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*Lissycasey’s Shane Griffin. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
COINCIDENCES and chances, Lissycasey won their first Cusack Cup in 2007, they won their maiden Clare SFC in the same year, a third league title followed last month and what they’d give to have the Jack Daly alongside the trophy for company.
David Considine was a selector for the historic success of 2007 where the warriors of Martin Daly and Colin Lynch were in central spots in their 0-11 0-6 win over Éire Óg.
Nineteen years on, Considine is back involved at senior level, this time as manager. He has assembled arguably as strong as a ticket as is available in Lissycasey.
Joe Hayes, the goalkeeper of the 2007 side, a former Clare goalkeeper, currently in charge of the county minors with experience of coaching Clare and Tipperary’s senior football sides is on board as coach.
So too is Ger Keane, a Clare great and one of the most respected coaches in the county. John Joe McMahon has had his hand on Lissycasey’s success at minor level in recent years while Brian Geary represented the Limerick senior hurlers for thirteen seasons as a towering centre back.
Reflecting on the move to form this management late last year, David reflected, “I’ve been involved with the club from a management point of view in some way since 2007, I was a senior selector in 2007, I was with U21s the following year for about three or four years, I was with Conor Finnucane’s team from U15 upwards until U21, then another group with the likes of Daire Culligan from U12 to U15. I’ve been with club teams every year for twenty years, I’ve been with the Junior As and Bs at various stages, I’ve had a role at every age group over the last twenty years. The position became available at the end of last year, I played with Joe, I’ve worked with Ger Keane and John Joe and played at junior level with Brian, he is a Limerick man as most people know but he transferred to the club about ten years ago”.
He continued, “It’s something we were happy to do in the sense to try keep it in-house, we’ve had great success with managers and backroom teams outside the club, by that I mean success as in being competitive without winning much silverware, we all knew each other quite well, I worked with the lads at various different stages, if there is something I have forgotten I know the other four lads won’t have forgotten it, they are an exceptional group to work with, there is no drama, they are hard working and they want the best for the club”.
Familiar with his colleagues in management, David also knows the players inside out and was over the U16 winning side of 2012 that also won minor in 2014. “We came very close to winning the U21 on three occasions but never won it, lost two finals and a semi-final, the semi-final was the worst, we were close but never got over it”.
Quarter-finalists for the last seven seasons, Lissycasey will be looking to really make inroads this year. “The group got to the semi-final last year and were beaten by Éire Óg who have been lynchpins in last number of years, they have won numerous titles in the last six years, they’ve been out in front for the last few years. There’s very little between the teams behind that, we could be one or three of five or six, the target is to get out of the group and if you get to knockout football it is a game by game basis then, you can’t be dreaming of a county final then because there are another seven teams to navigate through, all you need is a tough group, some injuries and we’ve dual players so questions get asked of the panel very fast. We are targeting round one, then our second round and round three, after that you’re hoping to be in a quarter-final and you’re trying to be even more consistent for knockout games”.
Preparations for the Clare SFC have gone as well as they could with Lissycasey winning the Cusack Cup for the third time, Thomas Collins’ two-pointer free giving them spoils over St Joseph’s Miltown. “At the start of the league we wouldn’t have set out to have silverware as the top priority, it was understanding we had a lot of lads away, between different teams and injuries we were down ten to twelve lads. We wanted to build a good squad for later in the year when the U20s and county seniors finished up, we wanted everyone playing to the highest level possible and for good training so when the inter-county guys rejoin that they didn’t see it as a drop off when going back to the club so our standards were high from the outset”.
Among their county representatives is Aaron Griffin who over the past two seasons has been in his best form in saffron and blue. A knee injury means he is out of action for round one and doubtful until the end of August. “We’ve no idea yet when Aaron will be back, he has been exceptional for a couple of years for Clare, this year was probably his most prominent, he is a high quality forward, he is a loss for us but we’ve had plenty of players missing during the year, we’ve to focus on what and who we have in the four walls of our dressing room on the day. We are focusing on the guys that are there and dying to play a match as opposed to who is not available. We are hoping he will be back before the end of the group stages but certain injuries need time to heal, we won’t risk him in any shape or form, he will play when he is right to play”.
Ability and promise within their squad is clear to see, fulfilling their potential is the big challenge. “The management group over the last few years the panels had a lot of younger lads joining the squad each year which is difficult, you think you’re settling and you have four more out of minor, it takes a while to bed that into a senior team, underage success is not a recipe for guaranteed success at senior, we’ve lads a couple of years out of minor for three or four years that has given us a good nucleus of a squad that you are hoping will close the gap with Éire Óg. We’re not talking about lifting the Jack Daly, we’re talking about getting our standards to a consistent level, we’ve lacked consistency, on any given day we could match any team in the county but we could also be drawn into a relegation battle because a lot of teams would have targeted us. We want to be consistent with our performances, that starts with Corofin and we’ll take no game for granted, they will target this no different to how we will, the aim is to relieve pressure and if you lose your first game it applies more pressure, that has been the focus for us, it is not really saying the end goal is winning the championship, our aim is about week to week consistent performances”.
“Every year brings along different things, age profile is the most important, we’ve a nice blend of players. Last year we had six players that were 18 joining he squad, the year before it was four and another four the year before that, getting used to playing adult football regularly at senior level can take time, coming out of underage you can still tend to play a different way. The new rules has changed stuff too, what you learned two years ago has changed from last year, it has gone very tactical but it is allowing more front foot football, we still have a young athletic group and hoping to take advantage of that by playing open football,” he added.
Corofin are up first this Saturday before Lissycasey take on Kilmurry Ibrickane and St Breckans. “It is a tough group, no group is easy nowadays, when the draw was made it creates some excitement, you know who you are up against, there’s nothing easy in this group. No matter if you were clear favourites, the first game is always the target, we won’t win a championship after the first game but you can put yourself in a tough position to come out if you don’t win it, there won’t be much between any of the four teams”.
So David Considine is back involved with Lissycasey’s senior footballers in a year where they have already won the Cusack Cup. What was that Ted Lasso line again? “Well, that’s the funny thing about coincidences, ain’t it? Sometimes they just happen”.
Lissycasey Factfile
Management: David Considine (manager), John Joe McMahon (coach/selector), Ger Keane (coach/selector), Joe Hayes (coach/selector), Brian Geary (coach/selector), Megan Downes (S&C), Justin Griffin (liaison officer/kit man), Áine Slattery (physio).
Captain: Darragh Killeen
Key Player: Daire Culligan
One to watch: Conor Hill
Fresh blood: Evan Cleary, Shane Cotter, David King, Philip Talty, (transferred),
Departures Gate: None.
Treatment table: Aaron Griffin (knee).
Titles won: 1 (2007)
Last season’s run: Knocked out in the semi-finals by champions Éire Óg 2-10 0-9.
Schedule of games:
Round 1 vs Corofin on Saturday August 1st at 13:00 in Clarecastle
Round 2 vs Kilmurry Ibrickane on Friday August 14th at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg, Ennis
Round 3 vs St Breckans on Sunday August 30th at 13:00 in Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown Malbay
Championship power ranking (1=weak/unlikely winners, 10=strong contenders): 9
