*Clare in 2026 will have a fourth manager of the senior footballers in as many years.
PETER KEANE’s tenure as Clare senior football manager ended officially on Sunday, but it should have come to a halt long before then.
“If you’re standing still you’re moving backwards”, was one of the astute lines of wisdom given by Colm Collins during his successful stint in charge of Clare’s senior footballers from the end of 2013 to the conclusion of their run in the 2023 All-Ireland SFC.
Under Peter Keane, Clare at best stood still and long before he decided to announce he was not seeking a second year in charge, questions should have been asked on whether he was the right man to remain in the position of manager.
Instead he was let call the shots from Cahirsiveen and eye up potential roles in his native county and further afield, all the while senior officials in Clare GAA were naively of the view the three-time All-Ireland and Munster minor winning manager was interested in remaining with Clare for 2026.
That a group of five to six players representing the panel had to drive to meet Keane in Kerry for an end-of-year-review in the past four weeks as opposed to him trying to at least meet them halfway is indicative of putting self-interests above all else. One of the travelling cohort, Alan Sweeney is understood to have had to take time off work to attend, a move that the defender would not have had to make if the meeting took place in Limerick or as it should have been in Co Clare.
At this meeting, Keane told the players he was finding the drive to Clare quite difficult and that he was unsure of his story for 2026. At this juncture, County Board officials should have moved to say ‘thanks very much for your service Peter and best wishes for the future’, how could he have returned to a dressing room and give any speeches about commitment and standards when he was making it quite clear Clare was not high on his list of priorities. This from the players perspective was a meeting to dissect the year as opposed to pleading with him to continue.
County Board Chairman Kieran Keating is believed to have travelled to Kerry to meet Keane twice in the past two weeks to try convince him to stay on. Again Peter was calling the shots and had people running to him as opposed to the other way around. Meanwhile, there has been no meeting of officers in the County Board for the past six weeks, many of whom only found out about Keane’s exit when Clare GAA issued a statement on Sunday morning.
Never mind the antics and being taken for a spin, the year that was underlined that Keane was not the man to drive Clare football forward. Granted, Clare recorded five wins from seven games in the Allianz National Football League including victories over Kildare and Offaly, both of whom were promoted to Division 2. However, defeats to Antrim and Sligo, away from home consigned the Banner to a third season on the trot in the third tier.
Very little separated Clare from securing promotion and they impressed in their victories showing the heart and honesty that is par for the course with the Banner footballers. The away spins to Antrim and Sligo were costly where very flat displays were produced but as we’re discovering over the last two months, Peter doesn’t seem to be a fan of travelling and to his credit Clare won every league game in Cusack Park under his watch.
Throughout his tenure, Peter regularly referenced giving “seven or eight lads” their debuts at senior level. For the record, five players made their debut, namely Fionn Kelleher, Evan Cahill, Seán McAllister, Cillian McGroary and Darragh Burns.
It seemed to be a very shut shop in terms of deviating from a set twenty or twenty one players and it is baffling how Colm Walsh O’Loghlen didn’t make the matchday panel once during Keane’s reign, remember he was man of the match in last year’s Clare SFC final while he has been in scorching form this season for Éire Óg with 2-9 in two games.
Similarly, Brendy Rouine only appeared once for Clare during the year when fielding and retaining the ball in midfield was problematic all year yet Brendy a skillful footballer and excellent fielder spent much of the season in the stand, granted of course he was injured at the start of the year and was unavailable for the Monaghan fixture but most definitely he should also have featured more. The likes of Diarmuid O’Donnell, a match-winner in last year’s league tie versus Offaly and Jamie Stack a regular top-scorer for St Breckans were also unlucky with the lack of game time garnered.
On the flipside, Aaron Griffin had his best year at inter-county level for Clare and was given a consistent run of games, he finished as the county’s top goal-scorer during the Allianz National Football League. He was a player to benefit from Keane’s approach of encouraging players to shoot more.
Mistakes that were made during 2025 were repetitive. Such as Clare’s struggles on their own kickout, while Eamonn Tubridy was first-choice goalkeeper until Stephen Ryan’s return for the final game of the season versus Louth, this remained an issue regardless of who was between the posts. Brian McNamara excelled in midfield for Clare but it wasn’t until the end of March when management settled on Emmet McMahon as his midfield partner, a move which deprived Clare of one of their main two-pointer targets up the field. The slow reactions were also evident by management waiting until the final round of the league to put Cillian Rouine at centre back when he was clearly the man for the job from the outset of the year.
