Clare hurlers set for return to Caherlohan, despite previous dissatisfaction at playing surface

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE: Clare manager Brian Lohan was dissatisfied with the playing surface at Caherlohan. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Clare’s senior hurlers are set to return to train at the county’s Caherlohan centre of excellence in the coming months.

Chairman Kieran Keating said it is the intention of the management set-up to organise pitch sessions at the complex outside Tulla.

Under Brian Lohan, Clare have yet to have a field session there owing to his dissatisfaction with the playing surface. The last time the team used the pitch area was in Donal Moloney and Gerry O’Connor’s last year in charge in 2019.

However, as counties prepare to return to collective training from next week ahead of the 2023 season, Keating indicated that stance could be about to change.

"They will be,” said Keating of the group using Caherlohan’s hurling pitch. “They’re not back in there yet, of course, and weather depending they might not be. I expect that they will, but something could change on that as well.

“The intention is certainly to be back there when they’re back on the pitch. They will be in the gym in Caherlohan anyway. That’s where half of them would have been based and half of them would be in UL. It will probably be January before they’re back on the field. We have plans for astro there, but we don’t have it yet.” 

Caherlohan’s football pitch is used by Colm Collins’ senior outfit while the surfaces are also utilised by the county’s under-age set-ups.

Keating noted there have been difficulties with the quality of the pitches but for this time of year he maintained they are satisfactory.

“Brian didn’t want to be training there in springtime coming into the summer when they were training for championship, when you’re training for good pitches. The standard of our pitches there aren’t up to what would be required, so we have a plan in place in the short term that we’ll be doing work on a couple of those pitches.

“Until then, what’s there is as good a standard as you will get this time of year when you’re talking about December, January. Your choice at this time of year is astro or going onto a pitch that is sticky.

“We raised money this year to do work on the pitches and that will take place in the springtime. We haven’t done it this winter just to keep the pitches available. We have two floodlit pitches and there is big demand for them across hurling and football and the under-age teams. The split season means everything is compacted into a few months of very heavy activity.”