After surviving what seemed like a never-ending period of added-time at the end of extra time, Brian Lohan could look back on decisions made this season with a mixture of satisfaction and relief.
The Clare manager had watched his Banner team defeat Cork 3-29 to 1-34 in an All-Ireland hurling final for the ages, where fitness and energy levels played pivotal role down the stretch.
Clare bounced back from a poor opening quarter, where they trailed 1-07 to 0-03 following Robert Downey's wonder goal, but down the stretch Clare found the reserves to prevail by the narrowest of margins.
"Cork's first quarter in every game has been lightning," Lohan told RTÉ Sport after full-time.
"We were expecting that and thought we would deal with it better, we didn't. But we did get back into it and hung in there.
"We performed well in the second half of the first half, to go in level at half-time. And we were delighted to go in level at half-time."
After another dispiriting Munster final defeat to Limerick, observers doubted Clare's ability to go to the well once more for a run through the All-Ireland series, but Lohan made the decision then to give his players a break ahead of the All-Ireland quarter-final against Wexford.
"We always had great belief. We have brilliant players, always had brilliant players. You can get down after defeats. After the Munster final we took a bit of break and were probably vulnerable against Wexford coming back off that break.
"We had massive energy when we came back in, we certainly weren't done and felt we could go on a run. We weren't done and the atttude was we'd rather be beaten in a quarter-final than an All-Ireland final or semi-final."
Brian Lohan tries to make sense of the 90 minutes after leading Clare to one of their greatest days #sundaygame pic.twitter.com/Gcvuavr56A
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 21, 2024
Captain Tony Kelly's mesmeric 1-04 will grab many headlines, but Lohan was quick to credit the entire set-up.
"We had brilliant performances in our backline, all over the field we were excellent. Our management team too were excellent, making the calls," he said. "Just delighted for them."
Lohan was able to be reflective after coming out on the right side of a narrow victory, which only came after a lengthy period of added-time, where Patrick Horgan knocked over two frees and Robbie O'Flynn had a chance to force a replay.
"When you're ahead, we were in a good position, we thought maybe a minute but two minutes was a stretch. But we're happy."
