Clare and Down hint at brighter days as minnows continue to suffer dark ones

So the promised Bank Holiday sunshine never broke through, not yet anyway, nor the hopes of the championship coming ablaze – Ulster, of all places, defying the forecast with the first real treat of the season.

Indeed it remained decidedly cloudy in some places, Westmeath and Waterford making their provincial football championship exits on a combined score of 42 points. No wonder both Pat Flanagan, the Westmeath manager, and Waterford’s Niall Carew were so downbeat about their long-term prospects, calling for someone, somewhere, to hear their plight and give the championship a more meaningful and purposeful structure.

Davy Fitzgerald did bring an end to Clare's five-year wait for a fine day out in the Munster hurling championship, his precociously young team rewinding the clock with a 2-20 to 1-15 victory over Waterford in Semple Stadium. Clare ended it with a 12-point turnaround, the sweet turning point actually coming in the form of 18-year-old debutant Shane O'Donnell and his deftly taken goal in the 54th minute.

“A win anyway,” said Fitzgerald – the relief written all over his face, and understandably so, given they trailed Waterford 1-9 to 0-8 at half time.

“They’re a young bunch, growing all the time, and we’ll just keep looking to improve.

"And it has been a good few years, waiting for this, and there was a lot of pressure on us too, coming into this game . . ."

Certain aspects
Michael Ryan's Waterford were still leading as late as the 50th minute, but as their wide count mounted, so too did Clare's resilience.

“We certainly lost our way for 17 or 18 minutes in the first half, after starting so well out of the blocks,” said Fitzgerald.

“But we were never really worried, not even at half-time. Waterford are a fair team, but we just went over a few things, settled down, and started playing our own game.”

Man of the match Brendan Bugler agreed: "There's no doubt that loss last year hurt us because we had put in a big effort. Every team is putting in a big effort nowadays anyway. But I suppose it was an incentive to drive us on alright. "

Cork are now “waiting in the long grass”, as Fitzgerald reminded us, for the Munster semi-final on June 23rd.

Down and Derry played out a wonderfully entertaining game in Celtic Park, James McCartan’s men prevailed by 2-17 to Derry’s 1-15. The winners booked a date with All-Ireland champions Donegal in the Ulster semi-final in three weeks’ time.

Down, like Clare, also had to come from behind – chasing Derry 1-10 to 0-9 at the break.

“Maybe I am clinging on to positives but I felt for 55 minutes we opened them up as well as anyone in the country did but we didn’t lock the door at the back. There is the conundrum,” said McCartan.”

So, any chance of another bright day out against Donegal?

“I know we are in a no-lose situation in that nobody expects us to do anything. Look, we will go and give it a shot, do our best and see where it takes us.”

Derry's Brian McIver wasn't too downhearted, and rightly so: "People have been making the point, Division One versus Division Two, but we knew that if we played as well as we were capable of playing we'd make a hell of a match of this. And certainly, we did make a hell of a match of it. But it was just a second half fade-out."

Lingering feeling
Yet the lingering feeling from Croke Park on Saturday evening – beyond Dublin's clearly exciting championship prospects – was the nature of their 1-22 to 0-9 win over Westmeath, which left Flanagan pleading for some resolution.

“I’m really getting worried about the huge gulf developing between Division One and Two teams. We saw it last week with Kerry and Cork, and maybe we should start revisiting how the championship is run . . . Possibly go a Champions League like scenario where top four teams go to semi-finals. You could still have your provincial championship finals. It would give the other teams something to play for. If we don’t do something about it in the near future, we’re going to struggle to have any sort of competition whatsoever.”

Waterford manager Carew agreed after Kerry jogged past them 4-21 to 1-4: “I think we are a full 35 minutes away from the standard that Kerry are at. And I think the gap is going to get bigger if we are not careful.”

Not the sort of long term forecast anyone wants to hear.