Brian O'Connell: There was enough negative press last year - It would be great to swing that around

14 July 2021; Mikey Finn of Cork in action against Niall O Farrell, left, and Jack O Neill of Clare during the 2021 Electric Ireland Munster GAA Hurling Minor Championship. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

After a full scale of bum notes last year, Clare hurling is humming a different tune of late.

Tomorrow evening at TUS Gaelic Grounds, the county contests the Munster minor hurling decider, a final Clare advanced to when dethroning All-Ireland champions Cork in the latter’s own backyard last week.

The result in Páirc Uí Rinn was significant for a whole host of reasons, not least because it represented a seismic departure on the 40-point annihilation the Clare minor class of 2021 suffered at the hands of Cork last July.

Last year’s 6-28 to 0-6 quarter-final scoreline fed into the cloud of negativity hanging over Clare GAA at the time, the county having dragged itself into fresh controversy two months earlier when it emerged the Clare U20 hurlers were not receiving a morsel of food after training.

The latter issue dominated the May county board meeting, with then Clare GAA treasurer Michael Gallagher questioning if the fundraising of €4,000 to go towards the provision of post-training food by Niall O’Connor, son of former Clare joint-manager Gerry O’Connor, was designed to embarrass the county board.

“What was his motive? Was it for the good of the U20 hurlers or was it to embarrass the county board? That is the question I am going to pose,” said Gallagher, who apologised for his comments a week later.

At the same county board meeting, the top table were told by delegates that “it is time for change” as Clare has gone “stale”.

The lack of post-training food, its rectification by a club volunteer with no involvement to the team in question, and the minors’ 40-point hammering arrived one after another during a period of time where the county’s strategic review committee was examining all aspects of the association in Clare and would later conclude that the existing Clare GAA governance and organisational structures need to be overhauled.

Contained within the 53-page review document was a target of “ensuring our players, coaches and volunteers have access to the best training and preparation facilities and supports”, an aspiration that was obviously not at all times met during a difficult 2021.

Brian O’Connell was appointed Clare minor manager last December. Prior to that, he had spent two years working with this group at academy level after being roped in by former Clare joint-manager Donal Moloney.

His experience has been only positive, any underage Clare team he’s had involvement with never left wanting for anything.

O’Connell reserves particular praise for the strength and conditioning expertise academy players are being exposed to, a noteworthy complement given there was a bit of noise around S&C structures last July when Cork’s minors dwarfed the young Bannermen in Thurles.

“Our young players have access to good knowledge in terms of coaches, strength and conditioning, and even just advice on their diet and stuff like that. It is that access to that good information which is the real nugget, as opposed to anything major that we would be doing with them [on the field],” said the former Clare captain.

“Rob Mulcahy, the guy that has been overseeing the S&C of the development squads the last few years, he is brilliant and has brilliant knowledge. Last year in Clare, they employed three interns to come in under Rob's tutelage and look after different age-groups at underage level. The process for identifying those lads was fairly extensive. They went and got who they viewed as the best they could get. One of those interns is working with us, Hugh O'Neill from Skibbereen, and the experience we have had with him has been brilliant.”

The schools environment O’Connell’s players are immersed in has also been a significant factor in Clare’s march to the Munster final, with the manager drawing attention to and praising the developmental work that is taking place in nurseries such as St Flannan’s, Harty champions St Joseph’s Tulla, Rice College Ennis, who won this season’s Munster U16-and-a-half B competition, and of course Ardscoil Rís across the border in Limerick.

“In last November’s Dean Ryan final (U16-and-a-half A), we had Flannan's versus Ardscoil Rís. Of the 30 players, I reckon 24 were from Clare. The schools have been very good in taking a great interest in player development.”

The improved academy set-up and success on the schools front has combined to put Clare one hour from a fifth Munster minor hurling title. The importance of victory is several-fold.

“This group came into the academy at U14. To be honest, there wasn't much of a system prior to this group. This is probably the first group where they have a really good organisation in terms of coaches, strength and conditioning, and stuff like that," O'Connell continued.

“[A win] would start the fire that other development groups behind us could start adding a little bit of fuel to. If we could win, it would inspire them.

“There was enough press for Clare GAA last year on the negative side of things. It would be great to swing that around.”