Donnellan: Munster upheavals overstated

Clare captain Patrick Donnellan says much of the negativity surrounding hurling counties at the moment is exaggerated.

Limerick and Waterford have been making the headlines this week while there have been questions raised about the Cork and Tipperary camps this spring.

Speaking before the All-Ireland champions flew out from Cork for a warm weather training camp in Portugal yesterday, the 2013 All Star knows Clare haven’t escaped the rumour mill either. Recent suggestions point to players being unhappy about the progression of training, but Donnellan rejects the idea.

“I wouldn’t read anything into it,” said Donnellan. “No more than in Limerick or Waterford, things are never as they seem, and things will always be blown out of proportion.

“If you talked to the players in any of the camps, I’m sure their stories would be different. I know from talking to all the lads, that the viewpoint is everything is going as well as we could have hoped. We know we are a little bit behind, we know we’ve a hard couple of weeks to put in, preparing for the club championships and the Munster championship, but everything is going very well in terms of preparation and the mood in the camp. We’re just trying to ensure we get to the levels shown at the latter stages of last year and making sure we are challenging again.”

Donnellan has watched as the Limerick story has developed this week, but believes the silence from the players is what is most pertinent.

“In these situations, there’s very little that comes out from the players. It’s conjecture, hearsay and third party people speaking on behalf of somebody else. If you talk to the players or those directly involved, you’ll always find the true story. A lot of what you hear from the other counties in the news at the moment is somebody putting their point forward when the actual parties involved are not coming out in public.”

As agreed between the senior hurling and football camps, Podge and Sean Collins will miss Clare’s Division 4 final against Tipperary in Croke Park on Sunday as they will be in Portugal. “The two managers talk about the two lads’ schedules and they have those things arranged,” said Donnellan. “Those things all happen in the background and for the benefit of the lads in the long term, in both hurling and football. It’s about ensuring Clare can get the most out of them for both teams on the field.”

Donnellan is hoping to get plenty out of the few days as they count down the days until their Munster Championship semi-final against Cork or Waterford on June 15.

“We’ve had a shorter season up to now compared to last season so we have a bit of catch-up to do. The commitments that people have between work, college and then minor, U21 and club teams, we do an awful lot of training but the access to the players outside of it is very limited. So this week we’re hoping to have an intensive week and access to all of the players and the coaching staff all of the time, and just to get that little bit extra out of it.