DJ Carey believes Clare will recover strongly from their surprisingly early exit from this year's All-Ireland hurling championship.

The Banner's reign as All-Ireland champions was ended by Wexford on Saturday, but Kilkenny legend Carey expects them to win back the Liam MacCarthy Cup in the next couple of years.

"I still Clare will win a number of All-Irelands over the next five or six years," he writes in the Irish Daily Mirror.

"I tipped them to retain the title at the outset and they've clearly fallen well short of that. I based my opinion on the fact that they showed good appetite for much of the league, particularly in the opening game against Kilkenny when they dug out the win.

"They looked sharp and eager for a team that had just won the All-Ireland.

"What has happened to them in the championship doesn't diminish the fact that they have a lot of class hurlers, but perhaps what they've learned in this campaign is that they will need to vary their game plan in order to come back and win more.

"That should come from analysing just how Cork and Wexford beat them. It's clearly not easy to come back and retain a title at the first time of asking.

"They hadn't won it since 1997 and were treated as heroes in the county. When you look at who beat them, Cork had a couple of games behind them and played fantastically well; Wexford are an emerging side and George O'Connor has put in a lot of good work at underage level over the past number of years.

"It's now starting to bear fruit." Tweet

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