Clare manager Brian Lohan was more than pleased with the way his players responded after losing the Munster final, when comfortably accounting for Wexford in Saturday's All-Ireland hurling quarter-final at FBD Semple Stadium.
The Banner ran out nine-point winners, outscoring the Yellowbellies 2-10 to 0-04 during a 20-minute period in the second half. Things were a lot tighter in the opening half, with Clare's David McInerney receiving a black card. A second yellow for Wexford's Rory O'Connor, for a late tackle on David Reidy, saw the Leinster side reduced to 14 just before the break.
For Lohan, on the back of third provincial final loss to Limerick, it was simply a case of getting a performance, one that seals another semi-final date with Kilkenny on 6 July.
"Any time you lose you want to respond; the players' attitude over the last two weeks has been excellent," the Banner boss told RTÉ Sport.
"Really good bunch of players, never have any problems with them, never any hassle. They come to the field, work really hard, great spirit in amongst the group. We felt we would get a performance coming down here; we just didn't know how good Wexford were going to be. Wexford were a little unlucky with a couple of decisions but that happens in games and we'll move on now to the semi-final."
Lohan is now relishing a crack off the Cats, where Clare will be looking to atone for the last-four losses in 2022 and '23.
"It's great to be going up there; the further you go in this competition the standard gets better and the quality of the teams gets better and better, so really looking forward to it, looking forward to the next two weeks and hoping that we can put our best foot forward and see how we go."
HT: CLA 0-15 WEX 1-10
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 22, 2024
Rory O'Connor sees red just as Wexford drag themselves back into the game.
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For Lohan's counterpart, Keith Rossiter, the dismissal of O'Connor, he felt, was key, just after Lee Chin had driven home a penalty.
"We got a bit of momentum after the penalty, the tails were up, we made a couple of good turnovers and then the sending off, it was a serious sucker punch. We knew once David McInerney came back on the field that it was going to be a tough battle, you know when you an in Thurles on these bigger fields the ball moves faster than the legs can.
"And the space was there, and the lads defended tirelessly for 60 odd minutes and there is only a certain amount of that you can withstand and a credit to the players they kept going.
"I have seen lads being really hurt in the first few minutes of the game, and the ref giving them a little warning to get back into it. That first one didn't warrant any yellow card, maybe Johnny Murphy was laying down some marker, I don’t know but it was the wrong type of marker he was laying down. I have my own thing about referees and decisions.
"We have been caught bad this year caught bad against Kilkenny in the last round of the championship with a penalty that wasn’t a penalty and we have been caught bad today.
"Rory is not a dirty player, he is a hurler. You know there is no leeway anymore, it's ridiculous. Once I get a chance to look back on it I might change my mind but I was close enough at the time and that was not a yellow card, the first one, and I didn't see the second one."
"Rory is not a dirty player, he is a hurler. You know there is no leeway anymore, it's ridiculous. Once I get a chance to look back on it I might change my mind but I was close enough at the time and that was not a yellow card, the first one, and I didn't see the second one. "
Watch the Tailteann Cup semi-finals, Antrim v Laois (2pm) and Down v Sligo (4pm), on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
