Can Dónal Óg Cusack bring X Factor to Davy Fitzgerald’s Clare project?

Yesterday’s revelation that Dónal Óg Cusack is to join the Clare hurling backroom team was the 21st-century GAA news story par excellence.

From the early susurrations on social media to the carefully crafted press release, from the cross-county fertilisation to the reference to the Gaelic Players Association, everything was in place; aptly enough, because practically everybody named in dispatches yesterday got something out of the announcement.

That’s not a reference to a press corps hungry for narratives: The easy opinion is that Cusack and Clare boss Davy Fitzgerald are too strong-minded as individuals to gel on the sideline, and that one would be well advised to look at them in next season’s games rather than the action on the field to see the inevitable bust-up, but the opposite is the case.

Two detail-oriented people like that are bound to have their parameters well and truly set in stone long before a competitive game is played.

Many will no doubt quote Cusack’s autobiography references to the former Clare keeper, and the method to his madness passage in particular, but the Cork man has made no secret of his admiration for Fitzgerald’s tactical nous with the current crop of Clare players.

The appointment also serves a purpose for those Clare players themselves. As a team, they have underachieved hugely in the last two years since winning the All-Ireland, and there was a good deal of speculation some time ago that perhaps the players had lost patience with Fitzgerald’s style of management.

The general perception outside the county was that they were too structured in their play and a certain amount of empowering those fluent forwards, in particular, to make their own on-field decisions would serve the team better.

As a TV pundit, Cusack has had access to more video footage of their games — and specifically their forward movement — than most, and it should be fascinating to see how they align their attack next season, in particular with the return of Podge Collins.

As a development, it does restore the credibility of the Clare County Board somewhat after a recent flirtation with North Korean levels of control in relation to suppressing the internet.

Cusack’s strong game analysis on The Sunday Game and considered columns for this newspaper have made him one of the most respected thinkers on hurling. He need only be pictured in the tunnel of Cusack Park, or maybe pick up some rimless specs, for the anticipation in Ennis to reach Jurgen Klopp levels of excitement, and there is no denying his appointment is a huge coup for officials within the county.

One of the less spectacular lines in the press release related to the fact that Cusack will see out his time as chairman of the Gaelic Players Association, but it may be the development with the most resonance nationally.

The players’ body is now so intrinsic a part of the fabric of the GAA, that no serious announcement comes without reference to how it impacts on the GPA; the extent to which that is now a given can be seen in its acceptance in even the most GPA-sceptic counties. Henry Shefflin namechecked the association in his retirement statement; Tomás Ó Sé pays a handsome tribute to their work in his newly-published autobiography.

Yet there is no doubt that without several strong individuals, Cusack among them, the GPA would hardly have made it to the eminence it now enjoys.

While he is unlikely to sever all ties with the GPA, his departure from the day to day activities of the organisation leaves big shoes to fill.

The appointment will kindle general interest in next year’s hurling season months ahead of time, but there’s bound to be some negativity regarding Cusack’s appointment in his home county.

Cork GAA people hostile to the Cloyne man will view his move to Clare in the same light as his criticism of Cork’s underage record in recent years; others will see the appointment as a lost opportunity for hurling on Leeside.

Cusack’s Clare assignment means that his ultimate appointment as Cork senior hurling manager is now a good deal closer in time than it was 24 hours ago.