Clare legend Sparrow won’t fly into Banner controversy

CLARE hurling legend Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin has distanced himself from reports linking him to the management of his native county.

As a controversy between Banner players and manager Mike McNamara rumbled on over the past number of weeks, O’Loughlin was been touted as a possible successor, should McNamara’s term be prematurely ended.

A former star with the county and pivotal forward during the 1995 and 1997 All-Ireland successes, O’Loughlin has been involved in the various elements of management, including a stint as senior selector under Cyril Lyons.

For the past three seasons he has been in charge in Adare, leading them to three senior titles in a row in Limerick, and tomorrow his side face Cork champions Newtownshandrum in the Munster club semi-final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

But O’Loughlin last night insisted: “There is no vacancy in Clare at the moment, so it’s not something I’ve been considering.

“Anyway, reading between the lines of what’s being said over the last few days, it looks like this will be resolved in the next week or so.

“I hope it is – with the U21’s having just won the first All-Ireland title for the county, we don’t need any distractions in Clare for the coming season.

“But down the road, yes, definitely I’d have ambitions to manage the Clare senior team, and I feel I would be able to do a good job.”

Talks are scheduled in the coming days between players, management and board chairman Michael O’Neill. O’Loughlin hopes there can be a speedy resolution.

“We don’t know what the issues were, they didn’t say in their letter, so it was very hard to know where the players were coming from.

“It is important that everyone sits down now, with an open mind, and works it out. Let’s not have an unnecessary circus over it.”

Meanwhile, O’Loughlin’s former intercounty team-mate Anthony Daly has received a huge vote of confidence from the Dublin county board.

Capital GAA chiefs yesterday announced a one-year extension to Daly’s tenure of senior hurling manager.

In a statement board bosses said: “under the guidance of Anthony and his management team our senior hurlers made significant strides in 2009.

“Anthony will be remaining at the helm until the end of the 2011 championship.”