McNamara bemoans Banner indiscipline

FORMER Clare boss Mike McNamara has hit out at player indiscipline during his two-year tenure as manager and has revealed that last summer’s Liam MacCarthy Cup relegation controversy was a source of conflict between players and management, contributing to McNamara’s eventual exit as manager.

McNamara claims that Clare players and management were first at loggerheads during last summer’s relegation fiasco, with the players opposed to partaking in the match against Wexford, while management feared not fulfilling the fixture would have resulted in several of the county’s U21 players being suspended for the Munster final against Waterford the following Wednesday.

“We had no real discontent until we were faced with a relegation battle (against Wexford), which was mind-boggling. It was a decision that was made and passed by a crowd of delegates half-asleep at a meeting. If we couldn’t fight our way out of that, then we shouldn’t be in the top flight. That would have been the opinion of the management, but the players seemed to see it differently. The players seemed to think that they could decide not to play.

“The decision not to play that game was taken initially and, of course, rejected by the county board and management, knowing that two things were important. One was the rule stating that you will get a 48-week ban from all inter-county activities and our U21s were in a Munster final on the following Wednesday. So a real ill-humoured series of meetings was played between management and players and the players were adamant that this (Wexford relegation game) was unnecessary but management was adamant that this had to be played.

“After a series of meetings and phone calls and discussions, 21 players sat down to take a decision on it and knew the decision they made would have far-reaching implications for hurling in Clare.

“Eleven of them (U21s) were on the county panel and they wouldn’t be playing a Munster final. The fact that seven of those voted to strike would have meant that if the same management stayed in place, those seven players would never be given the Clare crest to put on their lapel again by the existing management.”

McNamara also hinted that a lack of application from players cost Clare victory in key games such as the 2008 All-Ireland quarter-final against Cork and last year’s Munster semi-final against Tipperary.

“There were issues with discipline. Some of the players seemed to feel it was okay if their teammates didn’t give 110% . As a management team we were determined we would correct issues that possibly affected our team in an All-Ireland quarter-final against Cork. We were quite happy going forward for a Munster championship (last year). We knew Tipperary were going to be the dominant force, but we came back from 11 points down on two occasions, which was phenomenal really.

“The stats of that game will show the players who were creating ill-harmony. For one player, his stats came in at minus two that day. We were better off playing with 14. That gives you an idea of the problems we felt we had.”

McNamara stated that despite receiving support from the county board, a breakdown in communication between management and players meant it was impossible to find a solution to last winter’s crisis.

“The players didn’t want to listen. They were led from the outside by other individuals and listening wasn’t part of it. We didn’t try to shove anything down their neck either. We looked around and we had a chat amongst ourselves, Ollie (Baker) and Alan (Cunningham) and myself. We tried to decide what was right for Clare hurling and there was nothing else in our minds.

“Pressure from the county board and delegates was on to stay there. You must remember we took over in a cloud. We took over in what was the ‘Davy Fitz incident and the somebody else incident’ and the ‘Gerry Quinn incident’ and we took over in a cloud of controversy. We tried to calm the waters and did it very successfully for a year and half or thereabouts.”

McNamara also believes his hand was weakened as Clare boss by the limited amount of players available to him and insists that Clare failed to capitalise on their success in the 1990s, claiming that they should have won another two All-Ireland titles.

“We found ourselves with limited numbers where basically players could nearly command a right to be on a county team without doing the necessary workload. That wouldn’t have happened in the early 90s. Then there were changing times and a change in respect for management and church and state and everything. Time changes everything.

“I would say that two All-Irelands with the type of player we had from ‘95 to 2000 would be very disappointing. We didn’t capitalise on that for a variety of reasons. One could be critical of parishes and everything else if one wanted to be. But it’s a collective responsibility between the clubs, the schools etc. Hurling in places like Clare will come and go and you must exploit it when it comes.”