Leaving no stone unturned in pursuit of raising the Banner

The deadline for Club Clare membership for 2023 approaches this week, safe in the knowledge that no stone has been left unturned in the pursuit of making Clare a hurling and camogie force once more.
With the players guided by their management teams and the county board backing the teams, Club Clare’s direct financial support from its members essentially provide those crucial extra elements that have helped transform the hurling landscape over the past few years.
The fundamentals of the game haven’t altered but the unprecedented levels of preparation and meticulous attention to detail on and off the field require a whole suite of supplementary resources that are now considered almost a prerequisite.
The additional essential ingredients of nutrition, sports psychology, advancements in Strength and Conditioning, video analysis and recovery ensure that playing at inter-county level is now a lifestyle and not just a hobby.
As Clare Senior Manager Brian Lohan admitted himself when launching the current Club Clare set-up in 2021 ‘our players have worked all their lives to wear the Clare jersey. So when they do finally get that Clare jersey, they need specialist advice and specialist expertise.
“In order to get to Croke Park consistently, we need to invest in our players and our teams and the key areas that we need to invest in are strength and conditioning, nutrition, performance analysis and medical support. If the players are to improve, they need the best advice.”
Fast forward two years and Clare are now contesting their second successive All-Ireland Senior Championship Semi-Final in GAA headquarters, with the current volts of electricity and optimism surrounding Clare hurling, akin to the Lohan’s own golden playing era of the 1990’s.
“There is a great buzz at the moment’ outlined two-time All-Star and current Under 20 Coach Brendan Bugler. “I think every group nearly feeds off each other. There’s no doubt about it but the Clare seniors’ victory over Limerick in the Gaelic Grounds in Munster definitely gave our Under 20’s a huge lift and I’m sure it was the same for the minors. Equally the seniors would have been hugely heartened by the minors successes this year so while they are separate groups, they are all interlinked in their own special way as ultimately they’re all playing for the same crest on the jersey.
“It’s brilliant to see and it’s a testament to the work that’s being done from Under 14 all the way up to senior.
“In Clare, we always have hurlers, we always will have hurlers and if they’re looked after in the right way, there’s no reason why we can’t be competitive. We won’t win every year, that’s impossible but the important thing is that we’re ultra competitive every year and in Clare, there’s no reason why we can’t be.”
That rising tide lifts all boats approach is echoed by Club Clare Secretary Tony Killeen.
“At the end of the day, we just want to give our players the best chance of maximising their potential so as supporters, which we fundamentally all are, that means dong everything in our power to help them in that developmental path from when they first come as a 13 or 14 year old to Tony Kelly leading out the Clare team in Croke Park this Sunday.
“I must reiterate that the Club Clare funding comes directly from our supporters and goes directly to our teams so that creates a bond between the players and supporters that has been borne out these past few years.
“I don’t think there has ever been as much work done in the development of Clare hurling and camogie as what’s being done at present. There are almost 300 young players in the hurling development squad system alone so we are in exciting times at the moment when you see the end product of the minor groups of the last two years that have been outstanding to watch.”
Indeed, such has been the county’s innovation in their development squad structure of increased squad numbers of 70-80 players at each age group with a view to long-term development rather than short-term performance, Clare are now ahead of the curve in such aspects as biobanding (grouping players in pods according to their physical size) nationwide.
“The vision is to produce a steady stream of accomplished young hurlers that have maximised their athletic capability through the various strength and conditioning programmes and added extras to hopefully make them a well rounded player,” continued Killeen.
“At the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding. We’ve all witnessed some great Clare teams down through the years but the aim now is consistency of approach and implementation.
“It’s 17 years since Clare contested back-to-back All-Ireland Semi-Finals so while realistically we won’t get there every year, the goal is to be in Croke Park on a regular basis.
“I read somewhere that 1999 was the last time that Clare contested Munster Senior, Under 20 and Minor Finals in the same year. It was a superb feeling to be at all three finals this year and with a bit of luck we could have won all three.
“The margins between winning and losing are clearly so wafer-thin that we owe it to our players to exhaust every avenue in order to compete at the highest level each year.”

Check out www.clubclare.com for membership options.