*Clare coach Andrew Fahey. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
Hurling Championship coverage brought to you in association with McKeoghs Home, Garden & DIY
FIFTEEN YEARS on from winning an All-Ireland title as a Clare goalkeeper, Andrew Fahey is hopeful of having his greatest hour as an inter-county coach.
Andrew has been part of the Clare U20 management for the past four years, up until this season he had been working on the analysis side in a strong matchday role whereas for 2026 he succeeded Conor Ryan as the team’s head coach. “It is very enjoyable, it is a great privilege to be able to come and coach any county team when you get the opportunity, we’re blessed to have a good set of young lads which makes it very easy”.
Active on the coaching scene within his native Whitegate and also with Scariff Community College, Andy is in his second season as coach of the Ballyea senior hurlers. “Huge learning comes out of it no matter what team you are with, you get massive learning from whoever you are learning with. It’s unique, I had anything from 15-18 years old with Scariff school and then you come up with and link in with your twenty year olds and as far as thirty five years of age at senior, they call it sideline mileage, it is important to get it and to learn from experience. I’m still trying to play myself even though lots have tried to retire me, it is nice to have the balance between playing and coaching while you can”.
A happy medium has been found by the goalkeeper between his coaching and playing commitments. “I find when I go back to my club and train anyway, you’re not worrying about planning the session, you partake and enjoy it, that is your hour and a half to go improve and play your part in the club, it is all time commitment but it is the choice you make, you want to do everything you do whether it is playing, coaching or training and do it very well, in the GAA that is the way we are built”.
When Whitegate last lined out in the Clare SHC in 2022, Andy was between the posts while U20 manager Terence Fahy was in charge of the East Clare club. Transparency is central to Terence’s approach whether it is playing under him or working alongside him in management according to the former LIT student. “I’ve known Terence for a long time, he’s had me at two grades, U21 was the first time way back, he is very transparent and very true to his principles, we’ve always had a great relationship, I’ve really enjoyed working with him, even when I was a player we had a really good relationship, it is a different dynamic but I’m seeing his dynamic from where I was previous, I’m delighted to be a part of it, I’ve known him since I was sixteen years of age, we know each other pretty well at this stage”.
Predecessors of Fahey’s as Clare U20 coach during Terence’s five season reign have all left a mark, he felt. “All of the people that have been there have gone on to do fantastic things, Brendan Bugler went on and won an All-Ireland with the Clare seniors two years ago, Aidan Harte is coaching the Galway seniors now, Conor Ryan was here last year and the work commitment situation has seen him move on, once he pursues his coaching he will be top class at it too. A lot of the players are the same, you’re just trying to bring continuity in ways, you bring your ideas and hope they marry up, it has been very thorough right through, we’ve all been on the same wavelength and there hasn’t been much differentiation”.
On his future coaching ambitions, Fahey told The Clare Echo, “I really enjoy it, I like sitting down, planning, looking at it and trying to make something better, I’m not thinking past anything, I’ve learned not to think too far down the road because there’s loads of different things which happen, people might think they are in great health and they don’t get a chance to do it, you take each day at a time and make the best of it, just enjoy it because when it’s gone it’s gone, there’s tough days and hard days but the good days make it all the better”.
An Allianz National Hurling League winner in 2016, Andrew made his senior inter-county championship debut in 2017 following on from his central role in Clare winning All-Ireland and Munster intermediate titles in 2011. “There’s been loads of managers I’ve played under like Davy Fitz or Donal Moloney who were meticulous in their planning, I had the pleasure of being coached by Paul Kinnerk which was a massive influence in me seeing the game in a way, I was quite young but I always liked his age profile when he was over the teams, he brings that really youthful bounce of energy, where he was back then to where he was gone, you can see where he is gone in the game, he was someone who rubbed off on me as a coach when I was growing up. I was maybe the nerd as a player, looking to see what it was like as a coach, I always the mindframe that coaching was something I wanted to do”.
Goalkeepers can tend to be that ‘nerd’, the sales representative with Wurth acknowledged. “There seems to be a lot at it. Some of the players that have gone into it and they all say it is the time, it is astronomical, the game is the game but the hours are the hours, it is the drug we all love, you were in Croke Park in 2024 and days like that make it all worth it as a player or what, you were in the backroom team in 2013 and saw what it was like, if you get one of those days in your lifetime then it probably makes it worth it”.
Similar to senior level, the Munster championship at U20 is far from easy to qualify from, Andrew stressed. “The Munster championship is no different to any other Munster championship, it is a bloodbath, to try get two points in the Munster championship is hard no matter who you are playing on any given day. We’ve improved as it has gone on, we’re just trying to help the players on their journey, they are bringing themselves along too. The night in Limerick was great, a cruel way to lose but a great way to win, in the championship we’ve got the bounce of the ball in some ways that we may not have got previous. The big day with these lads, every day they get to meet they are happy”.
He acknowledged that it took Clare time to find their feet in this campaign. “There was a little bit of that and possibly down to the opposition. Waterford were minor champions, they had eight of their lads starting which was no different to us a few years ago when we had the same barrel of talent, they had no fear, we relied on a late goal but that is where it was at it, Waterford lost to Tipperary by a point and were one score behind in all their matches which shows how tight it was. We had some crazy days out but form goes out, it is that sixty minutes, you plan for everything and who can bring that little bit more”.
Situated in Whitegate, he is well aware of what Galway hurling teams bring to the table. “We’re on the border but we have massive respect for Galway and everything they do, I don’t think a county produces hurlers like them consistently year on year, we played them earlier in the year and they beat us in a game, they are very well coached, their players are playing at an extremely high level, they have guys in with their senior team, they are progressing along, we are under no illusions as to what is ahead and how good they really are. No team had produced as many hurlers as Galway down through the years”.
