Clare GAA discussion thread

premierstone

Thinkstoomuch wrote: »

I remember Eoin Larkin saying a while back Clare wouldnt win an all ireland with Davy.I woudnt be too harsh on him just yet.Its a young clare team still.

Have been saying the same thing myself for some time, he was the wrong appointment at the wrong time, Clare have their most natually talented generation of hurlers ever right now and they need to be managed correctly, Dav'y in your face bluntness is not what they need, and he was badly exposed tactically yesterday.

But as is with Davy, they have gotten the soft draw with Loais next and in all likelyhood Wexford after that as they can't face Waterford, he may not be very shrewd but by jaysus he is the luckiest manager I have ever seen.

Thinkstoomuch

pakalasa wrote: »

You're being very kind. I was at the game and like a lot of other Clare supporters are wondering will Davy go now. That hand passing game is an embarassment. Looks great when it works but when the pressure is on, it turns into a farce. Awfull to watch a team of great hurlers like that reduced to silly handpassing.

i know the feeling.I have tortured that myself watching our footballers be inhibited for years doing the same thing.

The expectation got to the Clare too.I had felt as u21winners they had the mentality to cope but yesterday they were expected to win and had no real passion or bite.
Clare under davy always seem to play like its us against the whole world.Yesterday they expected it to happen.

It is a totally different pressure winning when everyone expects you to.Every pundit had said Clare.Their young and will learn from that defeat.You could see the way the players were on the field.They seemed suffocated under expectation.Whatever about being beaten it was the way they were and the lack of the usal intensity that was suprising.

Whether Davy should go or not now is not the right time.It would be panic stations if he went.He is like a dog with a bone.The more he is wanted to resign the more he will dig in .He loves the challenge.Its been that way all hes life.I cant seem going even under criticism.
And the fact hes father is the County board chairman he will not be sacked.
He will definetly see out the term.

He more or less said that after the game.Whatever happens he said we will keep trying and be back next year.

Clareman

Davy isn't going anywhere isn't going anywhere until he wants to go, his father is the Don of the County Board and his sister is the chairperson of the supporters club, but I won't start that rant or else I'll be the first mod on boards to ban themselves for breaking all the rules.

The short passing game is all fine and dandy when you've a half forward line contesting for the ball and you've midfield running on to the ball to make space/extra men, yesterday however Clare were found out by Cork. In the first half the half forwards spent most of their time back in defence and weren't able to get up in support, in the first half Honan had the beating of the Cork backs all day but hadn't any support, at 1 stage he had the ball for nearly a minute waiting for support.

Injuries didn't help yesterday, Conlon and Morey were massive losses, but the fact that we didn't have a plan B (again) cost us. My 2 cents on our failings would be

• Over Reliance on the short passing game - the players are more interested in looking for someone to pass the ball to within 10 meters than hitting the ball
• No freedom for players to do their own thing - the players are constantly looking at the sideline for advice on what to do
• Easy to defend against - Cork just brought everyone back within their own 65 and let Clare come on to them
• Lacking a "target" forward - I think Tony Kelly is 1 of the best young players in the country, but he's not a centre forward, we need to get a big bruiser (ala Conor Clancy) who'll get the ball and make it available to the others.
• No Plan B - I know I'm a broken record, but when things aren't working we don't have another option.

Finally, why oh why do we insist on going for goal from 21 yard frees, more often than not it doesn't come off.

Thinkstoomuch

Clareman wrote: »

Davy isn't going anywhere isn't going anywhere until he wants to go, his father is the Don of the County Board and his sister is the chairperson of the supporters club, but I won't start that rant or else I'll be the first mod on boards to ban themselves for breaking all the rules.

The short passing game is all fine and dandy when you've a half forward line contesting for the ball and you've midfield running on to the ball to make space/extra men, yesterday however Clare were found out by Cork. In the first half the half forwards spent most of their time back in defence and weren't able to get up in support, in the first half Honan had the beating of the Cork backs all day but hadn't any support, at 1 stage he had the ball for nearly a minute waiting for support.

Injuries didn't help yesterday, Conlon and Morey were massive losses, but the fact that we didn't have a plan B (again) cost us. My 2 cents on our failings would be

• Over Reliance on the short passing game - the players are more interested in looking for someone to pass the ball to within 10 meters than hitting the ball
• No freedom for players to do their own thing - the players are constantly looking at the sideline for advice on what to do
• Easy to defend against - Cork just brought everyone back within their own 65 and let Clare come on to them
• Lacking a "target" forward - I think Tony Kelly is 1 of the best young players in the country, but he's not a centre forward, we need to get a big bruiser (ala Conor Clancy) who'll get the ball and make it available to the others.
• No Plan B - I know I'm a broken record, but when things aren't working we don't have another option.

