County board didn’t back development squad

Clare senior hurlers are two to three years behind the stronger counties in strength and conditioning. That’s the view of Ger O’Loughlin, who recently stepped down as team manager recently after a  two-year term.
The All-Ireland-winning forward also revealed that the Clare County Board could not facilitate his proposal for the formation of a development squad earlier this year.
In presenting a report on his tenure as manager at this week’s board meeting, O’Loughlin outlined how he envisaged a development squad of players who would have a future at senior level but would not yet have the skill required. “They would train twice a week from February onwards but this would not interfere with club training. It would be a stepping-stone to the senior squad. The county board could not offer this,” he said.
Referring to the need for players to improve physically, he stressed that “nothing less than a very serious approach to a winter gym programme will suffice and the fruits of such programmes will be shown in the years ahead”.
The Clarecastle man also called for a reduction in the number of senior teams in Clare from 20 to 12 and he called for the introduction of midweek championship games
“We don’t have 20 senior teams in Clare and we would be better served with a better intermediate championship,” he said, before calling for a change in the club fixture plan for Clare.
“The incoming management must be given the most important months of May and June to prepare for their most important time in championship. We cannot have a situation where two rounds of the senior championship are played in mid-May, which ultimately brought preparations to a halt.
“Out of these came four injuries where we lost two for the rest of the season and another two were unable to train properly until the week of the Tipperary game,” he said.
He went through the team’s league and championship campaigns and said, “What we have now is a squad for the future. We managed to get to the league final [Division 2] despite playing very inconsistently. What the league is showing up is that with retirements, emigration and the introduction of a relatively new panel, we are not out of our depth playing in Division 2.
“In hindsight, playing in this division gave Clare the breathing space to introduce new players to senior hurling and assess these players to see if they can cope with the skill level required and the physical and mental toughness at this level.”
O’Loughlin said new players are needed over the next three to four years before we will see wins.
“We have introduced some good talent to the panel. There is a huge amount to be done and having the correct system and management in place over the next three years will be just as important as having the correct panel”, he said.