There is a hurling enchantment in Clare. The county is agog at the prospect of having to play Offaly yet again next Saturday, after a human error by the referee who oversaw the All-Ireland semi-final replay last weekend.
The decision of the ruling body of the GAA, however, has left people in the Banner County wondering what must be done to achieve greatness. A further decision of the GAA has left them without a central defender, and this has also become a major point of discussion.
At the Merriman Summer School in Ennistymon, Co Clare, the team coach, Mr Ger Loughnane, was to have addressed the gathering yesterday, but because of other duties could not attend.
Instead Mr Len Gaynor, the former Tipperary star, and Mr Jimmy Smith, a Tipperary great who hurled in an era when the county team was not receiving any medals, filled in.
One of the most interesting contributions came from Ms Liz Howard, the Aer Lingus public relations officer and member of the Tipperary GAA County Board. In a fascinating lecture she showed how the success of the Clare senior team was based on groundwork developed many years before in schools and colleges in Co Clare, as well as in the county's minor and junior teams.
She said it came as no surprise to her that the senior team in Clare had achieved its remarkable success in the 1990s, because all the work to make this possible had happened before.
Mr Gaynor said that from his earliest years as a hurler he knew Clare hurlers were as good as anyone else, but did not have the overview by a management committee that could bring it all together.
That had been achieved by the team coach, Mr Ger Loughnane, as well as by his assistants, Mr Michael McNamara and Mr Tony Considine. He had instilled a selfbelief in the team which had won through.
Mr Gaynor said that in terms of skill and understanding of the game, Clare lacked nothing.
But it had taken a dramatic effort to get the team to believe in itself and to achieve its maximum potential.
That point had now been reached - and once again Clare was a powerful force in Munster hurling.