Clare chief O’Neill refuses to panic over players’ ‘note’

FIRST it was Cork, then Waterford, Limerick, Tipperary, Galway, Wexford, and now Clare.

Following events at the West County Hotel on Tuesday night, at a regular meeting of the Clare county board, it appears player power is becoming more and more of an issue in the GAA, and especially within hurling.

All the above-mentioned counties have had player-driven changes of management over the last few years, with Gerald McCarthy (Cork), Justin McCarthy (Waterford), Babs Keating (Tipperary), Ger Loughnane (Galway) and John Meyler (Wexford) all pushed aside.

Given how poorly Clare fared in both league and championship this year – relegated after a winless league campaign, winners over Wexford in a championship relegation play-off – it’s no real surprise that the Banner should now join that ever-growing list. At that county board meeting, chairman Michael O’Neill acknowledged that a ‘note’ had been received from the players, but did not reveal its contents. According to sources it outlined a list of grievances the players have with the current management team which is headed by the vastly experienced Mike McNamara.

Reading out such an epistle to the assembled delegates would probably have resulted in chaos, argument and counter-argument, division and dissent.

Instead, O’Neill decided on tact, informed the gathering that round-table discussions between the board, the management and the players were ongoing, and asked for two more weeks – the next meeting of the county board – to iron out the problems.

It was an astute move, bought some valuable time, but it is nevertheless a tricky time for Clare hurling, and for O’Neill particularly. A hot potato? Perhaps, says the Clare chief: “It depends on how you take these things. We’re all confronted with problems on a weekly basis, even on a daily basis, but they have to be approached in a proper manner.

“With this problem, you must give it time. You mustn’t overreact, you must make sure you get a balanced view from everyone. That’s what I’m trying to do to deal with matters internally, not out in the media glare, and try to solve things in an amicable fashion.”

O’Neill continued: “We, the county board are running affairs, and doing it to the best of our ability. If people aren’t happy with that, they can take us out at convention and put someone else in.

“We try to do our work as honestly as possible, I think everyone does, but with so many strong characters in every branch of every county, so many strong views, that can create its own problems. On the basis of what he had done in his first year, Mike was appointed last year in good faith.

“Everyone seemed reasonably happy with that, at the time. He got two years and that term still has one year to run.”

Encouragingly, however, and a major difference from the kind of administration that saw Cork inexorably head for the abyss last year, there is early recognition from O’Neill that a problem does exist, and an early attempt made to engage with the players to sort out that problem.

In a year which finished so encouragingly with Clare winning a first U21 All-Ireland title, it would be a pity now to have it all soured with a rupture between players and management/county board.

But, doomsday scenario – what if, at the end of all their discussions, the players still want rid of their manager?

“That’s still hypothetical at this stage,” he says. “We’ll deal with what we have, sit down, negotiate and reason.

“My objective would be to work on the positive all the time.

“There are negatives, and you don’t ignore that, but you deal with it, and focus on the positive, and winning that U21 All-Ireland was a huge positive for this county.

“That was an exceptional group of players, but there is already an exceptional group there, and the ultimate ambition is to pull those groups together and get the best panel of players together.

“Be positive, that’s my way. The players are reasonable, the management are reasonable, so is the county board. We’ll sit down now over the next few weeks and reach an amicable solution to the problem we find ourselves with. The players are an educated bunch of lads — they’ll do what’s best for Clare hurling too. I’ve no doubt about that.”