*Joe Hayes.
ONCE monikered ‘Mr Clare football’ by fellow county stalwart Gary Brennan, former goalkeeper Joe Hayes, who donned the number 1 jersey for 13 years at inter-county senior level, opens a new chapter in a first managerial role with the Clare minors who commence their Munster Championship campaign at home to Limerick on Monday evening.
Based in Toomevara, the Lissycasey native initially dipped his toes at backroom level in a goalkeeping coaching capacity with the Tipperary seniors in what would be a famed 2020 season under David Power that garnered a first Munster Senior title in 85 years. However, his heart remains in the Banner County.
“I would have always wanted to go back to Clare in some capacity. The Tipp coaching role just opened up at the right time when Clare wasn’t open so with Thurles right on my doorstep, a senior coaching position was a great opportunity but the hope was always to come back with Clare at some level.
“Having gotten so much out of football, I feel it’s important to give back something to the county and also to my club Lissycasey as well. I’m still a member and try to help out in any way that I can whether that’s a training session here or there at underage and I hope to give back more to the club in the future.”
With Colm Collins bringing him in as a goalkeeping coach for Clare’s flagship side in 2023, it proved the perfect homecoming that has only blossomed ever since, first as a coach under Dermot Coughlan at minor level twelve months ago before taking the reins himself for 2025. “When Colm stepped down from the seniors, Dermot offered me the chance to get involved with the minors and I jumped at the opportunity because I would be very interested in the future of Clare football and would like to contribute in some form to perhaps help players develop in whatever way I could”.
Moving from coach to manager is a big change, he noted. “I’m really enjoying it and obviously eager to finally get started on Monday but just comparing a manager’s job to the coaching role I had last year under Dermot [Coughlan] It’s two different worlds really if I’m being totally honest.
“Admittedly this is my first time managing a group, it would always have been coaching whether that’s a head coach or goalkeeping coach at club and inter-county before this so all this was very new to me. However, before I put myself forward for the job, I had a good bit of thought put into it and lots of plans made and have also been learning over the last few years from Colm [Collins] and Dermot [Coughlan] in relation to the managerial side of things. I’m eager to put my own slant on things too so overall while it has been very different, I’ve really enjoyed the experience so far and am excited to see what the next few weeks can bring for this great group of players”.
His management includes former Clare players, Ger Keane, Cathal O’Connor and Alan Clohessy along with Cratloe’s Fearghal Carroll.
Backed by a 35 strong panel, Hayes is confident that he has the right balance and strength-in-depth to be able to negotiate the intensive three match Phase 1 series over the next month. “We’ve only a couple of survivors from last year in Conor Burke, Ruben Fallon, Sean Hegarty and Tom Spelman so the majority are from last year’s Under 16 panel along with a few players that have come back to the Clare football side of things from other sports like our captain Donncha O’Dwyer, Kieran Doyle and Danny Lyne. We’ve also eight lads that are Under 16’s this year that are not there with an eye towards twelve months time, they are there on merit and are putting up their hands tor places too like every other panelist.
“It’s very exciting to see their development already and the competition for places is high so we couldn’t ask for anymore from a management perspective.”
Having competed in a six match Leinster League already this year in order to become accustomed to the new rules as well as provide valuable game-time to his sizeable squad, how does Clare’s former custodian feel about his side’s provincial Phase 1 chances, having captured the Daryl Darcy Cup in 2024?
“You just don’t know how Munster will go from year to year. Obviously last year it was great to win some silverware and get a shot at a Munster semi-final against Cork and It’s important for the players to see that if you put in the work, you can get the rewards.
“I’d be the first to say that coming into the first round on Monday, all four counties will genuinely feel that they can beat each other. I don’t necessarily think there are any favourites between Clare, Limerick, Tipp and Waterford and I don’t believe there is any weak team either, it’s very much 50/50 on each given day and it’s all down to the day.
“At the end of the day, these are all 15, 16 and 17 year olds that are all developing across all levels and counties so it will probably come down to which side clicks better on the day in terms of scoring and tactics. That was the way it was last year and I’d be expecting that it will be the same this time around too and probably next year and the year after as well. So we just have to make sure that we’re ready for the challenge of Limerick in Quilty on Monday evening (7pm).