Finally, why oh why do we insist on going for goal from 21 yard frees, more often than not it doesn't come off.

I said the same myself,No way will davy be sacked.He could even go for a second term .Critics dont affect him at all but actually drive him on.

He is extremely bullish and at times its either hes way or no way.I wouldnt write him off just yet but their does seem to be problems within Clare.

The injuries affected ye ,I have no doubt,but in comparision to us ,we were more badly affected and Clare with the bench they had and having already played a game and the fact it was in the Gaelic ground still had all the aces .

If this was a full strength Cork side from last year,it woudnt be too bad but beaten by a depleted squad is a big set back this year for ye.But this is a young team that has overcame set backs before.

What must be worrying is yere intermediates lost also with a lot of the U21 panel.But one benfit is they can now focus soley on the U21 game against waterford.

A big game in waterford now for those lads and the lads that played for the seniors yesterday.

I know how you feel in relation to the poltics of County boards.You make thing ye have problems,you can console yourself in its nothing like Corks.

Davy has a tight inner circle with hes sister over the supporters club.When you have too many family members involved at different levels of a county set up its not healthy to be honest.As no one is going to go against their own.

rebel girl 15

Clareman, I don't think Davy is calling all the shots within that management team, judging by what I heard yesterday from a friend of mine who watched the backroom team at half time. And she'd be very astute with things like that - he didn't seem to be the one suggesting any changes. Thats how she saw it anyway!

If I told you about the state of the dressing room before the game, I'd be afraid of how you'd react!

Clareman

Are you talking about the posters and other stuff that's put up? Are you talking about the "main" dressing room or the backup dressing room, he has 28 of a backroom team, they don't all fit in the 1 dressing room.

In fairness to Fitzy, he surrounds himself with people and gets loads and loads of stats, the fact that he doesn't use the stats in the right way is a different thing. I see he's complaining about the frees given against us, I'd be more worried about the players "tackling" style than the ref.

sasta le

28 backroom??

Thinkstoomuch

Clareman wrote: »

Are you talking about the posters and other stuff that's put up? Are you talking about the "main" dressing room or the backup dressing room, he has 28 of a backroom team, they don't all fit in the 1 dressing room.

In fairness to Fitzy, he surrounds himself with people and gets loads and loads of stats, the fact that he doesn't use the stats in the right way is a different thing. I see he's complaining about the frees given against us, I'd be more worried about the players "tackling" style than the ref.

I had to look twice at this when you said 28 backroom staff.Jesus that most be a record for an ameateur team.Id hate to see the County board bill.
Im all for using rescoures etc but in this case could too many cooks spoil the broth????

Sounds as bad as Clive woodward when he had an outrageous number of backroom staff on the lions tour of 2005.

I dont think Clare lost the game on frees.Davy should know that.
I remember Cork lads saying we got beaten on frees in the playoff.It was nonense like this is.
Simple fact is the better team on the day won those matches.

grimbergen

Clareman wrote: »

Are you talking about the posters and other stuff that's put up? Are you talking about the "main" dressing room or the backup dressing room, he has 28 of a backroom team, they don't all fit in the 1 dressing room.

In fairness to Fitzy, he surrounds himself with people and gets loads and loads of stats, the fact that he doesn't use the stats in the right way is a different thing. I see he's complaining about the frees given against us, I'd be more worried about the players "tackling" style than the ref.

Whats this about posters?? I agree with your analysis by the way, the players are beaten down and the initiative has been suffocated out of them. It's hard to imagine any other inter-county manager giving a post match interview like he gave yesterday.

Hidalgo

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Clareman, I don't think Davy is calling all the shots within that management team, judging by what I heard yesterday from a friend of mine who watched the backroom team at half time. And she'd be very astute with things like that - he didn't seem to be the one suggesting any changes. Thats how she saw it anyway!

If I told you about the state of the dressing room before the game, I'd be afraid of how you'd react!

Davy is most definitely calling the shots. If anything, I'd wager that being a selector on a Davy managed team gives you very little input.

