Clare Hurling 2024 to 2026: How the All-Ireland Champions Rebuilt for Munster Glory

Clare have won the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship three times – 1914, 1995, and 2024. The third title, delivered under Brian Lohan in July 2024, ended a 29-year wait and was celebrated with the kind of intensity that only comes when a county has waited through decades of near-misses, heartbreaks, and the particular ache of watching other counties lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

Two years later, Clare are league champions, Munster championship contenders, and a squad that has added youth without losing the experience that made 2024 possible. The question the county is asking in April 2026 is not whether Clare are good enough to compete for another All-Ireland. The question is whether this version of the team can win the Munster Championship – a trophy that last came to Clare in 1998 and has become the one significant gap in the Banner’s recent record of achievement.

Clare are among the most backed teams to win the Munster Championship in 2026. If you want to follow the odds or place a bet on the Banner’s summer, these are the top-rated licensed bookmakers currently operating:

---

Clare Hurling – Honours and Records
All-Ireland titles	3 (1914, 1995, 2024)
Munster Championship titles	Last won 1998
National League titles	2013, 2024, 2026
Brian Lohan as manager	League + All-Ireland in 3 years – first Clare manager to achieve this
Tony Kelly	5 All-Stars, 2024 All-Ireland – career spanning both 2013 and 2024 titles
Shane O’Donnell	2024 Hurler of the Year candidate
Players from 2024 panel in 2026	Starting 13 of 15 from the All-Ireland Final

---

What 2024 Looked Like

The 2024 All-Ireland Final was the culmination of a campaign built on defensive organisation, explosive forward play, and the individual brilliance of Tony Kelly and Shane O’Donnell at critical moments. Brian Lohan’s management team had spent four seasons building the tactical framework – a half-back line with license to attack, a goalkeeper commanding his area with authority, and a forward division with enough variety to expose any defensive structure.

The 2024 win confirmed what Clare hurling people had believed for years: that the county had the talent, the depth, and the mental strength to compete at the highest level. What had been missing in the years between 1995 and 2024 was not quality – it was the final pieces of the jigsaw. Lohan found those pieces.

2024 vs 2026 – What Changed

Of the fifteen players who started the 2024 All-Ireland Final, thirteen are in the 2026 panel. The two absences include Aidan McCarthy, who has not returned to the panel. The continuity is remarkable and speaks to the physical condition of a squad that has been managed carefully across a demanding schedule.

What has changed is the addition of six new players from the All-Ireland Minor winning class of 2023 – young hurlers who grew up watching the 2024 triumph and have come into the senior panel with a hunger to add to it. The combination of experienced All-Ireland winners and ambitious young players trying to prove themselves is exactly the dynamic that produces championship-winning squads.

The Munster Championship – The Missing Piece

Clare last won the Munster Championship in 1998. Despite winning All-Irelands in 1995 and 2024, despite producing some of the best hurling seen in Munster in the round-robin era, the provincial title has remained elusive. That changes in 2026 or it does not – but for the first time in many years, the Banner arrive into the Munster Championship as league champions, at home in the first two fixtures, with a squad that has beaten Limerick already this season.

The 2024 All-Ireland came via a route that bypassed Munster. The 2026 ambition is bigger: win Munster, prove that Clare are not just All-Ireland contenders but the dominant force in the province.

Brian Lohan became the first Clare manager to win both a League and an All-Ireland within three years. The Munster Championship would complete a set of honours that nobody in the Banner has ever assembled. April 19th in Ennis is where it begins.

For full Clare GAA fixtures, results and tickets, visit claregaa.ie