*John Conlon and Mike Casey in battle. Photograph: Martin Connolly
Stuart Holly, Editor of The Clare Echo says Clare’s hurling followers baying for blood should get a grip.
Weekly readers of The Clare Echo will have noted by now that the editorโs opinion gets a very rare outing. Truth be told, Iโm not a fan – better to let the news speak for itself.
However this week Iโm making an exception for the Clare hurlers and management, who have been thrown under a big, stinking double decker bus. Itโs very easy to kick someone while theyโre down and unfortunately, sections of the public and โ maybe less predictably – of the local media have been good at it this week.
Behaving like a vengeful, scorned ex-wife.
For Donal Moloney, Gerry OโConnor and the Clare players collectively, this is undoubtedly their lowest point since October 2016 when they took the reins, full of hope that they might bring Clare to the promised land just as they had done with the U21s three times in a row. They almost did it last year and to a man, we all observed with pride the journey that the Clare senior hurlers brought us on. Iโm sure, Iโm not the only one who heard the expression โthem lads owe us nothingโ thrown about outside Croke Park and Semple Stadium during the heat wave of last year. But talk is cheap and 2019 is a new year.
Following two heavy defeats in two weeks in which Clare were steamrolled, the Banner has been lowered to the ground and stamping on it has become a blood sport. Much like the destiny of a losing Roman gladiator being decided by the baying crowds and the thumbs-down of their emperor, a septic element has crept into a small minority of supporters who have a misguided sense of flippant lordship over the Clare hurling set-up.
The editor of a long-running local newspaper in Clare โ Iโm talking about Peter OโConnell of The Clare Champion โ had his say in last weekโs edition of that newspaper following a poor showing by the Banner against Tipperary at Cusack Park. Under the headline, โManagers and players let their county downโ, he wrote, โFor Clare to redeem themselves, the players need to take control. If by now they havenโt forcibly had it out with each other as a group, they will embarrass themselves and their county again on Sunday.โ
Not hard to read between the lines here โ he believes these young men are an embarrassment to themselves and our county. A panel of young athletes, and a backroom team, who put in hours and hours of commitment for the cause of representing their family, neighbours, friends, and GAA people across the county. They put themselves and their reputations on the line to serve as summer entertainment for many people they do not know personally, who they happen to share a geographic location with. All of this for nothing but a love of the game and no pay cheque.
Mr OโConnell followed that article up with a tweet on Sunday before the dust had settled on another walloping, this time at the hands of Limerick, suggesting that the management step down with immediate effect. He has since deleted that tweet but left up another one saying he would โideallyโ like them to be replaced by former Clare captain and manager Anthony Daly. A colleague of Peterโs referred to Clareโs display as โfarcicalโ. To giddily call for the immediate resignation of the management team who have given up so much of their lives โ unpaid, believe it or not โ to coach an amateur sporting team? Get a grip, lads. Notably, balanced analysis came from Anthony Daly himself in his article with The Irish Examiner on Monday.
While Iโm a huge Clare hurling supporter, rugby is my game and another OโConnell, with the first name Paul, is a man of great balance. More than once he has spoken about reacting to public criticism (and equally hype). His view on it is that a team is never as good as theyโre hyped up to be and never as bad as theyโre made out to be when they fall under the public microscope.
To state the obvious here; nobody is hurting more than the Clare hurlers and backroom team. Clare senior hurlingโs communications officer, Mark Dunphy addressed recent online commentary about the Clare players and management as โway over the topโ while Mark OโDonnell, a former member of their backroom team, labelled the personal abuse thrown at amateur sports people who commit 30+ hours per week for Clare hurling as โdisgustingโ, adding that our local media and broadcasters โshould be ashamed of themselvesโ. And they should.
What I personally find most unfair is the lack of integrity shown by those baying for blood. They could take a leaf out of Donal Moloney and Gerry OโConnorโs book, perfectly illustrated by an article by Malachy Clerkin which recounted the โmid-winter frenzyโ that followed Clareโs 2013 All-Ireland win.
โShane OโDonnellโs life was everyoneโs but his ownโฆEveryone and his mother wanted a piece of OโDonnell at the time, to the point where he didnโt want to leave the house and couldnโt face the thought of having to deal with people. But the one voice that pierced the babel belonged to Donal Moloney. They huddled in the corner of a hotel in Cork away from the noise and talked about life and hurling and everything and nothing.
โThe process of re-engaging with life as he knew it started there and then. โHeโs more than just a hurling manager,โ OโDonnell told The Irish Times when he recounted the story. Moloney and Gerry OโConnor have had countless conversations like that with the Clare players over the past decade. Some of them, like Conor McGrath, Conor Ryan, Pat OโConnor, theyโve had under their wing since they were 13. Theyโve watched them grow into men, decide on where their lives would go outside of hurling and find their way in the game all the while.โ
It appears, here are two men who care about the fortunes of their players and truly understand the pressures of inter-county hurling. So why now, is it socially acceptable for supporters and commentators to publicly belittle them? Because of two heavy defeats?
Donal Moloney said this week, โGenuine fans will recognise it when players have been through a tough time, theyโll respond by providing them with good support.โ
If Clare fall short this weekend, fine, but let the management team fall with the grace and respect they deserve. But until then, donโt cut them down. They have a battle on their hands at Cusack Park and I believe they utterly deserve that chance to show what fight is left.