Mad? Maybe

Diarmuid O’Flynn meets Clare hurling manager Tony Considine.

LATE last year the hurling world was surprised by the announcement that Tony Considine would be the new manager of the Clare senior hurling team. A selector during the glorious Loughnane era of the 90’s when Clare won two All-Ireland titles and three Munsters, Considine had been out of the inter-county scene since 1999 and was comfortable in his new role as an expert analyst with this organ.

Why then would he go back into the pit, take on all the flak, all the responsibility, all the expectation, that goes with inter-county management? Most of all, why risk a reputation built up over several decades of successful management at both club and inter-county level? “It wasn’t planned. It happened by accident really; Garryspillane, got me back into coaching and I have to say, I really enjoyed it, it gave me an appetite for it again. We had a bit of success, reached the Limerick county senior final in our first year, won it the second, and it was really rewarding to see the reaction of the players, the reaction of the whole parish, really.