It is sad as they will probably never have a group like that again and didnât make hay, but the club as a whole is still going strong and will be senior for the foreseeable future which is great, when I was a chap we would do well to have a lad on a Clare minor panel once or twice a decade and would have been doing well to compete at B level grades underage, while for the last 15 years or so it would be rare when we wouldnât have at least one of not multiple players on a county minor or 20/21 panel and consistently in the A underage grades. A lot of good people doing Trojan work with no interest in the senior side show.
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Remember the good times 
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Aherlow beat promoted Rockwell Rovers by a point in the West Senior Semi Final tonight.
Rockwell will struggle at this grade.
Haha. 
I called it. Seemingly thereâs a few âreactorsâ in the Kiladangan herd. Acccording to a WhatsApp I got today anywayâŚ
Obviously thoughts and prayers for the lads who are sick.
As per WhatsApp, Kildangan down 3 Tipp Seniors tonight.
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It didnât effect them too much if so. Another hammering
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A 16 point win without Flynn x2 and Quigley.
Fairly ominous for the rest.