This article is from page 59 of the 2011-10-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 59 JPG
CLUB commitments and championship structures are a barrier between Clare and success at senior intercounty hurling, outgoing manger Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin told club delegates when giving a detailed report on his two-year as county senior manager.
In his wide-ranging comments on the state of Clare senior hurling as he hands over the management reins to fellow All-Ireland winner Davy Fitzgerald, O’Loughlin urged clubs to “look at the bigger picture” to help the flagship hurling team in the county prepare properly for the Munster championship and All-Ireland.
This, said O’Loughlin, demands a more streamlined and smaller county senior championship, while he also hammered home the need for the county senior manager to be given a two-month lead-in to the Munster championship, which would be free of county championship fixtures.
The two-time All-Ireland winner said that progress could can only be achieved as senior inter-county level “if we continue to work hard at all levels and the co-operation of clubs will have a significant bearing on this.
“I cannot stress loud enough that the incoming management must be given the most important months of May and June to prepare the team for what is their most important time at championship,” said O’Loughlin.
“We cannot have a situation that I faced this year when two rounds of the senior hurling championship was played in mid-May, which ultimately brought the Clare preparation to a halt and out of these two games we got four injuries, whereby we lost two players for the rest of the season and the other two could hardly train up to the week before the Tipperary game,” he added.
And, O’Loughlin said that a restructuring of the county championship by way culling eight clubs from the senior grade – a figure that represents 40 per cent of senior clubs – and re-grading them intermediate was his radical blueprint to benefit club and county hurling.
“I firmly believe we need to reduce the number of senior teams in Clare from 20 down to 12 and start playing mid-week championship matches over a shorter period of time,” he said.
“There is no doubt that we have not got 20 senior teams capable of playing to a decent senior level and we would be best served with a more competitive senior championship. We need to look at the bigger picture for once and for all to see what’s best going forward for Clare hurling,” he added.