Clare veteran Fergal Lynch has announced his retirement from intercounty hurling after winning the All-Ireland medal he coveted so much.

The Clooney-Quin clubman was used mainly off the bench this year, as his vibrant young team-mates beat all around them to secure the county’s fourth senior title.

He was a blood-sub in the replay for man-of-the-match Shane O’Donnell, after substitute appearances in the semi-final against Limerick and first final against Cork.

“Definitely calling it day,” he told The Clare Champion today. “That’s the end of it now. A good way to go.

“I got a bit of a teaser when I came on as a blood-sub. I was coming on again with four minutes to go and then Cork got the goal and things changed. But these things happen. It’s an occasion for everybody.”

It was the perfect ending for the schoolteacher, who made his first appearance for Clare in 2002.

“It’s just a surreal moment. It’s something I have dreamed since I was a young fella and my father handed me a hurley. Thankfully it has come true. I was looking back at the last 11 years that I’ve been involved and I thought I might never see this day. It’s just an unbelievable moment.”

All-Ireland winning manager Davy Fitzgerald recently praised the influence of the “immense” Lynch on his young squad and dismissed some of the criticism he came in for from the Clare support.

“He gets them going when he comes on the team and changes them again. He is a super guy. People are wrong. I am certain people are wrong. And I just want to say that publicly Fergal Lynch is a special guy and deserves a lot of singling out.”