Clare reap the rewards of development system

PATHWAY: Clare minor manager Brian O'Connell. Pic: INPHO/Tom Maher

Clare last managed back-to-back Munster minor hurling final appearances in 2010 and ‘11.

Those teams were loaded with current Clare seniors. Tony Kelly, Paul Flanagan, Cathal Malone, Eibhear Quilligan, Peter Duggan, Shane O’Donnell, and so on. “Generational-type hurlers”, as Brian Lohan recently described them.

Understandably, there’s nobody yet describing the current crop of 16 and 17-year-old Clare minors, or last year’s crew for that matter, as generational-type hurlers. What is undisputed, though, is that they are products of a development squad system that has been tweaked and sharpened in recent years.

Brian O’Connell is the Clare minor manager. He was in charge of the 2022 group that reached the Munster final and All-Ireland semi-final. O’Connell had worked with them since they were 13-year-olds starting out on the development squad pathway. It’s a pathway and system he knows well. It’s a pathway and system beginning to reap benefits for the Banner.

Leading coaches have been identified and brought in to nurture the next generation, ditto that on the strength and conditioning side of the house. The stepping stones are firm and well-supported.

“Back-to-back Munster final appearances is testament to the work that is being done because the underage set-up in Clare has really ramped up in terms of the strength and conditioning programs and identifying really good coaches and managers,” said O’Connell.

“If you were to ask the underage coaches or development squad managers, it would have been an aim when this group were U14 to reach a Munster minor final this year because they were probably the first group that went through the current underage system.

“There were development squads before, but with the full-time strength and conditioning coaches that Clare have put in place at underage, this would have been the first group that went through that whole U14, U15, and U16 stepping stones.” 

Probably the greatest piece of evidence to hold up the growing strength of the underage nursery in Clare is the chatter among 12 and 13-year-olds desperate to be involved.

“You can hear it in the schools. You hear it in feedback from the clubs. Twelve and 13-year-olds are talking about trying to get into development squads at U14. They want to get into them, which is a really good sign of a setup,” O’Connell continued.

“They see it as a place where they will be looked after, will be exposed to a really good strength and conditioning program, and will be exposed to really good coaches. That's the real aim; to have people enjoying the setup and wanting to be part of it.” 

Silverware in Tuesday’s Munster minor final (Thurles, 7.30pm) against a Cork team they beat by five points in the round-robin would of course further reaffirm the work being done.

But consistency more so than Cups and a first Munster minor since 2011 is O’Connell’s underage barometer. The 40-point hammering the 2021 Clare minor team suffered to Cork has shown itself to be an outlier. Back-to-back minor final appearances, the form of the U20s in recent weeks, Tulla’s famous Harty triumph last year, and St Flannan’s winning the 2022 Dean Ryan Cup (Munster post-primary U16 and a half) point to a healthy conveyor belt of talent.

“To be visible in the latter stages of competitions year after year. Get to semi-finals, get to finals. Year after year. That’s the aim. And getting there playing good hurling.” 

Clare: M Sheedy (Sixmilebridge); E Gunning (Broadford), R Keane (Killanena), C Rynne (Inagh-Kilnamona); M O’Halloran (Sixmilebridge), J Hegarty (Inagh-Kilnamona), J Moylan (Cratloe); J Mescal (Inagh-Kilnamona), E Price (Clarecastle); R Kilroy (Banner), M Collins (Clonlara), S Arthur (Newmarket-on-Fergus); Ó Fanning (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), M O’Brien (Cratloe), E Begley (Clonlara).

Cork: O Walsh (Youghal); O O’Callaghan (Liscarroll/Churchtown Gaels), D McCarthy (Passage), C Cronin (Midleton); C O’Callaghan (Dungourney), Ben Walsh (Killeagh), D O’Leary (Ballincollig); J O’Leary (Lisgoold), C McCarthy (Glen Rovers); J Murphy (Dromina), Z Biggane (Charleville), Barry Walsh (Killeagh); B Lynch (Youghal), B O’Flynn (Sarsfields), F O’Brien (Erin’s Own).