*Damien O’Halloran. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
ALL-IRELAND winning coach Damien O’Halloran is moving from the Clare minors to the U20 hurlers for 2026.
A three-time All-Ireland winning minor championship coach, O’Halloran is making the step up from the county minors to Terence Fahy’s U20s.
Kilnamona native Damien has been head coach of the Clare minor hurlers for four seasons including their 2023 All-Ireland and Munster success. He was coach of the Jeffrey Lynskey managed Galway side that claimed All-Ireland honours at the minor grade in 2017 and 2018.
O’Halloran is one of three exits from Ger O’Connell’s county minor hurling management with goalkeeper coach Denise Lynch and selector Podge Collins bowing out.
An All-Ireland Poc Fada champion, Kilmaley’s Denise had also been involved with the county minors for four seasons.
Cratloe’s Collins who has also coached the Mary Immaculate College Fitzgibbon Cup hurlers joined the management following O’Connell’s appointment with the side going on to contest the All-Ireland final where they lost to Waterford 1-18 0-10.
Development of players and coaches had been underlined as a key focus of O’Connell since succeeding Brian O’Connell as manager and this will come to fruition with existing members of the management stepping up to new roles.
Clooney/Quin’s Barry Corbett takes on the role of Head Coach. He has spent two seasons as coach of the Clooney/Quin senior hurlers in 2022 and 2023 reachingt the quarter-finals in both campaigns and has been coach of the Tulla intermediate hurlers in 2024 and 2025.
Kevin McNamara of Kilmaley who has steered his club to success in the U21A hurling championship in 2019 along with coaching the Roscommon hurlers is back for a second season and is expected to have a more prominent coaching role.
Ex Roscommon hurling manager, Kevin Sammon and St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield clubman Paul Mannion remain on board as selectors with Clare PIHC winning goalkeeper Killian Nugent of O’Callaghans Mills expected to fill the mantle as goalkeeper coach. Derrick Morris remains as S&C coach with the minors with Barry O’Connell of Clonlara responsible for stats and video analysis.
Manager O’Connell confirmed to The Clare Echo that O’Halloran, Lynch and Collins would not be involved for 2026. “Damien O’Halloran has moved on, he has done his time at minor at this stage, between Galway and Clare, he has six or seven years done. For me coming in as a first-time manager, his experience was huge in what I took from him and us as a group, I can’t thank him enough for what he has done for us this year. Denise Lynch proudly had a baby girl a few months ago and she is busy now to be coming to Caherlohan early on a Saturday morning and I’m delighted for Denise, a fantastic goalkeeping coach and a great person. Podge has moved on too, he is a real good mentor to the younger lads, they have great admiration for him, you can’t beat having an ex-player that all the boys would know and look up to and hop questions off, he is a real energetic character.
“The three lads are gone but I’ve a core group of management and if you can keep a core group together for three or four years you bounce off each other and you get comfortable in each other’s skin, that is what happened with the group I have. Barry Corbett is now head coach, Kevin McNamara, Kevin Sammon is a legend, Paul Mannion who has been really helpful behind the scenes, my own brother Barry (O’Connell) is doing stats and analysis, Derrick Morris is doing S&C, it is a quality team and I’m lucky to have these people around me, I’m really looking forward to it”.
O’Connell was among the spectators in Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg this weekend as Sixmilebridge and Corofin/Ruan claimed the Minor A and B hurling titles respectively. He confirmed trials will be held before their panel is determined for 2026. “We are going to get eighty players to trial and end up with thirty one or thirty two, we’ll have two Celtic Challenge teams too so it is unbelieveable the amount of U17 lads that will be playing for Clare in 2026, it is fantastic, it is not the be all and end all to win an All-Ireland but it is to stay competitive, to try get these lads as far as we can in their development before they go to adult hurling”.
Reflecting on his debut season as Clare minor manager, the 1997 All-Ireland minor winning goalkeeper said, “It has been challenging, you’re taking over from legends that have brought Clare underage hurling to a different level, I’d be a huge admirer of what BOC had done with that minor group, it is not just that, there is so much work that goes on in Clare underage hurling at the moment that nobody sees like the winter mornings at 7am when parents are dropping off their kids in Caherlohan, Clareabbey or Ballyline, it is phenomenal the amount of unseen work that has been done and the unselfish work that is done by coaches, parents and players to try get Clare to a level to be able to perform and to get to All-Ireland finals if possible but the main thing is to be competitive against all the top quality teams in Ireland.
“Luckily we have been really competitive for the last four or five years at minor level but at the end of the day for me it is all about getting these lads up to U2O and senior, keeping our senior team strong for the next generation, that is the whole purpose of the focus and insight that was brought by Kieran McDermott, Peter Casey and Donal Moloney, their foresight was to keep Clare hurling at the top table for as long as we could, if I can do my part to help along the journey because we’re all proud Clare people, we all want to see our teams be really competitive, I thoroughly enjoyed last year, it was challenging, we won some, lost some and learned along the way, we’ve all become better people because of it. I’m going back next year with a completely new group and that is where you trust the development system which is there in Clare, the quality in coaching that these young hurlers are getting is top class between S&C, nutrition, psychology, you name it they’re getting it, Clare GAA should be really proud of how they are treating these players”.
