TO THE VICTOR the spoils; to the loser a long and painful autumn of regret and recrimination. 

Kilkenny’s breathless three-point win over Clare means they can look ahead to another All-Ireland final with Limerick on Sunday week whereas Brian Lohan’s side are sentenced to reflection. 

Lohan admitted after the game he was disappointed with Clare’s first-half performance, after which they trailed Kilkenny by five points. He also bridled slightly at the performance of referee Colm Lyons, with the most controversial incident the brevity of a second-half advantage rule in a move that ended with a Clare goal. 

With Clare in the ascendancy, Peter Duggan was fouled but nonetheless fired the ball into the full-forward line. Colm Lyons blew the whistle to pull play back for a free as Kilkenny’s Huw Lawlor challenged for the ball. But as soon as the whistle was sounded, Lawlor spilled the ball into the path of Mark Rodgers, who fired the ball into the net. 

Lohan bemoaned the call, and it was the subject of scrutiny on The Sunday Game panel last night, with all three agreeing Clare were hard done by, although Dónal Óg Cusack counselled against Clare using it to explain their defeat. 

Brendan Cummins: ”It’s really important that there’s no doubt the whistle is blown after Huw Lawlor made the attempt to catch the ball. The ball was on the ground when it was blown, when the Clare forward ran onto it. To be honest, I felt the advantage rule should have been played, and Clare would have had a goalscoring opportunity.”

Dónal Óg Cusack: ”I think Clare can count themselves unlucky in that. But I don’t think it should be the biggest thing out of the game. From a Clare point of view, I think they would be better off looking at themselves. there is a tendency after games to focus on those types of big decisions but it is swings and roundaboiuts, for example, Colm Lyons didn’t strike all the balls wide that Clare did today. It was said there on commentary that they were the architects of their own downfall with the goal: that wasn’t Colm Lyons’ fault. I definitely think for Clare, going forward, they need to look inward rather than looking for scapegoats like Colm Lyons. 

Ursula Jacob: ”At that stage, it was 10 minutes into the second half, Kilkenny were three points up and that would have levelled the game. It could have given Clare that bit more momentum, they were on top at that stage. It was a key moment. I understand and agree with Dónal Óg, you can’t look at those individual mistakes and you have to look at the bigger picture, that will stick in their mind, they should have been allowed to get that goal.”

After a tough defeat, Clare fans may want to avert their eyes - and ears - for this particular segment. #sundaygame #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/KeCndfl13w

— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 9, 2023