This article is from page 104 of the 2007-07-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 104 JPG
. We expect to make the right appointment. First of all we are look- ing for someone inside the county. That would be our preference – to get someone from within the county to
take over the management job with a management team preferably from within the county. We need a physi- cal trainer as well and he may have to be got from outside the county”.
The re-habilitation of Clare foot- ball begins in earnest next weekend when the club championship finally gets underway.
Any prospective manager will no doubt be traversing football venues across the county getting a close look at the resources available. Mc- Donagh says the board has plenty of time before making a decision, as the favoured candidates will already be intimately familiar with the club scene in the county.
Among those tipped to be in the frame are current selector Kieran Kelleher who guided Ennistymon to the intermediate championship in 2005. Former Clare captain Barry Keating, who along with Kelleher was part of Paidi O Sé’s backroom, is another expected to be involved.
Clare’s first and only football All Star Seamus Clancy, who has been making impressive strides with last year’s Intermediate champions and Munster finalists Corofin, 1s also tipped to form part of the team.
“We won’t rush into it until we have to get someone right for the job,” add- ed McDonagh. “We could get some- body and it may not work out. Any- body from within the county knows the football. They would know every footballer in Clare and they would be at all the matches anyway”.
The Chairman was also remaining tight-lipped on possible candidates but said consultation will take place with clubs before any final decision is taken.
‘“We’ve approached nobody yet. We are seeing who is interested and who isn’t. We may have to go to the clubs with it and get the clubs to see if there is anyone within their own system willing to get involved”.
On Paidi O Sé’s troubled tenure as Clare manager, McDonagh praised the Ventry man’s commitment to the job. O Sé’s appointment as Clare boss was announced in a whirlwind of publicity at a press conference in the Temple Gate hotel in late Novem- ber. He departed quietly, away from the glare of the spotlight, after de- feat against Antrim in the semi-final of the Tommy Murphy cup, before a handful of supporters in Cusack Park.
By then though the writing was on the wall. The nadir of a dire season occurred in May when Clare lost to Waterford in the Munster quarterfi- nal. McDonagh said O Sé had given as much as he could to Clare foot- ball.
“The bottom line is Paidi is a man with eight All-Irelands. He’s won All-Irelands as a manger. He was an exceptional manager with Kerry and I’m disappointed it didn’t work out in Clare, but he gave it as much as he could”’.
McDonagh also flatly denied sug- gestions that the appointment of a high-profile manager such as O Sé came at the wrong time for Clare football.
“No way. This thing that he was appointed too soon is coming from different angles. The bottom line is that we had to get a manager and we went for a top class manager at the time”’.
The search is still on and as the weeks unfold, the identity of O Sé’s successor should become clear.