'You don't want to be the nearly team' - Brian Lohan and Clare freed to desire

For a long time it looked like Kilkenny were going to beat Clare for the third year in a row in the All-Ireland hurling semi-final.

As if losing three successive Munster finals to Limerick wasn't bad enough.

But Brian Lohan’s men fought like their careers depended on it and most of them will now contest their first All-Ireland decider in a fortnight’s time.

At the final whistle, the Clare fans - who looked about three-quarters of the almost 40,000 at Croke Park - danced in their seats to the sound of 90s anthem 'Freed from Desire’.

But the desire for a trophy is still there. This was freedom from failure, an outpouring of relief that a team with so many talented players had finally delivered on their potential in a big game, to record the county's first victory at Croke Park in 11 years.

"You don't want to be the nearly guy or the nearly team all the time," admitted Lohan afterwards.

"There was that pressure – to lose three in a row up here, on the back of three in a row in Munster – but sometimes you just get fed up and it has to stop some time.

"Sometimes it's just a case of enough is enough, we have to respond, we have to give our supporters something to cheer about. We can't let them down again.

"Things turn around when you work hard and our lads work hard. Our big guys stood up. The game is over 70 minutes, it's not over 35 minutes and you have an opportunity to reset and change things. We did that and our players responded and we're delighted."

Player of the match David McInerney and Clare manager Brian Lohan react to finally getting the better of Kilkenny in a semi-final in Croke Park