*Éire Óg senior hurling manager, Gerry O’Connor. Photograph: Ruth Griffin.
ÉIRE ÓG’s senior hurlers getting over the line to win the Clare SHC for the first time in thirty five years “is a huge win for the club and the town,” the side’s victorious manager has said while admitting they made a pact to honour the O’Brien family by bringing the Canon Hamilton back to the county town.
The Clare Echo’s online coverage of the Clare SHC is with thanks to The Temple Gate Hotel.
Gerry O’Connor was joint manager alongside Donal Moloney when Clare won a historic three-in-a-row at All-Ireland and provincial level with the U21 hurlers from 2012 to 2014.
He added a new chapter to his list of managerial successes when leading Éire Óg to glory in the TUS Clare SHC and ending a thirty five year wait for the Townies to triumph on the biggest stage in Clare hurling.
Having watched the club’s footballers win three of the last four senior titles, Éire Óg’s hurling fraternity are now hoping their success can drive the club to new heights. “It is a huge win for the club and for the town, there was huge excitement when we got on the bus and it was fantastic to see all the kids parading with their parents, it is a sign of the times that we’re an elderly team, there was a lot of kids walking around there”.
A selector in 2022 when Éire Óg lost the county final to Ballyea by a single point, Gerry flagged that it was the addition of young players over the past two seasons that led the Ennis club to glory. “Ten of those players were playing in 2022 but the young fellas that came in have made such a difference and we spoke about this after the Kilmaley game, we brought on five subs in the six games we’ve played, we have used 23 players in the championship and it is a real vote of confidence to what is going on with the Academy in Éire Óg that we can develop and bring on these players. Those young players have been helped greatly by Clare GAA because they have been involved with a huge amount of S&C and development squads all the way up. The big difference between 2022 and 2025 was we had subs to bring on and impact the game”.
Last Tuesday, the panel attended the reposal of Bernard O’Brien, a brother of dual player Darren and son of club video analyst Bob. At training that evening, they made a pact to honour the O’Brien family by bringing the Canon Hamilton back to Ennis.
O’Connor told The Clare Echo, “It is pure relief, there is no other emotion I can think of right now, I am physically and mentally drained, we’ve had a tough week, we’ve had a tragedy in the club, Bernard O’Brien was a brother of Darren who is a huge part of our team, Bob has been an integral part of our set-up for the last ten years but we swore Tuesday evening after the funeral that the only way we could really honour the O’Brien family and the member of Bernard was to go out and perform here today, there was nothing going to stop us from performing. You need luck and things to go our way, there was a block by Corry, on the other days they don’t happen but we felt we could have had two goal chances in the first half but we came out and we were magnificent in the second half, we really ran the show, Robert Loftus was excellent and there’s no end to Peter Duggan, he is some flipping hurler and he caused us such grief in the last ten or fifteen minutes”.
This emotion did take energy from Éire Óg, he acknowledged. “We were very conscious of that and we tried to manage it as best we could but with the best will in the world, that impacts emotionally on players, that is not offering any excuse, we played as good as a hurling as we could today and Clooney/Quin matched us all the way, they were savage and none more so than Peter Duggan”.
Captain David Reidy played an influential role with four points in the second half to steer the Townies on the right path. “Four points from play in a game like that is phenomenal, he showed for every puckout, he tackled and harassed, it is one of those things, in Clare we know at the start of the year that you can end up in a relegation battle or you can be county champions, there is no logic to it but it gives great hope to everybody, it is not as if one team is running away with it every year, it is a brilliant championship and we’re just thrilled to get over the line”.
Their strength in depth was also evident with Jarlath Collins making his first start of this year’s championship at midfield. “Ja had a horrible run of injuries all year but he marked Ryan Taylor in 2022 and he marked him again today, Ryan still had an influence but ultimately we got our match-ups right”.
