In the happy aftermath of Clare's first Munster championship win in five years on Sunday, one player had particular reason to feel relieved and happy, Darach Honan.
Since the re-emergence of the county at underage level with the under-21 All-Ireland in 2009, expectation levels have soared in the county, picking up further altitude when a second under-21 title was added last year. If one player was particularly emblematic of the hope for the future, it was young Honan from Clonlara.
Towering under high ball and blessed with pace and finishing, his contribution in 2009, when just out of minor, was seismic. Going into the All-Ireland final against Kilkenny he had scored five goals in three matches.
Most memorably in the match of the year, the extra-time semi-final against Galway – a high-octane encounter with Honan and Joe Canning fighting fire with fire – he scored 2-4 from play (Canning had 4-7, 1-1 from play) to underwrite the 3-23 to 5-15 victory.
Injury has stalked him
Predictably, his senior debut came the following June when he hit 1-3 against Waterford but like the county seniors, he doesn't have much to show for the three years since. Injury has stalked him and although he played senior championship in both 2011 and '12, his fitness was never complete until finally this summer arrived.
“It’s actually my first time getting a win in the Munster championship,” he said of the Waterford win. “That meant a lot to us. A lot of the other lads on the team have been playing for two or three years and it’s our first time getting a win.”
Even this year hasn’t been straightforward. A knee problem kept Honan out for most of the season. His rehabilitation has been complete though and he lasted for most of the extra-time league relegation play-off defeat of Cork in April and came through on Sunday with three points from play.
"Yeah, it's a huge . . . I was just delighted to get back out there, to be honest. It was probably only my third or fourth full game this year. It just means so much to be back out there playing again and just enjoying it again. I had three operations and I went through a lot to get back from that but I mean the result there meant a lot to me in terms of a reward for the work we put in.
Impingement
"I had an impingement on both sides of my hips and cartilage damage and I went down to Whitfield in Waterford and Patrick Carton did a great job down there and freed up my hip movement a lot.
“At the start of this year I was unfortunate enough, I tore a cartilage in my knee and that had to be taken out, down in Whitfield again. Tadhg O’Sullivan, another Waterford man. They were great to me down there. In fairness, they did a great job and I’m feeling much better this year.”
The show moves on now to Limerick in just under three weeks when they face Cork again – for the fourth time this year, having won the previous three – for a place in the provincial final for only the second time in 14 years.
Honan hopes the Clare support – as reduced in recent times as the county’s circumstances – will begin to blossom like the team
“Yeah, Waterford probably outnumbered us but it’s a big game against Cork in three weeks’ time. I think it’s on in Limerick so hopefully we’ll bring a big crowd that day.”
