McGowan not afraid to put in hard yards for Clare

Gerry McGowan is not afraid of putting in the long hours. The Strandhill native faces more than a four hour round journey from his native Sligo to Clare in his role as coach with this Banner team.

McGowan, who works from home with Amazon Web Services, believes the travel is actually beneficial as the commitment from players and management teams continues to increase.

“Anyone involved in any set-up knows the time involved is phenomenal. I’m probably down at training in max two hours 10 minutes. It’s about using the time in the car to be productive and making sure I plan stuff ahead. Sometimes you mightn’t have enough time in the car. It can be very productive.”

The former Tourlestrane joint manager admits when Colm Collins made contact with him at the start of last year, he was intrigued by the prospect of working with this Clare outfit.

The coach admits it was “refreshing” to get behind the wheel and travel down south while working with a team operating in Division Two.

“When I spoke to Colm originally I had been at home for months. We spoke and at that time nobody knew when we would be kicking off again. When we hit the pitch in mid April there was very little going on in life.”

“It was refreshing to get in the car again and do something. The allure of being down the country again was strong plus at that stage it was roughly a three-month season. After Clare’s campaign ended, I had the full summer off as I wasn’t involved in any other team so the hunger built for this year.”

The Sligo man admits the prospect of working alongside Collins was an attractive proposition as he believes he is afforded sufficient freedom to implement new ideas on the training pitch.

“I think Colm was familiar with how we set Tourlestrane up. I watched a couple of games including the Tipp game. We tried something a bit different with Tourlestrane. The aim was to shore things up defensively and then improve our forward play.

“Colm oversees everything but gives free rein at the same time. He’s always open to new ideas and wants the team to play a particular way. Colm is the common thread. It’s about the strength and development of the panel and blooding new players so that they are ready to step up when needed.”

McGowan was part of the Sligo panel that secured the Connacht title in 2007 when they famously beat Galway in the final by a point.

Although reluctant to make comparisons between the two counties and their respective positions in their provinces, the former Tourlestrane manager does admit that both sides face a tough task when lining out in Connacht and Munster respectively.

“When I was playing with Sligo there were always the superpowers of Galway, Mayo and even Roscommon to overcome. Clare will always have Cork or Kerry to eventually overcome.

“These Clare guys have been playing Division Two for a few years in a row which is a super achievement. That does help when coming in to Championship because you are playing some fine teams in there. I’ve seen in Sligo that barriers can be overcome. In a Championship environment anything can happen.”

McGowan, who helped Tourlestrane to five county titles in a row alongside Eamonn O’Hara in the dugout, is keenly aware of how provincial rivalries can go off script.

He is anticipating a ferocious battle as Collins’ men enjoy home advantage in the Championship for the first time since 2019.

McGowan knows the importance of home support and how it can help the team in pressure situations.

“This is the first chance to play a high profile game like this in Cusack Park in a couple of years. I know we played Mayo when trying to get promoted to Division One. Mayo reached the Division One final this year which shows where Clare are at.

“It’s a Saturday evening game so we hope there’s a big crowd. I’m sure they will get behind the lads because that home support is vital.”

He believes they will face a Limerick side brimming with confidence after Billy Lee’s outfit secured promotion to Division Two.

“They are a really big, physical team and have a settled side. Josh Ryan has proven to be their go-to guy and is really good in pressure situations. Peter Nash is a top player too while Iain Corbett is a real leader for them.”

“They were unlucky against Louth (in the Division Three final). They gave away a couple of turnovers and will be looking to learn from that. They’ve had some season of it. They won’t hold much fear but there’s a lot of respect there between both sides. We are expecting a dogfight.”