The news this week that Brian O’Connell, Clare senior hurling captain for the last three years, has emigrated to Australia has come as a blow to Clare hurling and, particularly, to his club Wolfe Tones.
O’Connell is arguably the highest-profile GAA player to emigrate in recent times but news of the numbers travelling abroad and to Australia in particular, will not come as a surprise.
Back in November, Clare GAA chairman Michael O’Neill told the monthly county board meeting that “emigration is a major problem for GAA clubs across Clare and, indeed, across the country. This is something that we have been looking at and there is no club that isn’t and won’t be affected, particularly in the next six months, when a lot more are expected to leave”.
Back then, some 200 members from clubs across the county had left, according to a survey carried out by Clare GAA. It is estimated that the number has increased substantially since and there are reports of quite a number having booked tickets to travel in the coming weeks.
“It’s a big blow to be losing players to emigration and it’s a sign of the times that we have in this country as young lads with no jobs have to emigrate,” commented Wolfe Tones official Damian Regan this week
“As a club, we have to re-group and put teams together. We won’t have the amount of adult teams this year as in recent years. We just have to soldier on,” the Shannon man added.
“It’s what we are all facing. We educate lads and then we have to export them. They have put years into the club and we have helped them and it’s a pity that they have to emigrate,” Regan said.
In addition to O’Connell, Wolfe Tones have lost Andrew Moloney (based in Scotland), Sean Condren, last year’s club U-21 captain, who is now in London and Sean Cahill (Australia), while Johnnie Bridges, John Coen and Gary O’Connell are due to leave the country in the coming weeks. In addition to those, Ray Carley, the club’s senior hurling goalkeeper, and dual star Frank Lohan, have retired.
Paying tribute to O’Connell’s contribution to Clare hurling, county senior manager Ger O’Loughlin said, “We are losing one of our more experienced players from the panel. He is a very big loss. He has been in the first 15 for the last eight or nine years.”
O’Loughlin went on to describe O’Connell as “very consistent and very dedicated. We are re-building and losing a guy of that experience is very disappointing.
“It’s just part of what is happening all over the country. We will have to pick ourselves up. We are not the only county losing valuable players,” according to the county team boss.
A number of clubs have signalled to the county board that they will not be able to affiliate the same number of adult teams this season because of a drop in their numbers.