Lohan: ‘We have to get up to Cork’s level’

Clare’s march to the 2024 All-Ireland hurling final has been a bit of a “mixed bag”, according to their manager Brian Lohan, who also feels that his side will have to improve even more if they are to “go with Cork” in next Sunday’s decider.

In his fifth year at the helm, Lohan has finally guided the Banner to within 70 minutes of winning the title they last claimed in 2013, when the Rebels were also the opposition, with victory coming after a replay.

Eleven years on and the counties collide again on hurling’s biggest day. Their last meeting was at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on 28 April, with Lohan’s men prevailing by two points in the Munster round robin. That got their campaign up and running after the loss to Limerick in Ennis, a game where the hosts led by nine points at one stage in the second half.

The reigning All-Ireland champions would again be Clare’s conquerors in the Munster final, but wins over Wexford and Kilkenny, the latter success coming after a strong performance in the second 35, secured their ticket in Sunday’s showpiece.

As for Cork, there was no margin for error after consecutive defeats in the province, and they responded in kind, going on a five-match unbeaten run to set up another date with the blue and gold.

Assessing Clare’s season so far, Lohan told RTÉ Sport’s Marty Morrissey: “There are five teams in Munster and you’re doing well all the time if you can get out of Munster.

“We progressed through the round robin fairly well, losing one game (against Limerick), but played reasonably well in that game even though we made a couple of mistakes. Obviously we lost the Munster final but we rebounded back.

“We had a good display against Wexford, obviously there were areas that we needed to improve on. And then again against Kilkenny, we had reasonably good second-half display but we were disappointed with the first-half display.

“It’s been kind of a mixed bag, but we’ve been doing enough to get over the line on most of the occasions.”

Against Kilkenny in the semi-final, it certainly was a case of the two Clares, with Lohan reasonably happy with how they finished that game.

“In the first half, I suppose we were playing against the elements, which, you know, sometimes in Croke Park you don’t realise how strong the breeze can be. But that’s probably not an an excuse for how poorly we played, and some of the decision making wasn’t as as good as we’d like it to be. So there was a bit of frustration, certainly at half-time.

“There was a sense amongst the group that we were just a bit frustrated with how we played and we certainly played an awful lot better in that second-half. We made better decisions and finished out the game reasonably well and and got good scores and made those good decisions.”

That said, the Wolfe Tones na Sionna clubman believes his charges will have to find another level against Pat Ryan’s men, who showed how far they’ve come on, when dethroning Limerick last Sunday week.

“I think you’d have to say that we would have to get better to be able to go with Cork, considering how they’re playing at the moment: how they played in the round-robin against Limerick, then against Tipp, and obviously the last day in the semi-final.

“We have to get up to their level. If we produce anything like what we produced in the first half, we won’t be in the game. We’re under no illusions, we know that that is the case and there is pressure on us to perform and get better.

“There will be battles all over the field, every line of the field and they’ll continue right through the afternoon. They have great strength coming off the bench, but we think our panel has got better as well. And you know, as a spectator or a supporter, it’s something to really look forward to.”

Lohan, a two-time All-Ireland winner as a player, has made the move to management and is only too aware that one can’t stand still in developing a squad.

“I suppose each year that you go, you you want to try and improve the team. Every county manager is under pressure to get better from the previous year. And suppose this year, we’re in an All-Ireland final now which is the place to be, we wanted to get there.

“We would loved to have been there in the last couple of years, but we feel we are developing, getting better, evolving. With that there are a lot of younger players that take time to develop at inter-county level; it’s not like years ago when you had an 18-year-old that could be a star.

“Sometimes it takes two to three years to develop physically and mentally for the quality of opponents that you meet at inter-county level. The squad has got better; it’s more competitive and that’s good for Clare hurling.”

Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship final, Cork v Clare, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1