*Paul Madden. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
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PAUL MADDEN has said he will have a “serious review” of his position as Clare senior football manager.
Consecutive defeats to Offaly and Longford ended Clare’s involvement in the Tailteann Cup and followed a disappointing campaign in Division 3 of the Allianz National Football League which resulted in a sixth place finish.
Appointed for a three year term, Madden said major reflections are needed following the early conclusion of his first season in charge. “We’re going to have a review of year one and make sure. I am the most self-critical you guys will ever put a microphone in front of, I need to have a serious review, I’m sure the players will, I’m sure the management will and the County Board will to make sure there is a year two. We’re very flat now and we would be very critical of ourselves”.
Saturday’s 2-17 1-18 loss to Longford ended Clare’s year. “We’re out of the championship at the end of May, it is an absolute disaster in that regard. I am a little bit lost as to what to say, my initial reaction is we didn’t win a break in the middle of the pitch, we got murdered off kickouts generally, very disappointing”.
When asked by The Clare Echo on the rationale behind not making any substitutes until the fifty fourth minute, Madden explained, “We were never more than a score behind at any stage. We wanted to cause problems going forward but we brought on a lot of forward changes to be fair and moved one or two lads back to release lads up the pitch. Were we slow? Well we lost the game so maybe we were too slow, I don’t think we lost the game in that end of the pitch, I think we lost it around the breaks in the middle particularly, I could be wrong but that is my initial reaction”.
On the decision to start Ikem Ugwueru in the full-back line for the third game running which deprived Clare of a strong attacking outlet, the Ennis man said, “We did put him further up the field, their number fourteen was a good lad and we had other issues so we felt we needed Ikem to mind that a little bit, the plan was always to try release him up the pitch at some point, we did and he got on a lot of ball and he moved up the field while he was playing in the backs. When these things work it is the best thing ever and when they don’t it’s not, defensively we have been inconsistent and I’m not talking about our defenders, I’m talking about defensively as a unit, we’ve looked good sometimes and we’ve looked porous other times”.
Clare were never able to exert any bit of dominance against their counterparts, a side that competed in Division 4 this season. “We conceded two bad goals today, we made as many changes as we thought we could in the end to bring on scorers, some lads contributed on the scoreboard when they came on, we moved lads up the field and put as many lads in the middle forward area to try affect the scoreboard but the basics of winning that dirty ball we didn’t get it”.
Once again, Clare found themselves chasing the game. “You’d think we’d be good at it because we’ve been doing it a lot, it is frustrating, it is hugely frustrating for the players but we are where we are, we need to review the year after this”. He added, “We’re training as hard as we can, you can’t compare the training ground to the heat of championship football but you have to prepare for it, for the most part we think we have but that will be up for review”.
Home comforts have not stood to Clare with their latest outing marking their sixth defeat in seven home games in 2026. “This is the best stadium in the country outside of Croke Park, I’m convinced of that. I can’t give an explanation for that, it doesn’t make a sense that it would make a difference”.
Another trend has been the concession of soft scores from very preventable mistakes. “You can’t make mistakes at this level, we had six unforced turnovers in the first half where we gave them the ball when we had it in our hands, we carried it into contact, at this level you will get punished most of the time if you do that. We gave them a couple of crucial scores that we wouldn’t be happy with it”.
Emmet McMahon made his first appearance of the year when introduced as a substitute while Eoin Cleary and Dermot Coughlan both appeared to be struggling with injury. “Every team gets injuries so I’ve never made it as an excuse unless someone brings it up I don’t mention it, we’ve plenty of lads training and good enough. In my opinion, we have a great squad of players in Clare, if we have our best players on the pitch all of the time it obviously helps but it wouldn’t be an excuse”.
Drawing parallels with their Offaly defeat, Madden acknowledged they lacked energy in both outings. “We won a lot of their kickouts, we won a lot of our kickouts, we had twenty one shots on goal that we didn’t complete, six into the keeper’s hands and fifteen wides, we had enough possessions statistically to win that game hands down, we lacked energy, we were flat, we were poor, I think we had a bit more energy about us but we were still a little bit flat getting to the breaks”.
