*Clare U20 hurling manager, Terence Fahy. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
A FRESH strategic review for Clare GAA has been sought while the county U20 hurling manager has said refereeing at the grade is becoming “increasingly problematic”.
At the September meeting of Clare GAA, the first of the end of the season reports from county managers were aired for club delegates.
In his end-of-season report, Clare U20 hurling manager Terence Fahy who during his time in the role has been very slow to criticise referees took exception to the performance of match official Ciaran O’Regan in their 3-19 1-20 Munster final loss to Tipperary.
Fahy stated, “Refereeing at under 20 level is becoming increasingly problematic for us I don’t have the answers but I do know that if you keep taking stuff you will keep getting it”.
Manager’s reports:
End of season reports from the county minor football and under 20 hurling managers were read to the September County board meeting.
In his report minor football boss Joe Hayes said “minor football and hurling are about developing as many players as possible with the goal of sending these players forward and give them an opportunity to play, firstly under 20 and then senior with their respective county. Winning silverware is great for confidence and rewarding for players of course but you can’t always win but you can always develop”.
Reflecting on his first year as minor manager, the Lissycasey native said, “2025 was a very enjoyable year with the Clare minor footballers. I feel they were exposed to a real good standard of an inter-county lifestyle in terms of what is going to be required by them going forward if they want to make the step up to under 20 and county senior football. These young lads and their parents gave a fierce commitment. We met four times a week from January on. They were an exemplary behaved group. We had 35 players on the panel on day one and I’m delighted to say we had 35 players on the panel on the day our year ended”.
He went on to give details of the games played saying they “experienced highs and lows during our championship campaign”.
Concluding, Hayes said “Our goal going forward will remain the same, to make the Clare minor footballers as competitive as is physically possible and to prepare every young lad we have on the panel as best we possibly can in order to give them the best chance of stepping up and representing Clare at under 20 and senior level”.
Under 20 hurling manager Terence Fahy also had a detailed report read to the meeting. At the outset he explained that they had lost Aidan Harte from their 2024 backroom team but they were delighted to secure the services of Conor Ryan. He said “injuries were an issue this season and some fine players never got a run”
Trials were held before Christmas and a total of 87 players were trialled. He went on to give details of the games played in their first game against Cork he said they “were lucky to get away with a draw having been very wasteful on the evening. The sending off of Fred Hegarty had a big bearing on the game” and he went on to note that the decision had been overturned on appeal.
Clare’s loss to Tipperary in Sixmilebridge “was very disappointing. As a management we took responsibility for the preparation which wasn’t right. The player’s response was super and the relished the return of intensity to training”.
Fahy noted that they lost three players to injury, Ronan Keane, Jack Mescall and Liam Crotty.
He described their victory over Cork in the semi-final in Cork as “a big victory as we hadn’t beaten Cork in the grade in eleven years”.
Looking back on their Munster final with Tipperary, he stated, “In the final our players went hard from the start in what was our third knock out game in fourteen days. The referee took centre stage in the middle of the second half with some dubious decisions starting with the awarding of a penalty. The issuing of a black card to Jamie Moylan changed the game”.
Fahy continued, “between club and county this is my fifteenth manager’s report and I have never mentioned referees. As a manager I am not looking at making excuses on playing blame games. Refereeing at under 20 level is becoming increasingly problematic for us I don’t have the answers but I do know that if you keep taking stuff you will keep getting it”.
Continuing his report said “from a development perspective, there is a lot to examine from this season. Clare and Tipperary each played six championship games, more than all other counties and this is huge for player development Twelve of the players that featured in the Munster minor final in 2022 featured at some stage in this year’s championship”.
His report concluded by thanking all who had helped during the season from his backroom team, the players to board officers and groundsmen.
Time for another strategic review:
The time has come for another strategic review plan covering the next five years to be put in place for Clare GAA.
