Clare have a few ghosts to slay in the coming weeks. Over the past few years, while they’ve been the team most likely to put it up to Limerick (at least in the Munster championship) they’ve been curiously spooked by the sight of Kilkenny in the All-Ireland series. They have their chance to put that some way right in the league final after they cleaned the clocks of a lacklustre Tipperary side in Portlaoise.
With first-half substitute Aidan McCarthy virtually flawless from frees and player of the league David Fitzgerald in rampant form through the middle, Clare ran up a 1-24 to 2-13 victory to give themselves a chance of a first league title since 2016. Even if Brian Lohan was in typically monosyllabic form afterwards, privately he must have headed back west relishing what is around the corner.
“We try to win every game, that’s what you try to do.” Lohan said. “We’re pretty good at winning games and this is an opportunity for us now to take on Kilkenny in another big game and this time of year that’s what intercounty players want.
“We have a big panel, they all want to play, it’s a great opportunity. Sure it’s Kilkenny, we know the quality they have, we’ll be working hard, working on our game, trying to get better and we have to take it on and see if we can get a bit better.”
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For Tipperary, this manner of defeat was far more disastrous than the fact of it. They never got to the pitch of what Clare brought to the fray and spent most of the afternoon choking in their dust. Liam Cahill ran his bench and threw plenty of mud at the wall to see would any of it stick. Very little did.
“I think we had 20 wides overall, nine or 10 of them were from frees. The narrative coming into today was who will take the frees. We still have plenty of options there, we just struck a day where everybody decided to be off on the one day. That’s disappointing. It does happen and when it does, it does hurt you.
“Look, I still have massive belief in all my players. I can’t say that enough. It’s a difficult day out there. Conditions for the last couple of weeks and months have been horrendous but still, you can’t be leaving them chances after you. I’m not going to make excuses either. We’re disappointed we’re not in the league final, that’s the long and short of it really.”
Meanwhile in football, it was more Sleepy Sunday than Super Sunday. Unusually for the final day of the league, there was precious little drama to be found anywhere. In Division One, Dublin and Derry cruised to heavy wins against Tyrone and Roscommon, meaning Dessie Farrell and Mickey Harte will face off in next week’s final. At the bottom, the Rossies joined Monaghan in their fall through the trapdoor into Division Two.
[ Dublin swat Tyrone aside to book final showdown with DerryOpens in new window ]
Division Three was the only place where there was a true winner-takes-all game but even there, Down were far too strong for Clare and ultimately beat them by 11 points in Newry. That result meant Westmeath could afford to go down to their first defeat of the campaign to Sligo and still go up to alongside Down.
At the bottom, Limerick were condemned before the day began but Wicklow still had a chance to save themselves. But even though they were within a couple of points of Antrim in the closing minutes, they couldn’t dig out the result. As it happened, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway – Offaly’s win over Limerick meant that Wicklow were going down regardless.
In Division Four, Laois got their business done early. They raced into a 4-5 to 0-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes against Waterford in Cariganore and immediately quashed any fears that they might have a last day wobble. It eventually washed out in a 5-19 to 0-9 victory for Justin McNulty’s side as they cruised to promotion.
They will be joined in next weekend’s Division Four final by Leitrim, whose 0-15 to 0-9 win over Tipperary meant it didn’t matter who won between Wexford and Longford. As it happened, Wexford ran up another impressive win by beating Paddy Christie’s side on a 2-18 to 2-9 scoreline but it will be Leitrim who are promoted, as a result of their head-to-head record.
It’s a harsh outcome on Wexford, who lost their game against Leitrim because of a contentious last-minute penalty on February 18th. John Hegarty’s side have won every game since by double-figures – they’ll be smarting for the opening round of the championship against Carlow in a fortnight.
Division One – Final: Dublin v Derry, Sunday, Croke Park, 4.0; Relegated: Roscommon, Monaghan
Division Two – Final: Armagh v Donegal, Sunday, Croke Park, 1.45; Relegated: Fermanagh, Kildare
Division Three – Final: Down v Westmeath, Saturday, Croke Park, 7.15; Relegated: Wicklow, Limerick
Division Four – Final: Laois v Leitrim, Saturday, Croke Park, 5.0.
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