*Clooney/Quin manager, Fergal Lynch. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
WHEN CLOONEY/QUIN last contested the Clare SHC final in 2017, Fergal Lynch was their captain, as they find themselves sixty minutes from lifting the Canon Hamilton he is their manager.
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Playing the game and being between the white lines as opposed to outside them is something Lynch misses. However, management can offer some form of substitute. “You can’t beat playing. My first big gig was going in with the Clare minors in 2019, unfortunately it ended after a year, a very successful year with those boys and I was still playing at the time. It is definitely different, there is a lot of thinking and headwork going on in terms of organising guys, making sure everybody is in the right frame of mind and your backroom team is working well together, nothing beats playing and unfortunately you can’t play forever, you can manage for a while longer but you can’t play forever”.
Feelings of jubilation are similar to playing but not the same, he noted. “You still have the euphoria that you get for five or six minutes after any game which is fantastic, it is the same euphoria but it dissipates very quickly and you knuckle down again, it is a different approach from there as a manager to a player because the boys go and do their recovery and we do the video work”.
A member of the Clare senior hurling panel from 2002 to 2013, there was a spell where he was the only Clooney/Quin man on the panel following Conor Harrison’s exit and prior to the arrival of Peter Duggan.
Duggan is among the current panellists that Lynch played alongside for the club as is Cillian Duggan, Jimmy Corry, Ryan Taylor, Martin Duggan Bryan McInerney, Shane McNamara, Michael Corry and Trevor Lee. “You soldier with these guys, I respected them as a player and I still respect them as a manager, these guys are extremely professional in how they carry themselves and go about their business, they are able to take direction in how you’d like to play and how you’d like to take on a team or adapt to play against a team, they are great guys and good friends, it is not something that I’d fall out with any of these guys over hurling, it is a sport at the end of the day, these guys are extremely professional and we’re happy to be on this journey”.
For their journey to include a first Clare SHC final appearance in eight years is something he felt was possible at the beginning of the year. “It is the ultimate goal for every club team when they started off, we were taking it step by step, we knew from the Cup campaign that we were dealing with a number of injuries and guys that were inter-county bound, we managed to the best of our ability with that but we set up our goals and values at the start of the year and how we were going to set out our stall, we’ve stuck by that. Step one was against Broadford, it was a difficult day out but we got over the line and it has steamrolled from there”.
He added, “People are on about a destination and winning a Canon Hamilton, these are just steps, we’ve gone through step five and we have step six to go to next, whatever happens with step six, there’s nothing different to step six only that there is a trophy at the end of it. We’re looking at the journey as opposed to the destination and the journey is always the most memorable in any team, the limited victorious teams that I’ve been involved in the journey was always what I enjoyed the most”.
Throughout their campaign, Clooney/Quin have shown resilience whether it was coming from behind with a late Darragh McNamara goal to beat Broadford, their statement round two win over Inagh/Kilnamona, knocking out county champions Feakle or overturning Ballyea in the semi-finals. The impact of sports psychologist Kieran Shannon has been felt. “We’ve a lot of work done on the pitch in terms of our conditioning, our skill acquisition and our coaching, we’ve done a bit of work mentally too and Kieran Shannon has been on board with us, he has been fantastic, he has worked with a number of teams and players, his work has been invaluable to us, the players have taken nuggets of information from him and how we approach games and deal with situations on the field, it is working well for us and it is great to have him on board too”.
Buzz words are not used but instead their approach is tailored, Lynch explained. “There’s no magic words that he is using, it is more of a mental toughness that we are starting to develop and hopefully we can continue to develop and use it as we go forward, it is not that he is saying or doing things differently it is more a mindset of how we’re approaching things, it is great that he has the experience and that he can part ways with us too”.
Central to how they play is putting an emphasis on outworking the opposition. “It is all about us getting out and working as hard as we possibly can. Hard work beats talent when talent can’t beat hard work, it is the crux of it all, if lads are willing to put their shoulder to the wheel for a full sixty minutes plus, whatever happens then happens, there’s no real science to hard work it is just a decision that you have to make and nobody ever died from it, we’re working on continuing to do that and come out and get the best performance out of ourselves because if we do that then the result will take care of itself”.
For the last decade, Fergal has been principal of Quin Dangan NS and over this time the primary school has put a big push on promoting games with teachers such as former Clooney/Quin senior hurler Donnchadh Murphy to the fore. “It is nearly ten years which is a long time when you look back on it, I never really thought about it but it is a great place to work with great staff and great people in the community, you bounce in there every day and it is great it so close and that you have a vested interest in your hometown,” he said of his time as principal.
