*Paul Madden. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CLARE senior football manager Paul Madden has pinpointed consistency as the biggest challenge facing his charges for a second season at the helm while club delegates have questioned removing four primary school ladies football finals from Cusack Park.
Madden’s end of year report was issued to delegates this week. Clare GAA headquarters at Clareabbey hosted the June and July combined county board meeting on Tuesday evening where reports from the senior football and U20 manager Dermot Coughlan were read to the meeting along with a statement from the county Board following an incident at an under 15 game in Kilrush on the previous meeting when referee John O’Connell was allegedly assaulted.
Removal of girls finals from Cusack Park:
The last minute decision to take four primary schools girls football finals out of Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg was raised.
Raising the issue, St Joseph’s Miltown delegate Gerry Curtin said “the girls were excited to be playing their final in Cusack Park. It might be the only time that they will get to play there but notification came on the previous evening that the games were being moved. Clarecastle was proposed and while they have excellent facilities there, there is no PA and no stand. Eventually Miltown came to the rescue and the games went ahead there. Over the following two days fourteen schools finals were played in the park. Taking the girls games out was hugely disappointing”, he said.
Head of Operations, Ann Marie Moran replied “weather was particularly bad in the previous days. Groundsman David Hoey made the call as he felt that going ahead with the games would have put the pitch in jeopardy for the other finals and there were hurling, camogie and ladies football fixtures also to be involved. It was nothing to do with the code, they had to be pulled to safeguard the pitch which had cut up around the middle”.
Curtin questioned, “how much damage would these girls do, it left a bad taste”.
Chairman Kieran Keating said “there is a lot of respect for the work David Hoey does”.
Vice Chairman Michael O’Connor told the meeting that he “attended all of the school finals that week including the Wild Atlantic Way finals in Lissycasey and the girls finals that were switched to Miltown. There was surface water on the pitch which wasn’t in good state after all of the rain. Miltown was in outstanding form”.
Senior football manager’s report:
In a detailed written report to Clare GAA, senior football manager Paul Madden said “ undoubtedly, the overriding feeling at the end of the 2026 campaign, from a results perspective, is one of disappointment. Throughout our first six months together as a group, while it may seem difficult to explain this as we wanted more, there have been several positives and signs of what the group can achieve. From a management perspective it must be said that the players, including those on the initial panel, who committed to Clare football in 2026 all wanted to represent their County and gave everything they had by way of attitude and effort and they must be commended for this.
“As a Management team we are acutely aware that Clare football needs to be better. We acknowledge, on completing an extensive end of year review, that improvements can be made moving forward. What is very clear is the desire to be better from a players and management perspective is evident. On a personal note I would like to thank the Management and Support Group for their loyalty, honesty and work throughout the campaign”.
The manager’s report was read to the board meeting on Tuesday by chairman Kieran Keating.
At the outset the manager listed his management and support team of Kieran Murphy (coach), Ger Quinlan (Selector), Shane Daniels (Selector), Antoine Mobian (S&C Coach), Megan Downes (Support S&C), Bernard Power (GK Coach), Aine Moloney (Physio), Ger Crotty (Physio), Dr. Ronan Flynn (Team Doctor), Paul Flanagan (Sports Psychologist), Nicole Shaw (Nutritionist), Paddy Smyth (Liaison Officer) Kieran McDermott (Video), Jim Marinan (Kit), Mark Collins (Kit), Morgan Rowland (Kit), John Hehir (Stats), Niall Connolly (Stats), Gary Duggan (Stats), Kieran Donnolly (Stats) and Diarmuid Whelan (Stats /Video).
Madden recalled, “The general support and well wishes received on my appointment as manager of the senior football team from the people of Clare was certainly very encouraging. As a Clare man taking on this role, one which I am hugely proud to have, I was acutely aware the learning curve would be steep and unforgiving at times. Without question senior inter county management was going to be a big step up and a challenge. The first, and most important role as an incoming manager, was to appoint a management team in a relatively short period of time. From the onset I felt critical to putting a team together was to gather a group of people who were hard working, diligent and, most importantly, wanted to be there for the benefit of Clare football”.
