This article is from page 48 of the 2005-09-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 48 JPG
THE Chairman of the Clare County Board said it was an “an easy decision to appoint Michael Brenann and Donie Buckley” as joint managers of the Clare Senior Footabllers.
The decision was ratified at a meeting of the Clare County Board on Wednesday night. Their names were put forward after a seven man committee had spent the last month deliberating over who should suc- ceed John Kennedy. Noel Welsh, who seconded the appointment af- ter Robert frost had proposed the motion, said Michael Brennan de- served to be viewed in “the same category as John Maughan”. Both
men currently reside within the county and have previously worked together at NUIG. Michael Bren- nan, a retired army officer, is an ex- Galway footballer who featured in the 1983 All-Ireland final against Dublin. Originally from Kerry, Donie Buckley has been closely in- volved with Clare football for the past 15 years.
He has enjoyed good success as a manager winning county cham- pionships with Miltown Malbay in 1990 and the Faughs in 1994. He also guided Eire Og to an interme- diate championship in 1995. The decision brings to an end weeks of speculation about who was going to be in the Clare hotseat for next term. Ever since Clare’s defeat to
Sligo in the All-Ireland qualifying Series, it had been unclear whether John Kennedy was going to remain in the job. Kennedy stepped down last week, and is now being heavily linked with the vacant managers position in Limerick.
Michael McDonagh paid _trib- ute to Kennedy for his service to Clare football over the past three years. “He was a gentleman from the top of his head to his toes and along with his fellow selectors, we were very lucky to have men who were sO committed to Clare foot- ball”. His sentiments were echoed by John Keane who said that John Kennedy had “made history with Clare by lifting the Tommy Mur- phy Cup in Croke Park”.