Hidalgo

grimbergen wrote: »

Whats this about posters?? I agree with your analysis by the way, the players are beaten down and the initiative has been suffocated out of them. It's hard to imagine any other inter-county manager giving a post match interview like he gave yesterday.

Over-coached or over-managed I think. Far too much micro management which means very little freedom on the field for the players to think on their feet.

Clareman

grimbergen wrote: »

Whats this about posters?? I agree with your analysis by the way, the players are beaten down and the initiative has been suffocated out of them. It's hard to imagine any other inter-county manager giving a post match interview like he gave yesterday.

Before every match the dressing room is setup with motivational posters and other stuff. For the Cork league game the Donegal backroom staff were supposed have been going in taking photos and everything, they couldn't believe the setup.

rebel girl 15

Clareman wrote: »

Before every match the dressing room is setup with motivational posters and other stuff. For the Cork league game the Donegal backroom staff were supposed have been going in taking photos and everything, they couldn't believe the setup.

Replace posters for wallpaper, including many pictures of the 1995 and 1997 teams, and a giant poster of the man himself on the ceiling, lots of other motivational posters alright, whole place was covered!!!

Huge backroom set up alright, need a separate dressing room altogether.

If you read his piece about the Conlon injury, he said that he said to the lads that we'd have to take him off, rather than saying I knew he had to come off. Turn of phrase maybe, but I think with 28 on the backroom panel, I don't think too many would stick around if they weren't being heard. I could be putting two and two together and getting five rather than four, but thats what I've heard

premierstone

I know he is very well connected within the upper echelons etc. but is there a real possibility that if Clare exit the championship tamely enough that there will be a major revolt within the County Board and amongst the clubs in Clare, especially when the end of year accounts are announced, 28 of a backroom team and little or no progress been made, I don't care who daddy is that is not sustainable, one only has to look at the dire financial state Waterford are currently in, probably not all down to Davy, but I'm sure it didn't help.

Hidalgo

premierstone wrote: »

I know he is very well connected within the upper echelons etc. but is there a real possibility that if Clare exit the championship tamely enough that there will be a major revolt within the County Board and amongst the clubs in Clare, especially when the end of year accounts are announced, 28 of a backroom team and little or no progress been made, I don't care who daddy is that is not sustainable, one only has to look at the dire financial state Waterford are currently in, probably not all down to Davy, but I'm sure it didn't help.

Even if Clare bow out before a QF in a loss at home to Laois or in the following game V Wexford, I'd be extremely surprised if he lost the job.
He definitely won't walk and getting the p45 in the kind of circumstances involving a tame championship exit would do serious damage to his name as a manager, could even be irreparable damage.

There might be a change to the main backroom team regarding selectors etc but that's the only upheaval I'd expect with Davy still at the helm going into next year's league.

Thinkstoomuch

premierstone wrote: »

I know he is very well connected within the upper echelons etc. but is there a real possibility that if Clare exit the championship tamely enough that there will be a major revolt within the County Board and amongst the clubs in Clare, especially when the end of year accounts are announced, 28 of a backroom team and little or no progress been made, I don't care who daddy is that is not sustainable, one only has to look at the dire financial state Waterford are currently in, probably not all down to Davy, but I'm sure it didn't help.

I see your point but blood is thicker than water most of the time.Of course their is always an exception to every rule as Donal og Cuasck said Sunday night .

The exception in this case was as you would expect to be was Cork when blood was not thicker than water and rightly so Paudie Sullivan and the Rock went against their father Jerry chairman of the Cork County board and were on opposite sides of the strike.

When Sarsfields a club with close ties to the CCB ,asked all players to listen to their parents advice during the strike,at least the Rock and Pebbles were man enough to make up their own minds on right and wrong.

But yes the clubs hold the key like they did in the Cork strike.I dont know enough of Davy to in the current set up to say should he go or stay but he has a good record in fairness at the end of the day compared to others.

doz

There are some striking similarities between Davys Waterford set up and his Clare set up; a huge backroom staff with consequent spending increases, a horrible style of hurling involving short stick passing and hand passing and an over emphasis on fitness to the detriment of ball skills. I don't intend using this as a rant against Davy; he brought a lot of good things to our setup, namely a fantastic never say die attitude and generally kept us competitive at a time where we might have sunk under another manager.

