Cian Dillon
By John Harrington
Clare hurler Cian Dillon admits it was hard to ring former manager Davy Fitzgerald last year and tell him that he did not have the full support of the panel to continue as manager.
Fitzgerald himself had already suggested in the dressing-room after their All-Ireland Quarter-Final defeat to Galway last year that it might be time for a change of voice.
And even though it all ended amicably enough - both men certainly looked comfortable in one another's company at the Allianz Hurling League launch yesterday - Dillon still found it tough to make the phone-call.
"As joint-captain under him it definitely was,” said Dillon at yesterday’s Allianz Hurling League launch in Croke Park.
“It had been pre-empted before that because he knew what the story was and had been constantly talking to us.
"Then when we were chatting, it was just a case of him being resigned to the fact anyway.
"He'd pretty much said it to us in the dressing-room in July and there wasn't much difference in his mindset so it was just a case of 'that's it' and move on for both parties.
"You mentioned the word amicably, I think that has been the case throughout. We were hopping off each other today and you can see there's no fear of him.
"He'll move forward and Clare will have to move forward to. That's just the way it goes."
Both parties have certainly moved on. Fitzgerald is now Wexford manager, while Dillon and his team-mates are working with Clare’s new joint-managers Donal Moloney and Gerry O’Connor.
So far the biggest difference that Dillon has noticed is that the new management are encouraging the team to play a more off-the cuff, attack-minded brand of hurling.
Gerry O Connor and Donal Moloney will manage Clare in 2017.
“Yeah, in a sense it was probably a bit more structured (under Davy Fitzgerald).
“We knew tactically how we needed to set up and where we needed to be. One change I can see is that they're giving players license to see things themselves and go for little channels and holes if they appear. Lads seem to be responding to that well so far so it's a good sign going forward.
“I think the new managers are emphasising different things, definitely. They do focus on certain aspects. They're big on making sure our skill level is as high as it can be and transferring that to game situations.
“That in itself is definitely one change I can spot. We're looking to hurl off the cuff really, express ourselves play with that freedom and do what's natural.
“The likes of Podge (Collins) and Tony Kelly can score from anywhere on their day so it's giving them the license to do that and the freedom to express themselves.”
Unlike many of his younger team-mates, Dillon was not coached by O’Connor and Moloney at U-21 level, and so far has been hugely impressed by the manner in which they work together.
"Their working relationship is incredible,” he says. “They're highly influential businessmen as well so how they get the time to do it and their level of efficiency is something you'd have to admire.
"Their level of detail and planning is incredible and that feeds into the players straight away.
"But mainly it's their appetite for success. They've had a lot of years at under 21 level and they've achieved a huge amount, something that hasn't been done in Clare in the past.
"They've got serious hunger to bring that forward."
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Clare are reigning Allianz Hurling League champions and are the last team other than Kilkenny or Tipperary to win the All-Ireland Hurling Championship.
But they’ve been poor in championship hurling since their 2013 success, so what can we expect from them in 2017?
“There's that balance between having ambition but also being realistic and looking at how we have performed in the last few years,” says Dillon.
“2013 was that bumper year it was unbelievable but since then we haven't reached those heights. We know that. So we have to be realistic in how we have performed those last couple of years and there's definitely areas to improve for us.
“We do know there's serious quality within the squad. You look at how well Ballyea are doing and there's four or five county lads there who will come into our squad when they finish up that'll add huge quality to how we're going to play.
“As players you have to have that ambition, drive and belief that you're going to be in the business end in September. If you don't have that belief there's no point putting yourself through the training that we are.”
