O’Brien’s plea to retiring ladies

Newly-appointed Clare ladies football senior manager David O’Brien is hoping that a number of his more experienced players will continue to play for the county throughout 2010.

Clare are due to return to training this Friday night but doubt hangs over the future of some of his panel, who it is believed may be considering retiring from the inter-county scene.
Clare secured senior championship status last September when they defeated Fermanagh in the All-Ireland intermediate final in Croke Park. Twelve months earlier, Clare were beaten by Tipperary at the some stage.
“At the moment a lot of people are holding out a bit. No one wants to go back out training in this weather. They’re delaying it a bit but hopefully we’ll keep the bulk of what we had last year and add to it with a few new players,” O’Brien told The Clare Champion this week.
The Miltown Malbay publican is confident that Clare has plenty of talented young footballers coming into the senior panel, although he is keen that the experienced players don’t opt out yet as they could play a crucial role in helping the youngsters’ development.
“We’ve got some good young players. The minors got to the All-Ireland final last year so we’ve a lot of that panel. Niamh O’Dea, Sally Glynn and Ailish Considine are in, while on the other side of it you’d be hoping that we’d get the likes of Eithne (Morrissey), Majella (Griffin) and Denise (Walsh) to come back for another year,” he said.
If the youngsters are to make it as senior county footballers, O’Brien is adamant that leadership will be as important as any knowledge that might be imparted on the training field.
“A lot of the players have played senior before and have been around division 1. It’s good to bring through the younger players having people there to bring them along and improve them. There aren’t too many better players for a young player coming through than to be playing football with the likes of Majella or Eithne or the likes of Denise, Sineád Kelly or Sineád Eustace at the other side of the field,” O’Brien, who will be joined on the 2010 management team by outgoing selector Dan Sheedy (Cooraclare), Joe Garry (Cooraclare) and Jim McMahon (Banner Ladies), said.
“It’s great for younger players coming through to work with them. All the coaching in the world that we do isn’t going to bring them on as much as playing with those people,” O’Brien believes. 
Clare are due to start training for the 2010 campaign this weekend.
“We start back Friday night. We’ll be spinning in Roslevan and we’ll be in Gurteen on Sunday. We’ll keep it as varied as possible in the first month,” the Clare manager promised.
Clare’s league campaign will throw in on Sunday, February 7, when they play Armagh in NFL division 2. Although Clare played division 1 league football in 2009 and retained their place, the county will play division 2 league football this season in a restructured league. The league format was altered at a meeting of Ladies Football Central Council in recent weeks.
“We’ve got a tough start in the league. We’ve got Armagh at home and Down away and then Tipperary at home. We’re not looking past those now. We’re going to try and do as well as we can in those three to start with,” O’Brien said.
“You’re going to be down different players at stages during the league but all you can hope is to be as competitive as possible and get a few results while you’re easing them back into it,” he added.