John Mullane Explains Why Clare Were His 'Flop Of The Year' For 2025

John Mullane believes that there can only be one contender for flop of the GAA inter-county hurling season, with Clare taking the prize.

Speaking on the Indo GAA Pod, the former Waterford hurler believes that the Banner men should have been pushing for back-to-back honours rather than failing to get out of Munster, despite podcast host Michael Verney referring to the injury struggles and securing a win in the last round against Limerick.

There’s only one that stands out, and that’s Clare, considering where they were 12 months ago, league winners, All-Ireland winners, were on a crest of a wave, you were thinking, Jesus, there in a fantastic position to push on and do back-to-back,” he said

"This year, they had a relatively poor league campaign, and they were demoted due to injuries going into the Munster campaign.

It does Michael as at the end of the day they were All-Ireland winners and I would say there’s high standers in among the group. There is standards set from Brian Lohan and when they reflect on the year they will be deeply disappointed that they didn’t get to the pitch enough this year compared to where they were 12 months before that but I think they will be a dangerous animal coming into 2026.”

However, Lohan already has problems ahead of next season as talisman veteran John Conlon is after sustaining a serious hand injury while on the club, which will see the Clonlara man miss the rest of the club campaign.

Lohan has received a third extension as Clare senior hurling manager, which will bring him up to 2028. The 2024 All-Ireland SHC winning manager has been in charge of Clare since the 2019 season. He received his first three-year extension in 2022 after serving two seasons, and a one-year understanding for this season was agreed upon following last year’s All-Ireland final victory over Cork.

Another boost for the Bannermen is that both former Hurler of The Year Shane O'Donnell and David McInerney have both committed for another season as they look to reclaim their lost Liam McCarthy title and end their 28 year wait for Munster glory.