*Diarmuid Ryan fires over a point. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
DIARMUID RYAN and the Clare senior hurlers are expecting “a massive battle” to kick off their championship campaign against Waterford but are hopeful of a long year ahead.
With three points from wing back a fortnight ago, all of which came after the fifty fifth minute, Diarmuid’s input helped to see off Dublin’s attempted comeback and send Clare into the championship with the Division 1B Allianz National Hurling League title under their belts.
All-Ireland and Division 1A league champions in 2024, things did not go according to plan in any shape last season as both titles were relinquished as Clare were relegated from the league and failed to get out of Munster.
Performances were not at the required level but Clare were down key personnel with Diarmuid among them. He only featured for the first sixteen minutes in round one against Cork and the final six minutes versus Limerick in the 2025 championship. It was a hamstring injury that was his undoing for the championship while a foot injury sustained in January saw him miss the entire league run.
Clare’s league final win over Dublin was the primary school teacher’s first outing in seven weeks. He was glad to be back on the field of play. “It’s frustrating because you’d last year and then picking up a few niggles in the middle of the league. When you get out there, just being in this team, you just want to play every day with the lads around you. They bring the best out of you. Happy enough with how it went. Hopefully, more of the same now in two weeks’ time”.
Not that his league final was going to be the determining factor on whether he would be getting a starting jersey this weekend, with Diarmuid’s value to the side well proven since making his senior debut in 2019, but the competition for places is back to where it should be, he outlined. “We’ve some of the best hurlers in the country, it is an embarrassment of riches with some of the forwards we have, Ian Galvin and Jack O’Neill both came on in the league final and loads more didn’t even see game time, they’re pushing each other in training and we need training to be good before championship, we need that competitive atmosphere because that it was won it for us in 2024 and hopefully that will get us success again this year”.
Watching from the sidelines in Walsh Park last April, the Cratloe man is eagerly awaiting welcoming Waterford to Ennis. “Waterford coming is going to be a totally different challenge. We know what happened last year. When they came to Ennis two years ago, we got out just by the skin of our teeth. I’m expecting a massive battle, but really, really looking forward to it. It’s just going to come around so quick. It’s probably only four or five sessions and then you’re into it now. Hopefully, a long year ahead”.
