McNamara close to Clare exit

MIKE McNAMARA remains in situ as Clare senior hurling manager following last night’s lengthy meeting with his players – but sources within the Banner County expect McNamara to walk away in the next day or two.

It had been anticipated that McNamara would resign once given the opportunity to face his players, but when the meeting in the Woodstock Hotel in Ennis concluded he was still manager.

However, there is an expectation in Clare that the Scariff man has accepted that he will not be in charge of the county next season and will step down shortly.

The meeting was expected to end months of turmoil in the Banner County.

Although Clare reached the Munster final last year, losing to Tipperary, they fared poorly this season and didn’t win a game in either the league or championship. McNamara trained the team before vital league games to see how the players would operate under pressure, but Clare lost those games and dissatisfaction grew among the players.

The Clare squad issued a letter to their county board in October expressing their desire for a new manager, but the board refused to accept the letter as it was unsigned.

When the panel signed a brief subsequent letter which gave no details as to their dissatisfaction, it was read to a meeting of the Clare County Board but the delegates backed McNamara, and prominent Clare hurler Tony Griffin subsequently retired, aged 28.

“Based on this year’s experiences I do not have sufficient confidence in the current management structure and I cannot dedicate myself to something I do not fully believe in,” said Griffin when he announced his retirement.

“I take a certain amount of responsibility for our poor season in 2009 but feel justified in stating that the correct structure was not in place in order for the team to operate to its true potential.”

Recent attempts to set up a meeting between McNamara and his players foundered due to the storms and flooding in the west of Ireland, and the meeting only took place last night.

If McNamara walks away, as expected, a successor is not immediately obvious. Though many believe the outlook for Clare hurling is bright, given their All-Ireland success at U21 level this year, one potential candidate for the senior job has already ruled himself out of the running.

John Minogue, who led those U21s to that All-Ireland success, has ruled out taking the top spot.

“I don’t think so,” said Minogue. “We’ve given three years with the U21’s, and three years with any one setup is quite a long time.

“Obviously these are going to be the senior hurlers of the future, but I think those guys need a break from us, and we need a break from them. A new guy in to coach them could be positive, maybe find new positions for different players, something that happens with every new management.

“Whatever management is over Clare, if they can get the confidence of these guys – who are talented, there’s no question about that – and the other senior guys on the panel, there is a future there for Clare. But you can’t have the same voice preaching the same message all the time.

“You need a different voice. A change is good.”

Minogue added: “In any county now where there’s a lack of success, people are very fast to look for change, but I think in Clare we have to accept that there will be bad years, years when things go wrong and you don’t have any success – we had those years in the early 90’s, beaten in two Munster finals, but there were good U-21’s coming through, just like today, and then we won Munster in 95 and went on to win the All-Ireland.

“People are calling to sack the manager, sack this fella, sack that fella, but maybe the expectations are too high.”

His fellow selector Cyril Lyons sympathised with the outgoing management team: “On a human level I feel sorry for Mike Mac, Ollie Baker and Alan Cunningham, they’ve given a huge amount to Clare hurling. It’s not nice to see your name up in lights in a situation like this; people say it comes with the job but we’re all human, we all have families, friends, and even if you’re not hurting, someone is hurting for you.

“I feel for those guys, I know them well, trained under Mike and hurled with the other two. Secondly, I think the county board have done them no favours. They should have handled this a lot better, moved a lot faster, come to a decisive decision.”

McNamara was the physical trainer under Ger Loughnane when Clare won two All-Ireland senior hurling titles in 1995 and 1997. He managed Offaly at the beginning of the decade.