Open dialogue has existed with club managers, he said. “It was always my intention to invite a large group of players into the initial set up. The purpose of this was to give our club players the belief that playing well in local league and championships would not go unnoticed. Critical in this process was an open dialogue with club managers, one which was maintained throughout the 2026 campaign. Without progressive clubs and good club players we will never have good County players one leads to the other, albeit, it is a huge step up from a conditioning and skill level perspective”.
Clare’s first collective session took place on November 22nd in Caherlohan before beginning the McGrath Cup on January 2nd and the National Footbal League on January 24th. “We then had a singular focus on our Munster semi-final meeting with All Ireland champions Kerry in Cusack Park on April 25 . While we acquitted ourselves well in the overall context of the game the end result was still a loss which can never be viewed as a positive for Clare football”.
The manager went on to say “The Tailteann Cup, our first time in this competition, represented a chance for us to compete on another National stage. Unfortunately, we lost to Offaly in Round 1 and again to Longford in Round 2 which ultimately ended our season at the end of May. It is definitely a major frustration that we exited this competition early”.
He added, “throughout the last six months we have developed great relationships with the many volunteers that work for the betterment of Clare GAA” and he went on to thank each of those adding that “relations with Brian Lohan, the Clare senior hurling management and squad have been excellent throughout this campaign and reinforce the fact that we are a very proud dual County striving to be the best we can. For Clare football the ambition is to play in big games in the future and we need not look further than our hurlers for inspiration in this regard. We wish Brian and his squad all the best in the upcoming All Ireland semi-final.
Madden praised Chair of Coiste na nÓg Peil Joe Considine and his officers for “excellent work putting frameworks in place for Clare underage football for 2026 and beyond”. He described minor manager Joe Hayes and U20 manager Dermot Coughlan as “two of the very best ambassadors for Clare Football. Both have coached and managed their respective teams with great distinction and are providing real professional environments for players to develop and become future Clare senior football stars. Dermot and I have worked particularly well this term and have used each other as constant soundbites on how we can progress the talent pool of players forward for the benefit of Clare Football into the future. Football aside the way Dermot led his management team and his young group of players at the time of the tragic passing of Jack Boddy (RIP), a member of the Clare football family, can never be understated, a true sign of fantastic leadership”.
Concluding his report, Madden stated, “from a management perspective, we are bitterly disappointed with our results this term. Despite several positive moments, on the training ground and in matches throughout our first campaign consistency has been our biggest challenge and one which I believe we can improve on in 2027 and beyond. We do not take for granted the roles we have been given in Clare football and we will endeavour to work as hard as we can to justify our appointments and progress this talented group forward”.
U20 football report:
In a written report to the meeting Clare under 20 football manager Dermot Coughlan outlined the team’s schedule for the season under review.
“We commenced in November with an initial panel of 40 players and from there until Christmas we went every Monday night with S and C, Tuesday night, Friday and Sunday. We cut our panel on January 2nd and from there until championship we played a total of eight championship games against Offaly, Clare seniors, U.L., Sligo, Wicklow, Longford, Laois and Leitrim”.
The report went on to give details of Clare’s championship games. Following their first round win over Tipperary “there was a great shock with the untimely passing of our young S and C coach and colleague Jack Boddy”.
He thanked the County board and all who assisted during the year “in our efforts to develop and raise the profile of Clare football”.
Caherlohan Astro development:
Updating delegates about work on the development of the astro pitch at Caherlohan board chairman Kieran Keating said “it’s at the finish stone level now, carpet is due to be delivered sometime in July, fencing has been delivered, the foundations have been done for the floodlights, foundations have been dug for the ball stop nets and goalposts. The astro is progressing quite well and pretty much on budget, a couple of small over runs but nothing major. We can now go and get the design work done on the building and the stand and pitches six and seven. We will have to run another draw for the finishing of the project”.
