Loughnane takes swipe at former Clare pair

GER LOUGHNANE has launched a blistering attack on former Clare players Tony Griffin and Tony Carmody, accusing the former attacking pair of letting their county down.

Loughnane, who managed Clare to All-Ireland SHC success in 1995 and 1997, believes that Griffin and Carmody should still be hurling at senior level for the Banner County and providing leadership for emerging young players from the underage ranks.

In a wide-ranging overview of the hurling landscape, Loughnane also accused Kilkenny boss Brian Cody of getting it badly wrong as he attempted to plot an historic fifth successive All-Ireland SHC success in 2010 and also criticised the preparation of Clare’s U21 team for last year’s unsuccessful defence of their 2009 Munster and All-Ireland crowns.

Loughnane believes that the good times lie just around the corner for Clare again but has pinpointed the lack of experienced players on the county senior panel as a hindrance.

And he pointed the finger of blame firmly at former All-Star Griffin and Carmody — who did not play for Clare in 2010 and who will not be involved again for the coming season.

The highlight of the 2010 season for Loughnane was the thrilling All-Ireland SHC between Tipperary and Kilkenny: “I always fancied Tipperary to win the All-Ireland.

“Kilkenny were living on borrowed time. Their preparation for the All-Ireland was very ‘unCody-like’. I have the greatest respect for Brian Cody, he’s the greatest manager ever in hurling, but I think he got distracted last year and that was reflected in Kilkenny’s performance.”

For Clare to progress as a senior force, Loughnane believes that getting out of Division 2 of the National Hurling League is imperative. Speaking to Clare FM last weekend, he said: “It’s very important to get out of Division 2. It can be like a quagmire and the longer you stay in it, the harder it is to get out.

“I compare the Clare team now to the Clare team of 1992/93, when there were a lot of young players coming into the team and gaining experience, suffering disappointment and playing very badly in big games.

“But that’s all part of an apprenticeship. The big problem for Clare is that so many of them have to serve their apprenticeship together without the leadership of older players. Some of the players that should be there in Clare, like Tony Griffin and Tony Carmody for example, have really let Clare down. When you’re an intercounty player, you have a responsibility, a responsibility to try your best for your county and as you go on in years, a responsibility then to bring on the younger players. All of us went through that and all of the senior players in the 1990s regarded that as a huge responsibility, bringing in young players.

“When you bring them in and move off, you want those players to take on leadership roles. The problem in Clare is that there are very few to take on leadership roles and the Clare now is very similar to when I came on the team, with the likes of Enda O’Connor, Sean Stack, Colm Honan, John Callanan and Pat O’Connor.

“All the young lads had to take on leadership roles and it took three or four years before we really grew into that role. I started off with Clare in 1973 and it was 1977 before we became real players. We didn’t have players to look up to and Clare now are in the same situation.

“But people shouldn’t despair and lose confidence because there are a lot of great quality young lads there. It will take them time to come up to the proper level but I would say the sooner they get out of Division 2, the better.”

Clare’s defence of their 2009 U21 Munster and All-Ireland crowns ended last year with defeat against Tipperary in the provincial final.

Loughnane insists that it was a defeat he saw coming when he compared the physical make-up of both teams: “I was slightly disappointed at the U21 match between Clare and Tipp. Not by the result and display, but by the physique of the Clare team. They were too heavy, their legs too heavy, some of them weren’t properly developed in their upper bodies. They didn’t have the strength and conditioning you would expect them to have.

“As an outsider, it didn’t seem to me that they had built on the success of the previous year. It hadn’t given them the incentive to drive on and develop their bodies in a way that’s needed now for intercounty hurling. I was slightly alarmed by that.

“They played well for the first 10-15 minutes (of the Tipp match) but didn’t last the game. I was very concerned by that.”