Clare left to sweep up another year's shattered dreams

Regrets, Clare have a few.

A season that saw them confirm their credentials by ending Limerick's long unbeaten run ended at the penultimate hurdle again yesterday.

It was far from the drubbing Kilkenny handed them last season but Sunday's 1-25 to 1-22 defeat to the Cats almost feels worse: in a game that was there for the taking, the Banner came from behind to lead but fell short down the finishing straight.

"Very disappointing," manager Brian Lohan told RTÉ Sport afterwards. "We have to go and analyse it, look at it and see if we can improve.

"I feel for our team. They found it hard to get breaks there.

"Kilkenny took their chances, they were very accurate and efficient in the use of the ball. They got scores from all over the field which is what they do and we suffered because of that. Best of luck to them now in the final."

Lohan was unhappy with some of Colm Lyons’ decisions – they had seven scoreable frees to the Cats’ 11, and his side were shown five yellow cards to just one for the winners. Lyons also seemed to prematurely end a Clare advantage before Mark Rodgers had the ball in the net.

"We didn’t seem to get a huge amount from the referee today," Lohan told RTÉ Sport. "Found it hard to get frees."

But ultimately, some of Clare’s biggest problems were self-inflicted. They hit almost twice as many wides as their opponents (9-5) and, despite having six more shots, converted just 54% (23/42) to Kilkenny’s 72% (26/36).

Seadna Morey played as a sweeper in the first half but their forwards looked isolated while Kilkenny's took their chances and went in 0-15 to 0-10 ahead at the break.

Lohan explained the thinking afterwards but also suggested the tactic hadn’t been implemented as he had intended.

"Last year, we felt we played