Clare polished off a fine Allianz football league campaign with a routine victory over a winless Louth side in sunny Ennis.
Clare in fact put Pete McGrath’s side out of their relegation misery a week previous with victory over Cork, while Louth’s game versus Meath was postponed.
Consolidating their Division 2 status was always the aim for Colm Collins and the envy of Louth as they returned to Division 3 after one season.
A foundation for their brief expedition could be laid at the failure of Louth to start game at the required pace.
Once again this trait was exposed, as Clare raised the green flag with seconds on the clock. A quick Gary Brennan free right from the throw in allowed the onrushing Jamie Malone fire to the net.
With placings already confirmed, the game had that settled feel about it and two more goals at the end of the first half from Keelan Sexton and Kieran Malone gave the placings an added confirmation of the disparity between the two sides.
Besides the majors that bookended the half, it was score for score with Eoin Cleary prominent with free’s while Conor Grimes, Declan Byrne and captain Andy McDonnell responding in vain for Louth
The dominance of the Clare midfield of Gary Brennan and much improved partner Cathal O’Connor left it 3-7 to 0-6 at the interval.
Start of the second half, Tommy Durnin fired Louth’s first goal of the season, a further indicator to where it went wrong for the wee county this season.
Instead of staking a comeback, they failed to build any match winning momentum due to some wayward shooting with Louth notching seven second half wides.
The lacklustre affair was all about formalities really and completely petered out with the emptying of both benches draining the intensity even more.
The impressive Eoin Cleary added to his tally bringing it to eight for the game while Louth substitute Tadhg McEneaney helped himself to two points.
Louth’s season to forget is still over as they still have to face Meath to complete the league programme while Clare would like theirs to never end.
Clare: Eamonn Tubridy; Cian O’Dea, Cillian Brennan, Aaron Fitzgerald; Sean Collins, Pearse Lillis, Sean O’Donoghue; Gary Brennan, Cathal O’Connor (0-01); Kieran Malone (1-02), Eoin Cleary (0-08, 0-06f) , Jamie Malone (1-00); Conor Finucane (0-01), Keelan Sexton (1-00), David Tubridy.
Subs: Conal O’hAinifein for Aaron Fitzgerald HT, Gearoid O’Brien for C Finucane HT, Ciaran Russell for D Tubridy 47mins, Darragh Bohannon for Cathal O’Connor 56mins, Alan Sweeney for S Collins 59mins, Eimhin Courtney for K Sexton 65 mins
Louth: Craig Lynch; Fergal Donohoe, Emmet Carolan, James Craven; Eoghan Lafferty, Bevan Duffy (0-01), Anthony Williams; Tommy Durnin (1-01), Declan Byrne (0-02); Derek Maguire, Andy McDonnell (0-02), Gerard McSorley; Williams Woods, Conor Grimes (0-01), Ryan Burns (0-01, 0-01f)
Subs: Ross Nally (0-01) for R Burns 30mins, Tadhg McEneaney (0-02, 0-01f) for W Woods 54 mins, James Stewart for J Craven 54 mins, Ciaran Downey for G McSorley 54 mins, Ronan Holcroft for D Maguire 60mins.
Referee: Derek O’Mahony (Tipperary)