However his style is not for all and a number of our players lost their way under him, due to the restrictive tactics employed in my view, and I would have concerns that this will happen in the current Clare setup also. The big difference between the jobs is that Davy kept us strong when we had no expectations and a number of lads were nearing the end; in contrast he now has arguably one of the finest technically skillful group of Clare players of all time and expectations are high. I didn't think he was the man for the job and still don't and would fear that the current group will not fulfill their potential while he remains in charge.

Hidalgo

Thinkstoomuch wrote: »

I see your point but blood is thicker than water most of the time.Of course their is always an exception to every rule as Donal og Cuasck said Sunday night .

The exception in this case was as you would expect to be was Cork when blood was not thicker than water and rightly so Paudie Sullivan and the Rock went against their father Jerry chairman of the Cork County board and were on opposite sides of the strike.

When Sarsfields a club with close ties to the CCB ,asked all players to listen to their parents advice during the strike,at least the Rock and Pebbles were man enough to make up their own minds on right and wrong.

But yes the clubs hold the key like they did in the Cork strike.I dont know enough of Davy to in the current set up to say should he go or stay but he has a good record in fairness at the end of the day compared to others.

I'm not sure if the clubs would be strong enough to go against Davy. I'd like to think they'd be willing to stand up but I wouldn't bet on it.

His record with Clare isn't really that hot, yes he got us up in the league last yr and kept us up this year.
In reality however we need to be aiming higher and not setting a ceiling of winning 1B leagues.

The crop of players we have coming through at the minute is the best we've ever had coming from underage to senior, for counties like Clare the window of opportunity to win major honours (Munsters & All Irelands) is very limited and we need to make maximum hay while the sun shines, because like an Irish summer, the rain is never far away.

If we don't win something major with this group, its not inconceivable to see us win nothing for quite some time.

We still have the same problems in the team as when Davy took over, over reliance and poor use of a hand passing game, forwards too static, trying to break tackles when we're not physically strong enough to do so and our HB line is not up to it.
It's up to the manager to try and rectify these problems, he hasn't done so for me.

Personally, I think Davy is the type of manager that will improve a lot of teams a step or 2 but not by enough to bring them to an elite level.

Unlike a county like Cork where complaints in the past revolved around players not being correctly looked after, we don't have that excuse. Whatever is wanted and needed is provided.

Clareman

I really don't want to get involved in a discussion on the state of the Clare County Board, but don't worry, Davy won't be going anywhere unless he wants to and there is no fear of a club revolt, they all know their place, in fact a lot of them would have been put in that place down through the years.

The fact of the matter is that Davy isn't a proven inter-county manager, no offence to Waterford and I don't mean any dis-respect, but anyone could have gotten that selection of gifted players to an All Ireland final, the fact that he didn't push on from there tells a lot. Clare needs to split from the team of the 90s and go outside the county, Len Gaynor did an awful lot to bring the 89 minors through in the 90s, it took Loughnane to get it the rest of the way, Clare now need someone like that to bring them on, not someone who thinks that fellas in their early 20s need to be training 5 or 6 nights a week or climbing mountains at the weekend. The way we are going now players are going to start to drift away and never be heard of again

threebeards

Clareman wrote: »

I really don't want to get involved in a discussion on the state of the Clare County Board, but don't worry, Davy won't be going anywhere unless he wants to and there is no fear of a club revolt, they all know their place, in fact a lot of them would have been put in that place down through the years.

The fact of the matter is that Davy isn't a proven inter-county manager, no offence to Waterford and I don't mean any dis-respect, but anyone could have gotten that selection of gifted players to an All Ireland final, the fact that he didn't push on from there tells a lot. Clare needs to split from the team of the 90s and go outside the county, Len Gaynor did an awful lot to bring the 89 minors through in the 90s, it took Loughnane to get it the rest of the way, Clare now need someone like that to bring them on, not someone who thinks that fellas in their early 20s need to be training 5 or 6 nights a week or climbing mountains at the weekend. The way we are going now players are going to start to drift away and never be heard of again

As an outsider looking in, but with a grá for the Clare hurlers, I have to agree. Davy Fitz is not proven and Clare are in danger of him inadvertently getting rid of the most talented set of hurlers to come through the ranks since the mid 90's.

If I'm to be honest, I think he's a joke and is of no benefit to the set up. Where I would disagree with you is in relation to going outside the county. I think ye have a ready made, top class manager in Anthony Daly, although I don't know what his contractual situation in Dublin is. While I accept he's not fully proven either, I think what he's done with Dublin far surpasses what Davy did in Waterford.

