The Italian master cut off the miners' hero (5)

I believe the answer is:

lalor

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'miners' hero' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.

'the italian master cut off' is the wordplay.
'the italian' becomes 'la' ('the' in Italian).
'master cut off' becomes 'lor' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'la'+'lor'='LALOR'

'the' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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