Clare manager Brian Lohan encouraged by Tony Kelly’s form after Wexford victory

“We’re back to where we wanted to be,” he said, reacting to their 2-28 to 1-19 victory.

“We were under pressure to get back winning after we lost the last day. (There was) pressure on our lads. They responded well, as they always do. Showed a bit of resilience, bit of toughness and came out with the result.

“We’ve a great bunch. We’re carrying a panel of 40 players and they’re a very competitive, very ambitious bunch. We’ve done a lot of things well this year but we haven’t jumped the biggest fences. That’s what we have to get to. We’ve a big fence coming against us now. We have to take that on and see can we deal with it.”

That is an All-Ireland semi final against Kilkenny on Saturday week, who they’ve lost to in the last two semi final meetings. They’ve already defeated Kilkenny twice this year in the national league, including the final.

“Any time you win is good,” said Lohan. “Inter-county hurling is about winning matches. We won those games. They were big targets for us, in the league and in the league final. Given the opposition and that there was a trophy at stake, that was a big deal for us. It mightn’t be a big deal for a lot of teams but it was for us. So we were delighted with that. It’s another challenge now.”

Lohan spoke about the red card that changed the course of the game, offering his sympathy to Rory O’Connor.

“When you have a marquee player like Rory O’Connor, he’s just a really good player, nobody ever likes to see a hurler being sent off. It was the opposite side of the field to me so I didn’t see – I was following the play. But nobody likes to see a player go off.”

He said he was encouraged by the form shown by Tony Kelly on his second start of the summer, the captain finishing with five points from play.

“He had a fairly serious operation and it’s taken him a while to get back. Tony needs matches, he needs to get out on the field. Today was the opportunity for him to start and rebound. He didn’t play poorly in the Munster final but it just takes time to get to the level he is capable of. So delighted for Tony.”

He also said Ryan Taylor was back in training and could be in contention for selection in two weeks.