*Kevin Sammon. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
KEVIN Sammon hopes to be celebrating a major hurling win for the second time in a few weeks come Saturday evening.
At the end of May, he managed Roscommon senior hurlers to victory in the final of the Nicky Rackard cup played at Croke Park where they scored a memorable win over their neighbours Mayo.
On top of his role with the Rossies, the Bodyke native has been part of the management team with the Clare minor hurlers where he serves as a selector. “I was lucky to be involved with Roscommon and it was great to win. I am privileged to be involved with my own county, its fabulous to be in this position with my own county. There are loads of lads around the county that love to be in this position”.
Sammon has been involved with development squads in Clare for close to seven years and has worked up close with minor manager Ger O’Connell for four years. “Ger brought me into what is a fabulous and tight knit group and I am satisfied that we have loads of talented players and coaches in the county. I have been involved with the development squads for the last six or seven years and with Ger for the last four years. The work he puts in is massive and the work Club Clare has done is unbelievable”.
Kilkishen based Kevin added, “This is a development process and while all of the players involved at development squad level won’t come through, you will get a percentage that will”.
Reaching the final is satisfying given the amount of work put in by players and management but claiming silverware would top it off, he admitted. “It’s been a tough campaign. The finalists beat two very fancied teams in the semi-finals. Clare have improved steadily this season. One could see the improvement in Clare in last week’s semi-final from when we played Cork in round two in Tulla. Kilkenny were fancied by most to win this title so Waterford’s win over them shows how good Waterford are. We will not be taking anything for granted. We are delighted to be in the final, the amount of work that has gone in, not just this year but over the years, has been huge. It’s a reward to be in the final but when you get this far you want to go on and get over the line”.
Kevin believes that the development squad system is very beneficial to Clare. “The planning that goes in now is massive, the amount of players Clare bring through is massive. We started with 70 players and then you get to your core for this team and then you have the Celtic Challenge team and you are bringing them through as well, you are bringing the bones of 70 players through every year, go back 20 years or less and there was none of that. Being in a second minor final in three years is massive and it shows what is going on at development level”.
Support for the county’s minor has been very visible, he noted as he praised the backing from Clare supporters. “I don’t think there are any like them, anywhere you go since we qualified for the final, it’s all talk about the game. We love our hurling in Clare and everyone knows that”.
