Anthony Daly: Everything about Clare was brave and heroic - but I'd have feared a replay

Stop. What do you do in such a situation? When it means that much, it doesn’t matter where you are, or how many millions of people are watching on – you can’t control yourself. Well, I couldn’t. I just wasn’t able to.

We often hear that phrase that this means the world, that nothing is better, that only an All-Ireland title can get so deep inside our soul and ignite it into a fireball of elation. Well, it’s true. By the final whistle, my shirt and suit could have caught fire from the inferno of happiness raging inside my body.

It was a total emotional roller-coaster but I genuinely felt for Donal Óg beside me too. It wasn’t fair on any team to lose that epic of epics. Clare were the better team but I was fearful of a replay, especially with Conor Cleary in a sling and Shane O’Donnell also having gone off with injury.

The other side of the argument is why did this not go to a replay? Is it really fair on amateur players to expect them to play for 100 minutes at this stage of the season, when they are at near exhaustion? It makes even less sense when there are no penalties. All I’ll say is that the GAA must have loads of money is they are turning down replays when the quality of entertainment is this good.

We’d have all walked bare-foot over glass from Clare and Cork for a replay. It would have been if Robbie O’Flynn had scored that late chance. It was tough on Robbie but – genuinely – I just felt Clare deserved to win it.

It was just a crazy, crazy game. David Fitzgerald could have finished with 1-8 but his man Mark Coleman had a fine match too. That is just the way hurling has gone. Fitzy didn’t have a great game in the Munster final too but he still ended that match with 0-4 from play, which is what he scored here.

Clare could have been out of sight in normal time but their conversion rate was just 51 per cent. Some of the wides were criminal. It was even more agonising again when Patrick Horgan was so lethal on frees at the other end.

It's a killer for Hoggie and Seamie Harnedy to come up short again but All-Irelands are so hard won. A handful of the Clare lads have their second medal now, which is even more incredible again considering that Clare only have five of them.

Sometimes you have to roll the dice and ride your luck and Clare did that. They must have been half devastated in the dressingroom at the end of normal time when they hadn’t seen the deal out. It was always going to be difficult to pick it up when they were losing some of their key players to injury or cramp. But they did.

Everything about this performance was brave and heroic. On and off the field. Even taking off Aidan McCarthy and bringing him back on in extra-time proved to be inspiring. At 35, John Conlon was awesome to stay going for 100 minutes. What a man. Darragh Fitzgibbon did change the dynamic a bit when he went to centre-forward but John still kept to his task.

Cathal Malone also had a brilliant match, but Clare had heroes all over the field. Conor Leen and Adam Hogan were outstanding. So was Conor Cleary. I don’t know how he does it – Conor picked up a yellow card early and he still managed to manfully go about his job with the strength of character that has always defined the man.

Davy McInerney and Diarmuid Ryan, especially the last ten minutes in normal time, were immense. Peter Duggan was effective. So was Mark Rodgers, whose goal was one of the highlights of the match.

And, TK was TK – one of the all-time greats. Some of the stuff he did defied belief. The goal was out of this world. His late point in extra time was something you’d see from another world.

I have to give credit to Johnny Murphy too, who did a magnificent job in refereeing the match. Johnny did exactly what we all hoped he would – pulled what he needed to pull for, and let as much go as was possible. Fair play to him.

It's a tough defeat for Cork but Pat Ryan has done a great job and there is enough talent in this team for Cork to be back here again and get the job done. They won’t feel that way this morning but how else can you feel when you lose an epic by a point.

I know I am accused at times of going overboard but nobody can argue that hurling isn’t the greatest sport on the planet. I don’t care that some critics say that hurling has become a big like ping-pong, in that it’s up and down the field, but where else would you see the quality of score-taking married to such levels of bravery and commitment and manliness? Nowhere. Absolutely nowhere.

After I made my way down from the media area, I was passing the Clare dressing room. Who was at the door only Ciaran O’Neill, a guy from St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield who I had savage battles with when I was playing. The Nail is the unofficial head of security for Brian Lohan and the team. King Kong wouldn’t get past him but the Nail and myself hugged tightly before he opened the door open for me.

I met a handful of the lads, including some of the management. I didn’t meet Lohan but I will soon. I can’t imagine how elated he is, given what he has done with this group, given the joy and delight he and these great lads have brought to Clare – and will for a long time yet.

As I walked out that dressing room, the inferno of pride was raging louder and wilder inside me than ever before. I was lucky enough to have had great days in Croke Park as a player but yesterday was one of my greatest days ever there as a Clareman.

As I walked out that door, I felt like I was walking out of a dream.