Ex-Tipperary midfielder Shane McGrath believes that Brian Lohan is engendering an unbreakable spirit in Clare after their win over Cork in FBD Insurance Semple Stadium yesterday.
Outsiders at the outset of the Munster Championship, Lohan's team are now in an enormously strong position following their second successive win in Thurles.
Clare rocketed into an 11-point lead in an extraordinary first-half display, Cork mounting a scoring burst to reduce the margin to six by the break. While the margin was only two in the finish, Clare were in command throughout, Darragh Fitzgibbon's late goal reducing the deficit deep in injury-time.
Afterwards, Lohan, in his third year in charge, saluted the Clare supporters in the Stand opposite and received a rapturous reception. McGrath saw it as evidence of the bond between supporters, management and players in Clare currently.
"He's not the most emotional guy on the outside. But obviously he has the respect of the players, they like him and what he's about," McGrath told the RTÉ GAA podcast.
"I just loved seeing him going up to the crowd, not too flamboyantly, but he knew they were behind him.
"He could feel that all week in Clare coming up to the game, when a lot of people felt they were outside the top three.
"They have their best team back on the field. For the first time in a long time, you can look out on the pitch and see Tony Kelly, Peter Duggan and Shane O'Donnell all on the field at the same time. The confidence they give the rest of the team is massive.
"They go 0-02 to 0-01 down and in the next 25 minutes, they out-score Cork 0-14 to 0-02. They have this talent on the field now. It's not all on Tony. They can get the ball to five or six shooters now, whereas they couldn't in previous years."
McGrath was particularly struck by their reaction after Ian Galvin was controversially sent off in the midst of a melee midway through the second half, with only four points between the sides.
Far from disrupting Clare, it was the cue for another spurt of scores.
"The other thing for me was their maturity. Before, if a lad got sent off, the body language drops. What happened yesterday? Clare scored the next three points. They got better.
"Listening to the commentary, it felt like Clare had the extra man because they had the Brian Lohan spirit. We talk about Brian Cody and 'a spirit that can never be broken' and I think that's what Lohan is trying to get into that Clare crowd. A spirit that can never be broken. 'We're after losing a man, let's see how ye react.' And he'll be delighted how they reacted."
While McGrath believes Clare have sealed their progression from Munster, he still senses it will be as the third-placed team, with Limerick and Waterford tipped to contest the provincial decider.
"I rated Clare from the start. Going to the fixtures, two 'away' games - in inverted commas - both in Thurles and then two games at home. They only had to make two plans. They know their plan in Ennis and they only had to make one plan for the two days in Thurles, it was the same thing. That was all an advantage to them.
"While they have beaten two of the weaker counties in Munster, the confidence they'll get from doing that is massive.
"Do I think they'll beat Limerick in Ennis? I don't. I suppose it depends... Limerick might already have six points going into it so it depends what they put out. But their bench seems to be awesome at the moment. John Kiely has subs who want to be on the team and lads coming back from injury, who he may be able use against Clare.
"I do think Clare are through but I think the Munster final will Limerick and Waterford."
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