Clare joint manager Gerry O Connor.
By Cian O'Connell
Donal Moloney and Gerry O'Connor carry a proud and prolific record in Munster Finals to Semple Stadium on Sunday.
Clare achieved minor triumphs in 2010 and 2011 before claiming glory at Under 21 level in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Moloney and O'Connor were on the sideline for those five southern triumphs. Adding a senior to the list is the next task.
'It's a record that group of players had more so than we had," O'Connor reflects. "Ultimately all a management team in modern hurling does is facilitate the motivation and ambition of the group of players.
"Once we actually go out on to the field, there's 36 guys here and it's their inner motivation and inner desire that will actually determine how the actual year pans out, regardless of the management.
"We run the training sessions like we run our work days. You've got to delegate. "You've got to find the people that are playing with you and working with you, their motivation."
A Munster MHC play/off victory over Tipperary injected Moloney and O'Connor with belief and momentum. "The reality is we would never be in this position only for Tony Kelly won that puckout and he'll tell me to this day that he did look but I know he didn't look and he just hit it over his shoulder and it went over the bar," O'Connor recalls.
"It was a very funny story. We shouldn't have been in a position to be over the Clare minors in 2010 because we did such a bad job in 2009. But I think there was a reluctance again for anyone else to take up the job. So we got it again in 2010, but we knew we had to change something."
Moloney and O'Connor were ready, willing, and able to delegate. "So we went about bringing in a really top class strength and conditioning coach. We found that in Paul Kinnerk, but we also found out that he was a top class hurling coach.
"We prepared like no other Clare minor team did in 2010, went down to Waterford and promptly fell asunder and were beaten by six or seven points. Came back up and played Kerry, I think it was actually down in Ennis, beat them. It was three games in the space of seven or 8 eight.
"That game against Tipperary we had dominated from the start to finish, probably because I would say there was a small bit of complacency on Tipperary's part because certainly they probably wouldn't have seen us as any major threat, but we stumbled over the line. We beat them by a point."
Clare joint managers Gerry O Connor and Donal Moloney.
Suddenly Clare's collection of youngsters began to feel that something was possible. "We went down to play Limerick and as Limerick-Clare games end up - I'm always saying this - no matter who has the better form coming into it, it becomes a 50-50 game. Again we beat Limerick by something like two points.
"They had a 21 yard free saved in the last minute. Went down to the Munster final to play Waterford and again we were rank outsiders but this group of players had trained unbelievably.
"That was the one thing we learned from the previous year, you had to train right through the Leaving Cert, despite players parents thinking otherwise. We had to train. We bought the guys gloves, we did everything we could maybe to convince players there wasn't going to be much contact.
"We definitely convinced their parents, there wasn't going to be much contact. We got over the line against Waterford. But this journey started that night in Cusack Park against Tipperary and Tony Kelly's point."
Moloney and O'Connor, who often plans and plots for Clare hurling on business trips abroad, are now operating at the highest level. Combing work and sport is a challenge, but one O'Connor is delighted to conquer also.
"Look it I suppose I've a very understanding boss first of all, who is a Canadian guy Bob Fassl, he started to take an interest in hurling since he moved here," O'Connor reveals.
"I don't think he really appreciated or anticipated the amount of time that was involved when I first had that discussion with him. But ultimately you see we train on a Tuesday night and we train on a Friday.
So the window for travel is you possibly leave Caherlohan at 10 o'clock on a Tuesday evening and you drive to Dublin airport, stay up in one of the hotels beside the airport and you fly out first thing Wednesday morning, you do whatever business you have to do in Europe and you fly back in on Friday and you're back down here for training on Friday night."
Time management is key according to O'Connor. "That might sound very challenging, but those hours on a plane and those hours in a car give you an opportunity to actually think and to talk to people as well.
"Look it this is what we've always wanted. If you've any competitive streak in you, once you get involved in inter-county at underage level, you want to see can you actually get to the pinnacle of management within Clare." Bringing more Munster and All Ireland glory is the ultimate aim.
