Boss: 'Clare won't pull out of Championship'

Clare manager Tony Considine has insisted his team will not be pulling out of the All-Ireland hurling championship, despite suggestions to the contrary by Clare County Board chairman Michael McDonagh.

The Clare County Board was angered by process and the outcome of the GAA's Central Hearings Committee's investigation into the pre-match brawl which marred the Munster SHC encounter between Clare and Cork on May 27.

Yesterday saw the CHC confirm their final decisions, with four Clare players - Barry Nugent, Alan Markham, Andrew Quinn and Colin Lynch - and Cork's Donal Óg Cusack, Diarmuid O'Sullivan and Sean Óg Ó hAilpín all handed four-week suspensions for their roles in the Thurles scuffles.

The bans, which will see the Clare quartet miss the All-Ireland qualifier against Antrim on June 30, led to a meeting of the Clare County Board last night.

Chairman McDonagh confirmed that Clare will make an appeal "at all costs", to the Central Appeals Committee and if unsuccessful, the matter could be brought before the GAA's Disputes Resolution Authority.

However, in the wake of those suspensions, McDonagh also admitted that Clare could yet decide to withdraw from the All-Ireland championship.

He went on record yesterday, saying: "If there was a referendum among Clare people in the morning, I'm fairly certain we would be pulling out of the championship. That's the feeling I'm getting.

"Those at grassroots are now saying: 'why take part in something when you're not getting a fair crack of the whip?'

"I'm not sure, I'm not saying what they will do or what they won't do. But if they pulled out of the championship, it wouldn't bother me."

However, McDonagh's withdrawal threat has been met with a fiery riposte from Considine. In a move that will certainly create further distance between himself and the Clare board, the Banner boss hit out at McDonagh on national radio this morning.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1, Considine said: "We were preparing the team (on Tuesday evening) in Cusack Park and somebody sent a text to somebody that this was said by the county chairman.

"Now, there was no consultation whatsoever with me as manager of this team or the players as regards this, and I can assure you we're not pulling out of any championship. The players and management are not pulling out of any championship.

"I believe that the chairman went on a solo here himself. We're definitely not pulling out of the championship. We know we've a tough game against a good Antrim team up there, we know we'll be down a few players but no - no way were we pulling out of the championship.

"We're actually looking forward to the rest of the championship," he added.

Considine made a recent plea to defer a round of the Clare club championship - with the fixture due to be played between June 18 and 22 - in a bid for more preparation time for the Antrim game, but the Clare County Board refused his request.

Indeed, the Clare board discussed a vote of no confidence in the manager just three weeks before the Munster SHC first round loss to Cork.

Addressing the club fixtures issue, Considine said: "If the chairman is really worried about us having players missing, maybe he should have a look at the senior club championship in Clare that's going ahead next week.

"If he could see his way to calling off that, where we could have more injuries to county players, maybe then that would be more in his line to do something like that - rather than talking about us pulling out of the championship.

"I could see no reason why these club games could not have gone on last week - on the 9th, 10th and 11th of June - and then we would have a clear run to the qualifier match against Antrim.

"But instead of that, we're starting the championship now on the 18th of June, which is backing it up to the 22nd of June, which is really only giving us a few days for preparation, not alone for the Antrim game but remember we're playing three Sundays on the trot - Antrim on the 30th, Galway on the 7th (of July) and Laois on the 14th," the Cratloe native explained.

"Now that's two or three days training we have for three matches - I don't think it's good enough. I think the chairman would be better off looking at the fixtures than making statements like that."