Brian Lohan says that Clare will be “itching” to get a crack at Limerick as he limbers up for three more years as Banner boss.
After completing two seasons in the job, Lohan has been proposed for a further three by the county board executive, with county board chairman Jack Chaplin saying that it was “unanimously agreed” before pledging to “do everything we can for Brian and the team”.
Explaining how he sought an additional three years, Lohan told Clare FM’s Morning Focus: “I’m happy that we’ve got that from the executive of the board and now I suppose it goes to the clubs and the clubs will decide whether that suits or not.
“There’s been good enough support from the clubs and that since I got the job so yeah, I’d be happy enough that it’ll happen, yeah."
After Limerick’s record-breaking performance in last Sunday’s All-Ireland final win over Cork, Lohan acknowledged how the bar is continually being lifted.
“We’ve seen the performance of the Limerick lads and how professional their set up is and the kind of advice that they have access to, so it’s trying to move it in Clare up to that kind of level because we think we have got the quality of players and we think we have that potential but it takes a huge amount of hard work obviously.”
With Limerick having won this year’s All-Ireland with an average winning margin of 10 points across the campaign, Lohan was asked just how big the gap between John Kiely’s all-conquering side and the chasing pack is.
“On a given day in the game of hurling you can have those kind of games (like the All-Ireland final) if you are a small percentage off. If you are going into a game at 98% or 97% it can have a massive influence on your performance.
“Maybe there are reasons why Cork didn’t play to their maximum and that Limerick did play to their maximum but that can happen and that is a reflection of the scoreline, particularly when you are up against Limerick.
“The power that they have, particularly in that half-back and full-back line, they are so powerful and so good and around the middle of the field they are just a serious set up.
“But there will be a lot of teams out there that will be itching to get a shot at them and we are hoping to be one of those teams but, look, they are in great shape at the moment, they have great players, they have a great set up and they are very professional and all that stuff that we have been reading about for the last couple of days.”
Meanwhile, with both of his seasons at the helm significantly having been disrupted by the pandemic, Lohan is hopeful that normality is restored for the 2022 campaign.
“From my playing days and that, there was a brilliant social aspect to hurling and being with your teammates and being with a Clare set up was brilliant, not just from a playing perspective but from a social perspective as well whereas now it’s different.
“You get your bit of grub after the game with your plastic forks and you eat it on your lap and you go away home and that’s the extent of it now. That’s just the way it has to be for all of the teams so (it’s) a lot tougher and a lot tougher on the players over the last two years but hopefully that’ll change going into the new season.”
