Davy Fitzgerald does not believe Clare deserved to lose their Munster Senior Hurling Championship clash with Limerick.
The Banner County were beaten by a single point after an incident-packed second half that included three goals and a sending off.
There was also a red card at the very end of the first half when Clare midfielder Pat Donnellan was sent off for striking Donal O'Grady during a bout of pushing and shoving near the tunnel.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, the Clare manager initially said that he would not be drawn on any of the controversial incidents, though while he gave credit to Limerick, Fitzgerald was adamant that Clare did not deserve to lose..
"Hard to take. I don’t think we deserved to lose that," he said.
"Well done to Limerick. I have no comment to make on anything. Clare, you’re not going to draw me on anything. Well done to Limerick.
“I’m very, very, very proud of the Clare team and supporters today. They are immense. I’m not going to concentrate on anything else whatsoever. I’m really proud of my team. Six points down they showed some character. I’m 100% certain we did not deserve to lose.
“It is pretty easy, if you analyse the stats, [to see] why we lost the game.”
Fitzgerald also said that he expected to continue with Clare for the next few years.
"There was a lot of stuff questioned about us today. We were told, there was a lot of people wrote us off, even in our own county.
"These boys are phenomenal. These guys work so hard. All we need is a fair break and we’ll give any team a game on any day and we showed that today.
"I’m immensely proud of this Clare team. Trust me, I’m there for a few more years, and we’ll keep coming back. We’ll get a beating or two. If we get a fair break we’ll be there or thereabouts.
“The battle from Clare and Limerick today, they absolutely gave everything. That’s what hurling is about.”
"These boys are phenomenal. These guys work so hard"
Asked to comment on the sending off, Fitzgerald said he did not see the incident.
“I didn’t see it. It is a tough enough one to take. I’m sure Donal O’Grady is fine. You could say the same, it was very harsh on their man who was sent off as well.
“I don’t know how many frees were in the game. Let the hurling go on, let it flow."
Clare now go into the qualifiers, while Limerick will face Tipperary in the Munster SHC semi-final.
