*Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
CANDIDATES have been shortlisted with interviews ongoing to appoint a new Clare senior football manager.
An interview board of four has been established and is comprised of Clare GAA Head of Operations, Deirdre Murphy, Clare GAA Chairman Kieran Keating, ex Clare minor football manager Dermot Coughlan and former Clare forward David Tubridy.
Interviews with prospective candidates have taken place this week and over the course of last week. Persons that had expressed an interest in the job and were unsuccessful in securing an interview were told that four candidates had been identified.
Speaking at the October meeting of the Clare County Board, Keating advised that work was ongoing to appoint Mark Fitzgerald’s successor. “We have heard from a number of interested parties and we are making progress. We hope to be in a position to make a recommendation in another ten days or so”.
Keating added, “We hope to have a recommendation for the next meeting and if we have news before that we will inform the officers”.
Although he was ratified as Clare U20 manager at the September meeting, Michael Neylon appears to be the front-runner to take on the top job and was one of the first persons interviewed. It remains to be clear if he will vacate his role as U20 manager if appointed senior manager or whether he will try the difficult task of juggling both posts. He has previous experience of serving as a senior selector for three seasons, under Mick O’Dwyer and Colm Collins. Neylon also guided his native St Joseph’s Miltown to Clare SFC success in 2015 and 2018.
Outgoing selector, Declan Downes is also in the running for the gig. One of the longest serving selectors at inter-county level, the Kilmihil man has been involved with Clare’s seniors for the past nine seasons, eight of which with Colm Collins and the last with Mark Fitzgerald where his continuity and knowledge were praised by the Tralee man.
Former Kerry goalkeeper, Declan O’Keeffe who had previously said he was awaiting details of the process to be followed in appointing the manager was approached by County Board officials following an article in The Clare Echo subsequent to Ennistymon beating St Breckan’s in the Clare SFC quarter-finals. A two-time All-Ireland winner and two-time All Star, O’Keeffe has been involved as a goalkeeper coach with Clare and Roscommon before moving into management.
Experienced Cork coach, John Fintan Daly has also been interviewed for the vacancy. Daly’s coaching career has spanned four decades and includes guiding his own club Knocknagree to win the All-Ireland junior club football title in 2018, Duhallow to win the Cork SFC in 1990 and 1991, Cork to win the All-Ireland U21 title in 1994 and Kerry club Milltown/Castlemaine to win the All-Ireland intermediate club in 2012.
John Evans, the former Tipperary, Roscommon and Wicklow manager has also been linked with the job.
Details of the management ticket with each candidate is unconfirmed but Neylon is understood to have Tralee’s Jerome Stack on board as coach, he managed St Brigid’s to reach the All-Ireland club final last year and also led Feale Rangers to win the Kerry SFC in 2007 and oversaw Dromcollogher-Broadford winning a Limerick SFC, he has coached both Limerick and Laois at senior inter-county level.
Downes, Neylon and O’Keeffe have all experience of working with different members of the Clare panel at inter-county level while O’Keeffe and Neylon have coached some at club level.
Speaking on The Clare Echo’s podcast, The Water Break, Clare forward Emmet McMahon said the process cannot be rushed. “It is important not to force these things, it is a massive year for Clare football and for everyone to rope into it and have full commitment from everyone and funding, it is very important to not rush something and pull something together out of nothing either, if it means taking an extra two or three weeks for a manager to get their ticket together if they are waiting on some club managers coming back from outside the county, it is important not to rush it and I know we’re gone into October, as long as it is the right man for the job and has full commitment and support from everyone involved then hopefully it will be a big year for Clare football and we’re all looking forward to it as players”.
