Tony Kelly is thrilled for the fresh faces who won Clare SHC medals with Ballyea last weekend.

Emigrated quartet Gearoid O’Connell, Stan Lineen, Cathal Doohan and Pat Joe Connolly were all missing from the side that ruled the Banner County for the first time two years ago, while Paul Flanagan and Damien Burke are injured. Twenty-sixteen goalkeeper Kevin Sheehan is now manager.

This mass exodus from the breakthrough championship-winning side allowed the likes of Barry Coote, Brendan O’Connell, Aonghus Keane, Tadgh Lynch, Cillian Brennan and Eoghan Donnellan to come into the starting team and they duly delivered against Cratloe last weekend.

“It’s very pleasing for the lads that never got to experience it back in 2016,” former Hurler of the Year Kelly states in The Irish Examiner. “Some lads won a county medal as subs and never got to grace the field. It is extra special for those lads and we are grateful that they were able to bring a performance.

“Winning with the lads we did win it with makes it extra special. If anything, it took the pressure off. It was a shot to nothing. Even at the start of the year, within our club, people were saying we had to win our first round so as not to get dragged into a relegation battle. We went from strength to strength as the year progressed.”

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