Another criticism in terms of repeated errors was conceding the same type of goal. A dropping high ball into the Clare square where marking was too slack and loose allowed opposing teams to pounce for majors, two examples being Ronan Coffey’s goal for Laois in mid-March and again a week later when Jordan Hayes’ delivery dropped short and Offaly full-forward Jack Bryant was on hand to palm to the net, a costly score as Clare needed to win by ten points to be promoted but only prevailed by five points while also kicking eleven first half wides. Dips in concentration and giving away soft turnovers were frequent aspects of Clare’s performances this year.
When it came to championship, Mark McInerney inspired Clare to reach a third consecutive Munster final for the first time since 1917 when scoring 2-5 in their 2-18 1-15 victory over Tipperary. The Munster final in Fitzgerald Stadium was a mismatch with a high mistake count from Clare seeing Kerry ease to a 4-20 0-21 victory.
Hopes were high of taking a scalp in the All-Ireland series considering Clare had a somewhat easier group than the bruising pairings of the two previous seasons. However, hope quickly evaporated when Clare were pummeled by seventeen points in Cusack Park by Down.
A nine-point loss to Monaghan followed and bizarrely this was celebrated as a moral victory and pointed to as a sign that Clare were improving under Peter Keane because Clare had a double-scores lead at half-time, this narrative failed to mention that from the restart on they were outscored 1-18 1-2.
It left a final round tie with Louth where mistakes again hurt Clare, soft turnovers which were a feature of the year reared their head in the first championship meeting of the sides and Louth were 2-17 2-14 winners, a late rally saw Clare half the deficit.
At the time of Clare’s loss to Down, Keane famously took umbrage to a question from yours truly on whether Clare were going backwards under his watch, considering the gap was eleven points when Mark Fitzgerald was in charge in 2024 and it had extended to seventeen in the Keane era. The businessman let the mask slip with his response, it obviously touched a nerve because there was truth in it and the facts back it up, despite a rhetoric pushed on the local airwaves that it was “the most stupidest (sic) question”.
Let this not come across as a high and mighty piece about The Clare Echo because our other colleagues in the media namely Eoin Brennan wrote in The Clare Champion about Keane failing to keep supporters on side and freelance reporter Derek Dormer has pointed out critiques with the length of time the manager kept people waiting to give a post-match comment. Brennan wrote of this that Keane had “already proven media shy over the past nine matches in an often bizarre hide and seek duel”.
Fitzgerald had the tough task of rebuilding the Clare squad when thirteen players had departed in the wake of Colm Collins’ resignation, he laid the foundations for Keane to build on. The outgoing manager was boosted by the returns of Eoin Cleary and Keelan Sexton but Clare didn’t push on under his watch, they didn’t improve and standards certainly dropped according to members of the panel with players missing training sessions and not travelling on the team bus.
Questions need to be asked now by club delegates. How has Clare GAA for the second-year running let itself be in position where the manager of the county team is not nailed down prior to the start of the club championships which should be used to scout new players and strengthen the panel.
How Mark Fitzgerald was treated prior to his exit last year leaves a lot to be desired, why was he not given an ounce of the freedom and control that was extended to his fellow Kerry man. The process which followed to appoint Fitzgerald’s successor and the treatment of passionate Clare football men like Michael Neylon, Declan Downes and Declan O’Keeffe was very poor from the County Board, all of whom care passionately about Clare football and would have been better choices than Keane, a man who failed to win an All-Ireland SFC with one of the most decorated counties in the game at a time when they had some of the greatest footballers in the game.
Free reign was given to Keane from the outset, he was let into the race for the job after the deadline had passed and therefore his antics over the last few weeks come as no surprise, sometimes when you give an inch people take a mile. One of the most frustrating moves brought into play by Peter was to try get players in off the pitch as quick as possible after games instead of allowing them to mix with their band of loyal supporters who are with them through thick and thin. The memorable days of Clare football are made sweeter when they absorb their success with supporters on the field after the games yet wins over Fermanagh, Laois and Kildare saw players instructed to get into the dressing room.
Differing views followed the infamous Peter Keane exchange in Cusack Park following the seventeen point Down loss. “Fair play to you for calling him out,” said one die-hard Clare supporter who happened to be within earshot of the interview. “Was that really necessary,” came the reaction of a well-respected Clare football man.
Awkward and sticky questions may not be the most popular approach but they are certainly necessary. It’s time County Board officials and club delegates start asking some questions on Clare football. Lessons must definitely be learned when it comes to appointing Clare’s next manager.
Within the Clare football panel, you will find men that are honest, hard-working, genuine and passionate with plenty of potential. They deserve better than to be strung along, they are capable of taking scalps in the All-Ireland series so it’s time to appoint a manager that believes in them, that cares about Clare football and will get the best out of the team.
