The Clare team before the 1997 All Ireland Final.
By Cian O’Connell
Ultimately nobody disputed the cold, hard fact: Clare, most definitely, were no longer the whipping boys in Munster.
Not for the first time Anthony Daly found the words to capture precisely what it all meant to the people of Clare and to anyone with an interest in sport. Clare had dreamed and schemed, but silverware was attained. Respect, though, was what they truly craved. It had been earned.
During the next two decades pain and pleasure has been experienced, but Clare were never dismissed or taken for granted again. The salad years of the mid 90s will never be forgotten. Clare were established as a force, the 1997 triumph a story about beating the bluebloods of the game.
Clare’s clashes with Tipperary during this era enthralled the nation. “They were great times, we all have great memories from Pairc Ui Chaoimh in the 1997 Munster Final, there was a draw and a replay in 1999,” Niall Gilligan, who nailed three gorgeous points in the 1997 All Ireland decider, states.
“From a Clare point of view it went downhill for two or three years after that. In 2003 again then we beat Tipp again. They had beaten us in 00 and 01, they won an All Ireland then. There was six or seven matches over the space of six years or so. Each and every one of them were sell-outs, mighty times.
“The town in Cork on the night after those matches, the place was buzzing. I'm sure the night before them was too.”
Colour, courage, character, class were the ingredients. Clare, though, were finally trading consistently with the renowned powerhouses. In every line of the field from Davy Fitzgerald to the teenage Gilligan Clare were a supremely physical and focused outfit in 1997.
A year previously Ciaran Carey’s iconic point for Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds terminated Clare’s summer. Clare wanted to respond following that setback.
Seanie McMahon, the talented and totemic centre back, acknowledges that Clare were primed for the next campaign. “It was great, it really backed up what we did in 1995,” McMahon says. “To win it the way we did beating Cork, Tipp, Kilkenny, and Tipp again made it very special. So yeah it was a great year for us altogether.”
Proving Clare belonged at this level was a significant factor in Banner minds. To raise the Liam MacCarthy for the second time in three years was Clare’s objective. “It was because at the end of the day in 1995 people might have said it was a team coming out of no place, then we got beaten in the first round in 1996,” recalls McMahon.
Conal Bonnar, Tipperary, and Niall Gilligan, Clare, collide during the 1997 All Ireland Final at Croke Park.
“That was possibly even backing up those sentiments. So it was a huge motivation for us. We knew we had a good team, we were really keen to prove our point. There was a huge motivation to have a good run in 1997.”
It was a memorable Championship for several different reasons, especially considering the back door system had been introduced. Clare famously bettered Tipp down south, but Len Gaynor, who had occupied such an important role in the Banner renaissance, had guided his native county into the All Ireland Final.
How difficult was that for Clare in the build up to the decider? “Yeah, there was huge pressure on,” McMahon admits. “Normally you wouldn't meet a team that you'd already beaten.
“The advantage was nearly with them so there was a lot of pressure on. We knew that Tipp were going to be better, they'd have learned lessons from the first game. They had beaten Wexford in the Semi-Final so they were gunning for us and we would have known that.
“At the same time an All Ireland Final is a hugely pressurised occasion anyways so we had to be ready for it. We were just concentrating on being ready for it, fortunately we were.”
Gilligan, the opportunistic inside forward, still on the club beat with Sixmilebridge entered a Clare panel armed with a winning mentality. “In Clare at the time hurling was box office,” Gilligan remarks.
“It was just a wave of emotion rolling on from 95 and 96, whatever it was I just didn't think too much about it. You'd have to pinch yourself at times, to be stuck in the same dressing room as the legends of 1995. I look back with really fond memories, I was very fortunate to be part of it.”
During Sixmilebrige’s run to All Ireland Club glory in 1996 the emerging Gilligan flared to prominence. “That was the start of it, we went all the way to an All Ireland club, things just rolled on from there,” Gilligan comments.
Age wasn’t a barrier, Gilligan felt firmly part of the Clare group when introduced to the inter-county arena. “They were 100 per cent welcoming, pure and utter gentleman,” Gilligan replies.
“To this day I'm very happy to say I'm fierce friendly with most of them. We can meet up every autumn or in November, we meet up to go for a night away, to play a game of golf. There is great banter and chat which is very nice too, that lads have retained that friendship.”
Seanie McMahon and Anthony Daly following the 1997 All Ireland win.
Ger Loughnane’s ability to have Clare primed for battles was evident throughout his stint in charge, especially during the daring 1995-1998 spell. There was something about Clare, scorching hot days when grit was combined with guile.
Expectations had been raised, but there was a conviction and confidence about Clare that had been missing. “We were a team that had suffered a lot before we had the success in 1995,” McMahon accepts.
“We knew ourselves we had a good team, we were very keen to make the most of it. So them years certainly 95-98 we were at our prime, we were ready for any team and would have felt we were better than any team at that time.
“We hadn't success like that ever before in Clare so we were really keen to get the most of it, to enjoy every bit of it.”
At the time defeating the aristocrats Cork, Kilkenny, and Tipperary didn’t overly bother the Clare players, but a couple of decades on it counts for something. “It is probably more so now,” McMahon responds.
“Limerick and Offaly were definitely stronger than Tipp and Kilkenny around that time. Kilkenny were well down at that stage. Wexford had come through in Leinster and Offaly were ahead of them. It is more now with Kilkenny and how strong and traditional they are.
“In fairness they always were a strong hurling county, but it was only a few years after that when Kilkenny really took off. They still were the three traditional teams so it did make it special.
“But we have to remember that Offaly were the All Ireland champions from the year before, Limerick had been Munster champions and reached the All Ireland Final and would feel aggrieved at how they lost to Offaly the year before.
“For us 1995 wasn't a soft All Ireland by any means we had to beat Galway along the way in that too. In hindsight looking back now you would take a lot from beating the three traditional teams.”
Gilligan shares similar sentiments. “At the time I didn't take any notice, but looking back it did.” Loughnane had Clare where he believed they belonged: perched on the summit of the hurling world.