There is a strong correlation between his time as principal and Clooney/Quin becoming a much stronger force at underage. “We have the kids twelve percent of the time and within that twelve percent we try to instil as much sport as we can outside of education, the kids really appreciate that, any extra-curricular activities going on there they are all involved and it is great they are flourishing and growing from that. A number of players have come through our school to the club but they have come from Clooney NS, Ennis NS and the Gaelscoil, we’re not the only feeder, we’re only a small piece in the jigsaw but it is great that Jack, Jerry and John Conneally have come through the ranks in our school, they are great memories of seeing them play primary game and winning Division 1 in the Cumann na mBunscoil”.
Past pupils of Fergal’s that are now part of the senior panel include Evan Maxted, John Conneally, Mikey Corry, Callum Hassett, Jack O’Neill, Jerry O’Connor, Dannan Fox, Darragh McNamara and Seán McNamara. There was a barrier to break down in moving from the teacher/student relationship to the manager/hurler dynamic. “There’s a bit of a stand off by them more so than me when they did join the panel this year and last year, these guys understand that the barrier has to be broken down, we have worked hard on that with the teacher pupil dynamic, it is more so that we are all working together as a team rather than he is the boss and I’m just a player”.
This younger cohort are used to winning big games in the Clooney/Quin jersey. “They have great experience, Matthew Corbett, Jerry O’Connor, the McNamara twins, David Cahill, Pa Finnernan have been a fantastic boost of oxygen to us in the group, they have come in and risen standards. When you come in as a youngster at seventeen, you have a carefree and low thought process on what you need to do, they are hurling with freedom and we let them do that”.
His own playing career, the highlight of which was winning an All-Ireland SHC in 2013 saw him exposed to a number of different managers which has proved helpful when moving into management. “There has been a number of guys that I would have worked with, I went through a lot of Clare managers during my time with the Clare senior hurlers, there was a high turnover in my career. Dalo was always a great guy to bring the team together and row them together, Davy has been fantastic in terms of his tactical astuteness, Colm Honan with the Clare minors was really good and one of the very good guys I thought is your own clubman, he is a fantastic coach and man-manager which is Tom McNamara, he is a guy that I would have picked a lot of things off”.
Coaching roles with Castlegar, Craughwell and the Galway U20 hurlers also gave him further experience. “You’d learn the different personalities of players and also the different styles of play that are going on and pick up different nuggets, it has been beneficial to me and as a player working under different managers that you can pick those pieces from with the dos and don’ts, not saying you are the ultimate person or manager but it shows you how to do things the best you possibly can for your own group and take learnings to take this on or say this is not the best way to approach something”.
Lynch’s management ticket includes coach Francis Browne who oversaw Clooney/Quin’s minor success in 2022 and 2024, “he was coach to the Clare minors with me in 2019, there’s no nonsense with him, he is very direct and the players like that, they like the real truthful aspect to it, there’s no frills, sometimes you have to go down that route the Liam Cahill route at times with guys, he also has that softer nature behind him and he is able to deal with guys outside of that”. Two-time Clare SHC winner with Clarecastle, Derek Quinn is the goalkeeper coach while current Clare defender Ciara Grogan is part of their stats team alongside Stevie McHugh and Mike Browne.
Quin’s growth in population has teed up Sunday as a chance for the GAA club to really imprint its identity on the area. “It will stir a little bit more interest to newcomers that have come to the parish, we’ve a fantastic club with a great executive, we’ve a great clubhouse and there’s always great work going on here, you’d be hopeful that we can gather in new members and more interest. Every GAA club in the country has become the Catholic Church or what the local church was eighty years ago in that everybody had to go to mass, it is now going to the stage where everyone has to go to the GAA field, that is just the culture, it is great for our club and that the population has risen but we have to strike while the iron is hot and try gather as many people in playing and growing for our club”.
Comparisons with the Church do not mean he is equated as the modern-day parish priest, “Ah Jesus no, Tony Duggan would be the modern day parish priest”.
County final preparations will not lead to less hours of work in school this week for Mr Lynch. “The work has to be done, we’ve a big build going on in the school at the moment, €2.8m of a build going on for ASD classrooms and special education, that is taking up a lot of my time at the moment, there’s plenty of football competitions and athletics going on in the school so we’re part of all that which is great, the kids still have to learn and I still have to open the door and let them in”.
