*Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CLARE’s senior hurlers have four new additions to their panel for 2025 with no players dropped as of yet from last year’s squad.
Inter-county retirements were confirmed by Paul Flanagan and Séadna Morey in September and December respectively. The duo are two-time All-Ireland winners and at present are the only exits from the 2024 All-Ireland winning squad.
Brian Lohan and his management once again kept a very close eye on the club championships at senior and intermediate level in a bid to strengthen the squad and have opted to call up four new players, three of whom were previous squad members at different stints.
Shane Woods was full back on Inagh/Kilnamona’s side as they reached the Clare SHC semi-finals for the first time since 2021. Indeed their full-back line which also consisted of Keith White and Conor Rynne was one of their strongest lines on the field throughout the championship.
Having represented the county at minor and U20 level, a step up to the senior squad was expected for Woods who had been on Lohan’s radar for the past two seasons. He was full back for the Clare minors in 2021 and lined out at wing back for the U20s in 2024.
For the second year in a row, Daithí Lohan has been recruited onto the county senior hurling panel. A problematic hamstring injury influenced management’s decision to let the Wolfe Tones defender go during last year’s Allianz National Hurling League.
Daithí was full back on the Wolfe Tones side to narrowly edge out Tubber in the Clare IHC final 1-17 0-19 with a hamstring injury forcing him off with forty three minutes played. He also win a Fitzgibbon Cup medal with Mary Immaculate College last season as part of Jamie Wall’s squad. The Shannon native played minor football for Clare and was a standout player for the Clare U20 hurlers under Terence Fahy when they reached the provincial final in 2023.
Making his return to the county panel for the third time is Cratloe sharp shooter, Rian Considine. He was part of Clare’s squad for the entire 2019 campaign under Donal Moloney and Gerry O’Connor. He was recruited last season but dropped before the Allianz National Hurling League without getting to appear in either Munster league clash.
Rian was the third highest top scorer in last year’s club championship, he clocked up 2-33 as Cratloe reached the semi-finals where they were beaten by eventual champions Feakle. Considine has also played at underage for the county including the Sean Doyle managed minors who reached the All-Ireland quarter-final in 2017. He won a Dr Harty Cup medal with Ard Scoil Rís in 2018.
Completing the list of new recruits is Ian Macnamara. He was captain of UL’s Freshers Hurling side who secured All-Ireland league success in December 2022. More recently, he was to the fore at centre back as Killanena made the Clare IHC semi-finals for the first time in fourteen years where they lost out to Tubber. He was also a central player for Feakle/Killanena who reached the U21A decider but had their aim of winning back to back titles dashed by Scariff/Ogonnelloe.
At county level, Ian has represented Clare at minor and U20 featuring at centre back and corner back. He was added to Lohan’s Clare squad for the 2023 campaign but was one of four players dropped in June 2023 following the one point Munster final loss to Limerick. The UL student is understood to have turned down a request from Lohan to rejoin the panel in the interim. His return means Killanena has two senior panellists as he joins Keith Smyth.
Rory Gantley has joined the coaching ticket succeeding Shane Hassett with Shane Malone and Dr Kathryn Fahy understood to be exiting their roles.