Clare, in my opinion, have the best collective set of young forwards that I've seen for years and it will need the right man to bring them to a Munster title and beyond, and the man to do that is not Davy Fitzgerald. The day Davy makes it more about the team and less about Davy Fitz, ye might have a chance but until then, I despair for ye.

Genuine best of luck in the qualifiers though.

Clareman

threebeards wrote: »

As an outsider looking in, but with a grá for the Clare hurlers, I have to agree. Davy Fitz is not proven and Clare are in danger of him inadvertently getting rid of the most talented set of hurlers to come through the ranks since the mid 90's.

If I'm to be honest, I think he's a joke and is of no benefit to the set up. Where I would disagree with you is in relation to going outside the county. I think ye have a ready made, top class manager in Anthony Daly, although I don't know what his contractual situation in Dublin is. While I accept he's not fully proven either, I think what he's done with Dublin far surpasses what Davy did in Waterford.

Clare, in my opinion, have the best collective set of young forwards that I've seen for years and it will need the right man to bring them to a Munster title and beyond, and the man to do that is not Davy Fitzgerald. The day Davy makes it more about the team and less about Davy Fitz, ye might have a chance but until then, I despair for ye.

Genuine best of luck in the qualifiers though.

Daly has already managed Clare. Since our last time winning anything (15 years ago) we've had Cyril Lyons (Sub in 95), Anthony Daly (Captain), Tony Considine (selector), Mike McNamera (selector), Ger O'Loughlin (forward) and Davey Fitz (goalie). Of those managers, 3 of them have been gotten rid of because of players, I doubt that our current crop of players will stand up to Davy, even if they did where would they go to? More than likely they will just start to drop off 1 by 1.

Hidalgo

Clareman wrote: »

I really don't want to get involved in a discussion on the state of the Clare County Board, but don't worry, Davy won't be going anywhere unless he wants to and there is no fear of a club revolt, they all know their place, in fact a lot of them would have been put in that place down through the years.

The fact of the matter is that Davy isn't a proven inter-county manager, no offence to Waterford and I don't mean any dis-respect, but anyone could have gotten that selection of gifted players to an All Ireland final, the fact that he didn't push on from there tells a lot. Clare needs to split from the team of the 90s and go outside the county, Len Gaynor did an awful lot to bring the 89 minors through in the 90s, it took Loughnane to get it the rest of the way, Clare now need someone like that to bring them on, not someone who thinks that fellas in their early 20s need to be training 5 or 6 nights a week or climbing mountains at the weekend. The way we are going now players are going to start to drift away and never be heard of again

I don't agree that we necessarily need to look outside the county.

In Cyril Lyons I feel there's an outstanding hurling coach with the added benefit of having worked with many of the players, and being extremely popular with players he's worked with in the past. His training often revolves around minimising basic errors, something we've been doing far too often.

I think whenever davy does eventually step away, it will be someone like Lyons as the money probably won't be there for an expensive set up/outside manager.

There are other good coaches in the county, whether they'd be up to intercounty is another question.
One being Michael Browne, 3 different county titles in Clare and also involved with Clareinbridge in the past when they had success.

Whoever is in charge of any team, one of the most important factors is a manager has to have total respect from his players and they have to want to play for him.
You could see that in Tipp under Liam Sheedy.

Hand on heart, Davy is such a divisive character it would be difficult to listen to him 3-4-5 nights a week over a log period of time.

Clareman

We have a very young team, most of the team would still be in college I'd guess, we need a teacher type trainer rather than someone doing loads of training.

I don't necessary mean that we have to go outside the county by the way, that doesn't necessary mean that we'll achieve anything, but we have to get away from the team that won the All Ireland's.

I also have a massive issue with the manager being the son of 1 of the only paid positions on the County Board, that has to be a major conflict of interest.

Hidalgo

Clareman wrote: »

We have a very young team, most of the team would still be in college I'd guess, we need a teacher type trainer rather than someone doing loads of training.

I don't necessary mean that we have to go outside the county by the way, that doesn't necessary mean that we'll achieve anything, but we have to get away from the team that won the All Ireland's.

I also have a massive issue with the manager being the son of 1 of the only paid positions on the County Board, that has to be a major conflict of interest.

Agreed, Cyril Lyons fits the teacher type thing.

He's the type of man that would improve hurling skills.

Another problem is that the team appears to be too flat for games, not pumped for championship.
I know there's no point in lads having steam in their ears, but they have to be focused and psyched to go.

sasta le

Was Sean Collins injured?

