Brian O’Connell’s charges came to Cusack Park this afternoon knowing nothing less than a win over Laois would do in order to reach the All Ireland Semi Final.
The young Bannermen determined to banish the ghosts of defeat against Galway a fortnight ago showed their intent immediately with Corofin’s James Organ pointing just 10 seconds after the throw in.
In as many minutes Clare ran into a 0-04 points to 0-00 lead thanks to contributions from Oisín Whelan , Jack O’Neill and Diarmuid Stritch.
Sharpshooter Ben Deegan opened the Laois account 8 minutes in but from this juncture on and aided by a strong breeze Clare would dominate the opening half.
With Oisín Whelan , Sam Scanlan, Cian Neylon , Jack O’Neill , Michael Collins, James Hegarty and Diarmuid Stritch all getting in on the scoring act to ensure a half time scoreline of 0-14 to 0-05.
Much like the opening half Clare wasted no time getting off the mark with Sam Scanlon increasing the Banner advantage to ten points on the 31st minute mark.
Laois’s Ben Deegan and Clonalra man Michael Collins then traded scores before a string of superb saves from Laois netminder Bronnach O’Reilly. O’Reilly’s heroics galvanised the O’Moore County who hit a purple patch in the 3rd quarter and following a Ben Deegan 21 metre free that rattled the Clare net on 46 minutes , the contest was firmly in the melting pot yet again.
To their credit Clare did not panic and the ever reliable Oisín Whelan pointed two more crucial frees in the closing stages leaving the final score at Clare 0- 21 to Laois’s 1-12
The Bannermen’s reward is an All Ireland Semi Final Clash with Leinster Champions Offaly with details yet to be confirmed.