That’s the view of Clare GAA’s planning and training officer Paddy Smyth who presented a report on the progress made on the initial strategic review report which was presented four years ago.
“On August 23 we met here with some of the nine independent business people who put the original plan in place. I have met people in Croke Park who are amazed that we got nine independent people to devise the plan for us. They gave us an objective assessment of Clare GAA at the time and that resulted in 240 action points. There were four areas of strategic focus, governance, clubs, our games and our commercial growth”.
Smyth commented, “governance was very topical at the time, a lot of question marks back then. We are 85% compete now. We have a new audit and risk committee, a new planning and training committee, active voluntary sub committees, voluntary county board officers with defined roles, full time head of operations, office administrator appointed, part time fixtures secretary in place”.
77 percent of the targets for clubs have been achieved, the former Éire Óg secretary said. “Club compass is a self assessment tool devised by Croke Park and its hugely important for clubs to do it before you ever go near a development plan”.
Saying that there are 34 actions still in progress he went on to say “it’s time now to start planning the next strategic plan. If we sit down and wait for the 100%, we will be behind the curve. Improvement is continuous. We have made progress but we can’t stop, we have to keep going”.
Concluding he asked “who is going to put the next plan together. We are hoping to get some of the original committee on board. Its hugely important to have the business people continue to work with us”.
A copy of Smyth’s report is to be forwarded to all clubs.
Management teams:
Details on the final make-up of the senior football and hurling managements teams are expected to be confirmed at the October meeting of Clare GAA. That meeting will take place on Tuesday October 14th.
Speaking at the September meeting, chairman Kieran Keating said “Paul (Madden, senior football manager) is nearly there and Brian (Lohan, senior hurling manager) is fairly close to finalising as well. Pau; has been in regular contact with Deirdre (Murphy) and myself with regard to who he is trying to get on board while Brian is further down the road with most of his committee in place”.
Under 21 draws:
The draws for this season’s under 21 hurling and football draws will be made on Tuesday night.
A request from Clooney/Quin delegate John Skehan that they be allowed compete in the U21C football championship was rejected, board chairman Kieran Keating explaining that they had a far bigger panel available that the other clubs in the grade.
Skehan argued that playing in the C competition would make it easier for them to field a team as it’s a 13 a side competition. He pointed out that they are still involved in senior, junior A, junior C hurling championships and junior football.
Meanwhile underage football committee chairman Joe Considine expressed concern that the first rounds of the U21 competition are scheduled for the same weekend as the semi-finals of the minor championship.
Chairman Kieran Keating pointed out that “the dates aren’t there” because of clashes with colleges fixtures. The minor is for under 17 players and clubs should concentrate using players from 17 to 21 for the under 21 competition, he said.
Replying that a lot of clubs will need under 17 players for under 21 teams, Considine asked that if both grades are in the same weekend that preference be given to the minor with those fixtures to go first.
Pappy Callaghan Trophy:
The Pappy Callaghan trophy which will be presented to the winners of this season’s regular intermediate hurling championship, was presented to board chairman Kieran Keating.
The presentation was made by Pat O’Brien from O’Callaghans Mills and Sean O’Halloran from Bodyke, the clubs that the Clare star had played for.
Addressing the meeting Pat O’Brien thanked the Callaghan family, the Bodyke club and all that had helped bring this about.
Scór:
Scór na Óg will take place at Cois na hAbhna on October 18, Irish officer Joe Garry told the meeting when issuing an appeal to all clubs to take part in the competition.
Two Scór signs listing Clare’s All-Ireland winners are to be unveiled in Cusack Park this week.
Twenty five Clare students have made application for Irish college grants and these have been forwarded to the Munster Council for adjudication.
Medical assistance:
Long time Bodyke GAA official Sean O’Halloran paid tribute to those who assisted when a Bodyke player got injured during a recent championship game at Scariff.
He thanked the medical personnel involved. “They gave great support on the evening and they stayed on the field until the player was airlifted to hospital”.
