Ger keen for county-wide buy in

NEWLY-appointed Clare senior football selector Ger Keane is hoping that players, clubs and the county’s football public will back the new regime, headed by Mick O’Dwyer.

 

Keane, along with Michael Neylon and outgoing strength and conditioning coach Micheál Cahill complete the management team.

“If this is to be successful, everyone has to buy into it. It might be a case of a club, with lights, giving their grounds on a bad winter’s night or it might be a case that someone might have a job that they would give to a player.

“It’s not about one man or a management team; it’s about everyone buying into it and trying to further the cause of Clare football,” the St Caimin’s secondary school teacher told The Clare Champion this week.

“There is potentially a very good panel there and there’s going to be a very professional approach taken this year. It’s the small things that will make a difference,” the three-time county championship winner with Kilkee feels.

Keane, who played in the 1997 Munster final against Kerry, says that linking up with his fellow mentors was a relatively straightforward decision.

“The fact that there’s a good package surrounding the team and there’s a good management team there was a big help. I know it’s early days but we all seem to be getting on fairly well. Michael (Neylon) is a good lad and Micheál (Cahill) showed last season how professional he is. Along with Micko, we’re very happy to put in the time and hopefully the players will respond to that,” he said.

Trials were held last Saturday morning at St Flannan’s College, while the players met with Mick O’Dwyer at a meeting in Woodstock Hotel in Ennis on Friday night.

“Micko has probably forgotten more than most of us will ever know. It’s a great opportunity for all of us, players and the management team, to be involved with him.

It’s a great honour and I know the other lads in the management team are of the same opinion. You’re constantly picking up little bits off him and no better man to learn from,” Ger Keane said of the legendary former Kerry, Kildare, Laois and Wicklow manager.

Keane has coached at every level with Kilkee and was also part of the Lissycasey senior management team in 2011, while he coached the Clare minor team in 2009. He has come across several management styles during his playing and more recent coaching days.

“Definitely. Going back to Kilkee, our own local coaches were a big influence as were family members including my father and uncles. Going up the level then, I was lucky enough to have played with and been managed by Noel Roche. John Maughan would have been another big influence and John O’Keeffe also had a big influence. You’ll take the good parts from each and you’ll try to put your own stamp on it as well. The more experience you can get, the more you’ll pick up,” he said.

One of the classiest forwards Kilkee and Clare has produced, Keane loves the buzz of being involved on the coaching fields even if the responsibilities are more wide ranging, than was the case as a player.

“You’d always love to be playing and this is as close as you come to playing. Going out on bad nights training together creates a bond and a great unity,” he said.

“When you’re involved in management you’re concentrating on helping players rather than when you’re playing yourself, you’re probably concentrating more on yourself and trying to get yourself right.

“It’s a different perspective but the buzz of being involved with a team, that doesn’t change,” Keane, who will also serve as an U-21 selector, concluded.