As Clare leave their disappointing 2025 behind, Diarmuid Ryan reckons the Munster Championship will, once again, come down to the smallest of margins.
The Banner entered as All-Ireland champions last year, but endured a torrid title defence disrupted by injuries.
Ryan, their high-scoring half-back, was among those struck down. An ever-present figure in their 2024 Liam MacCarthy triumph, the Cratloe clubman played just 20 minutes for Clare across league and championship in 2025.
For all that went wrong, it wouldn't have taken a lot to go differently for Brian Lohan’s side to have made the All-Ireland series.
"A point or two in a match, either side, can make or break the year," said Ryan. "If we'd beaten Cork that day by a point, we would have went through. If we'd beaten Tipperary by a point, we could have went through.
"It's the finest of margins, and it's four absolutely massive games in the year. If you come out of that – whether it's first, second, or third in Munster – you just know you're in the right direction. Your whole year can kickstart from there."
Their final-round clash with Limerick ended up being a dead rubber, but Ryan considers their five-point victory that day as significant.
"You wanted to just finish on a win. It wasn't going to make any difference to who's going through, but winning it was important for us.
"Having the first couple of games that went so bad, you want to just finish on that. Playing Limerick as well, you always want to win. Whether it's the Munster League on 3 January or the Munster Championship, you want to win every game. So it was just important, knowing you have a win in Munster.
"We were still decimated in terms of numbers that day, but the lads stood up again. The lads stood up the whole way throughout the championship, it was just unfortunate."
Clare also suffered relegation to Division 1B, which means they will face trips to Antrim, Kildare, and Carlow this spring, while hosting Dublin, Down, and Wexford.
"It might be coming under the radar in terms of televised coverage and stuff like that, but we'll know ourselves, we're going to be playing a lot of good teams," said Ryan.
"Like we're playing Dublin first. We've Antrim above in Antrim. The last time we played Antrim above, they beat us, so we're under no illusions how tough these teams are going to be.
"We want a good league campaign. If we can come out of that league, it's great. The more you get into that league, you're playing a league final two weeks out from championship. It gets you primed.
"However many weeks we're in that league for, we have to make the most out of it.
"Some lads were making their debuts last year, and played the whole campaign, so it is important to be developing the panel at all times because that's what won us an All-Ireland in 2024."
That’s the benefit of the upcoming Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League, which begins against Limerick on Saturday (2pm). Tickets for the 2,000-capacity clash at Tulla sold out on Wednesday.
"For lads who haven't played with Clare before, who are in their first year, they'll get a taste of what it's like for championship," said Ryan.
"It won't be the full thing, but a taste of what it's like to play the big teams and put their hand up."
As for Ryan, he’s happy to report the body is feeling "fresh" for the season ahead, after last year’s injury "woes".
"When you're out for so long, the natural thing is to just be so excited for the year to come, and yeah, leave last year in the past, take the learnings we can, and just drive on for 2026."
Clare have avoided retirements from their veteran corps, who would love to complete their medal haul with a Munster crown.
"We have the success of winning the All-Ireland, the lads have two All-Irelands, and we don't have a Munster medal yet," said Ryan, who turned 26 last month.
"It's just when you win it, and you just get that, and you just grow for it, and you want to get that winning feeling back, it's very hard to let go."
