After a week of debate, the votes have been tallied, and we can reveal our seventh 15 for 30 team - Clare's best county hurling team of the last 30 years, as voted by the public.
Over the course of the week, votes for over 60 players were cast, but in the end, only 15 could be named.
A few players were always going to make it. Davy Fitzgerald was the poll topper as the almost unanimous choice in goals, while 90s legends Brian and Frank Lohan, Seanie McMahon, Anthony Daly, Jamesie O'Connor and Ger "The Sparrow" O'Loughlin cruised in. Heroes of 2013 Tony Kelly and John Conlon were also huge vote getters.
The biggest battles were in the midfield. With Tony Kelly's vote going between midfield and centre forward for the most part, it quickly emerged that given the amount of votes forwards were getting, he would have to take one of the slots in the centre of the field. That left a massive battle between three All-Stars, Colin Lynch, Ollie Baker and Colm Galvin. In the end, Lynch had 62 votes to spare over Baker.
The other major battle came on the right hand side of the defence. 2013 All-Stars Brendan Bugler and David McInerney had just 10 votes between them in the end with Bugler getting the nod, pushing 95 and 97 hero Liam Doyle back from wing back to corner back.
As usual in this series, a forward can count himself very unlucky having got enough votes to make the top 15, but having no place in a team lineup. In this case, it's one of the stars of the 2018 season, Peter Duggan, who misses out, getting the 14th most votes of any player, but losing out because of the need for a sixth back.
The final team lines up as follows:
The Clare 15 for 30:
1. Davy Fitzgerald;
2. Liam Doyle, 3. Brian Lohan, 4. Frank Lohan;
5. Brendan Bugler, 6. Seanie McMahon, 7. Anthony Daly;
8. Colin Lynch, 9. Tony Kelly;
10. Jamesie O'Connor, 11. John Conlon, 12. Conor McGrath;
13. Niall Gilligan, 14. Shane O'Donnell, 15. Ger O'Loughlin.
Not a bad team!
In the end, the team is dominated by Clare's 1997 All-Ireland winning team in particular with Colin Lynch and Niall Gilligan joining the eight heroes of 1995. The backs in particular were dominated by the 90s team, with only Michael O'Halloran missing out and Brendan Bugler the only man to break into that famous back seven.
The 2013 All-Ireland winning team had five representatives in the end.
The Top 30 in order of votes received in all positions was as follows:
1. Davy Fitzgerald
2. Tony Kelly
3. John Conlon
4. Jamesie O'Connor
5. Brian Lohan
6. Shane O'Donnell
7. Ger "The Sparrow" O'Loughlin
8. Niall Gilligan
9. Frank Lohan
10. Seanie McMahon
11. Anthony Daly
12. Conor McGrath
13. Colin Lynch
14. Peter Duggan
15. Liam Doyle
16. Ollie Baker
17. Brendan Bugler
18. David McInerney
19. Podge Collins
20. Tony Griffin
21. Colm Galvin
22. PJ O'Connell
23. Colin Ryan
24. Brian Quinn
T25. Domhnall O'Donovan
T25. Pat O'Connor
27. Fergie Tuohy
28. Cian Dillin
29. Gerry Quinn
T30. Pat Donnellan
T30. Gerry O'Grady
We're sure this will only cause further debate now that the voting has closed.
Next up in the 15 for 30 series, but we'll be back to fotoball and the most successful county we've tackled yet - the Kingdom of Kerry. The early 90s might have been a barren land for Kerry, but once they broke through in 1997, there was no stopping them. Voters will have seven All-Ireland winning teams to pick from when the poll goes up on Monday morning. We look forward to more debate.