Integration:
Replying to a question from Cooraclare delegate P.J. McGuane as to the planned integration of the GAA, camogie and LGFA organisations, chairman Kieran Keating told the meeting that “there is some further information to come from Croke Park in terms of guiding counties as to what is expected of them. Whether it will happen in 2027 or not depends on a decision of the three organisations at EGM’s to be held at the end of this year. If it can happen certainly there is no reason why we can’t be up to speed with it here in Clare”.
McGuane told the meeting he was “a bit concerned about the comment from the president when he said it would be a great revenue stream. I think the revenue will be going the other way, costing us money”.
Replying the chairman said “I think what he means is revenue into the association in terms of sponsorship and opportunities, to be able to lean on corporates to pump more money into the organisation”.
The Cooraclare delegate went on to say “we have been incorporated for years. Our ladies have an entitlement to have two on our executive and we have no problem. This county is already a dual county. We have succeeded very successfully in this county in maximising the cut off with regard to fixtures. The problem I have with these two organisations is that they can’t agree on fixtures with themselves and we want to bring them on board. You think you have a problem now with hurling and football but wait until you bring in ladies football and camogie into the equation, two organisations that won’t co-operate with each other”.
Replying the chairman said “those won’t be new problems, those problems are there at the moment and people are dealing with them” to which McGuane commented, “not very successfully”. Keating responded, “maybe not but one would be hoping that it would be easier to deal with those problems when we are co-ordinating our fixtures and those fixtures because venues are the problem, referees, what times. One would be hoping that we might do it better when looking at these collectively”.
Ruan’s Michael O’Regan asked if it “would be possible to have someone who is up to speed with this to speak to the clubs because there is a lot of misinformation.
Keating said he “will talk to Liam O’Reilly who is the chair of our integration work group about providing information to the delegates”.
St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield delegate Anthony O’Halloran told the meeting “our club is dual with hurling, football, ladies football and camogie, Our big problem is fixtures and pitch availability because we have so many teams looking for training slots and fixtures. There is absolute huge strain on our facilities at Gurteen. I am not cribbing about our facilities but we probably haven’t enough pitches to alleviate the problem. We are trying to get two slots per pitch per evening, a 6.30p.m. slot and an 8pm slot so that we can get the maximum. We have huge co-operation with Bord na nÓg iomaint who have accommodated us with .6.30p.m. slots for all matches and that allows another slot at 8p.m. We are asking for the juvenile football board to accommodate us with a similar facility”.
Clare juvenile football secretary Frances O’Sullivan said “where possible we are facilitating that but it is dependent on who the opposition are. Sometimes the opposition is from West and North Clare and a 6.30pm fixture would see parents and mentors having to take time off work”.
“O’Halloran replied, “we have no problem with the odd team that has to come from North or West Clare. We play all of our football in the A division and most of the teams are local to us. We have no problem with an odd game”.
Miltown development;
St. Joseph’s Miltown are to develop a training pitch at Spanish Point and the meeting sanctioned this development on the proposition of Michael O’Connor, seconded by Paddy Smyth.
John Hynes tournament
Ennistymon hurling club will host the annual John Hynes memorial tournament with the semi-finals on Monday July 15 and the final on Saturday July 18. Permission was given on the proposition of Kieran Harvey seconded by Robert Frost.
Congratulations:
Congratulation was extended to Clarecastle delegate Tommy Guilfoyle on his election as Mayor of Ennis last week. Chairman Kieran Keating also extended congratulations to Corofin’s Joe Killeen who was elected as Mayor of Clare.
August meeting:
The August meeting of the board will take place on Tuesday August 12 at a venue to be decided.
Announcing the date of the meeting the chairman said that he plans to hold the meeting at a venue other that Clareabbey. “We will look at going to West or North Clare”, he said
Parish rule:
Parteen/Meelick delegate Kieran O’Halloran told the meeting that “some players from our parish are still playing with Cratloe. We are in discussions with Cratloe and with the help of the board and good will of Cratloe we are hopeful we can bring the issue to a conclusion in the near future”.
Chairman Kieran Keating “we have been in communication with your chairman about that”.