Anthony Daly within 2 years?

Clareman

I really really really really don't think we should be having anyone that was connected to the 90s teams, if we are looking to get Daly or Cyril back involved then we are just going around in circles. I think Cyril did a brilliant job with the under 21s and if he can/wants to he should keep involved with underage teams.

sasol

Someone above mentioned that players will start to drift off one by one - they have already started to do this. Two lads walked about a fortnight ago.

Davy was an excellent servant to Clare hurling and gave his heart and soul, in the 90's. However, this does not automatically make one, an intercounty manager.

Clare's biggest problem will be trying to get rid of Davy. He will be too proud/headstrong to step aside. The clubs won't make a move because they will be afraid of repercussions from the county board . We really are caught between a rock and a very very hard place.

The natural successors for me would have to be Gerry O Connor and Donal Moloney. These lads won Munster minor titles in 2010 and 2011 and a Munster and All Ire u-21 last year. Gerry and Donal would know the young lads inside out, and would presumably have full confidence of the players given the success they have shared. They also got the most out of the players while playing a great brand of hurling.

After Gerry and Donal, next on my list would be Cyril Lyons and John Minogue. Two great hurling men also.

But like I said, getting rid of Davy will be one hell of a battle. But it needs to be done before all this great talent gets p!ssed off and demoralized with the whole thing.

Thinkstoomuch

Clareman wrote: »

I really don't want to get involved in a discussion on the state of the Clare County Board, but don't worry, Davy won't be going anywhere unless he wants to and there is no fear of a club revolt, they all know their place, in fact a lot of them would have been put in that place down through the years.

The fact of the matter is that Davy isn't a proven inter-county manager, no offence to Waterford and I don't mean any dis-respect, but anyone could have gotten that selection of gifted players to an All Ireland final, the fact that he didn't push on from there tells a lot. Clare needs to split from the team of the 90s and go outside the county, Len Gaynor did an awful lot to bring the 89 minors through in the 90s, it took Loughnane to get it the rest of the way, Clare now need someone like that to bring them on, not someone who thinks that fellas in their early 20s need to be training 5 or 6 nights a week or climbing mountains at the weekend. The way we are going now players are going to start to drift away and never be heard of again

Thats fair enough ,you dont want to talk about that.

I would like to ask one question but if you dont want to answer it fair enough,no bother at all.I dont want names or anything but when you say 28 staff is on the backroom team ,whats the breakdown of that.
Are they Video anaylsts,physcologists,strength and conditionging coaches etc.????
It is just I can not see how he needs that many backroom staff and wonder what are they roles.

I have never heard such a number involved for an ameateur team or even close to it before.

Thinkstoomuch

Clareman wrote: »

Daly has already managed Clare. Since our last time winning anything (15 years ago) we've had Cyril Lyons (Sub in 95), Anthony Daly (Captain), Tony Considine (selector), Mike McNamera (selector), Ger O'Loughlin (forward) and Davey Fitz (goalie). Of those managers, 3 of them have been gotten rid of because of players, I doubt that our current crop of players will stand up to Davy, even if they did where would they go to? More than likely they will just start to drop off 1 by 1.

The sparrow is with Newtonshandrum now but the two O Connors wont play under him.There is 6 o connors on the Junior team

They had a good first round win against Ballymartle in the championship though.

Hidalgo

sasol wrote: »

Someone above mentioned that players will start to drift off one by one - they have already started to do this. Two lads walked about a fortnight ago.

Davy was an excellent servant to Clare hurling and gave his heart and soul, in the 90's. However, this does not automatically make one, an intercounty manager.

Clare's biggest problem will be trying to get rid of Davy. He will be too proud/headstrong to step aside. The clubs won't make a move because they will be afraid of repercussions from the county board . We really are caught between a rock and a very very hard place.

The natural successors for me would have to be Gerry O Connor and Donal Moloney. These lads won Munster minor titles in 2010 and 2011 and a Munster and All Ire u-21 last year. Gerry and Donal would know the young lads inside out, and would presumably have full confidence of the players given the success they have shared. They also got the most out of the players while playing a great brand of hurling.

After Gerry and Donal, next on my list would be Cyril Lyons and John Minogue. Two great hurling men also.

But like I said, getting rid of Davy will be one hell of a battle. But it needs to be done before all this great talent gets p!ssed off and demoralized with the whole thing.

One walked and one was dropped afaik