O Sé delays naming backroom team

Sequels can often succeed, but with trilogies the law of diminishing returns can take effect. Páidí Ó Sé swept into Ennis yesterday as the new messiah of Clare football.

Well, it worked in Westmeath. If only for a year.

"I will go on my record," stated Ó Sé before, perhaps remembering the piseogs, immediately changing tack. "I can make no promises of immediate success, but I can promise total commitment to lead and to give of very best day in day out."

Ó Sé was presented to the media yesterday but, in typical Ó Sé fashion, little was revealed. A two-year deal was mentioned, but this remains unconfirmed by the Clare County Board. Ó Sé revealed a backroom team was in place, but it will be a couple of weeks before the names are confirmed.

"To be honest, I have my backroom team in place, but because I have to discuss it with the county chairman it will be another three weeks."

A native presence on management is usually an insistence when a county places their trust in an outsider.

Ó Sé brought fellow Kerryman Tomás Ó Flatharta in to train Westmeath in 2003. When a retrospective view was taken on that management ticket, Ó Flatharta received enough credit for the 2004 Leinster championship win to succeed Ó Sé, who left after an unsuccessful 2005.

Undoubtedly an inspirational character, Ó Sé won two All-Ireland titles while in charge of Kerry from 1996 to 2003. John O'Keeffe was his right-hand man.

He requires yet another wise selection for the Clare experiment to succeed.

But the Ó Sé effect is more than the conventional manager; 15,000 supporters turned up at Cusack Park in Mullingar for an O'Byrne Cup fixture in January 2004. They came to Páidí.

"There were three times as many Fermanagh people as Clare people in Cusack Park last year, and we have to get the Clare supporters back," said county chairman Michael McDonagh.

"There is a great support base and a great belief, and in my opinion we have one of the greatest names now attracted to Clare football.

"If Páidí can get an extra 10 or 12 or 15 per cent from the players, I think you will see a great improvement. We need time. We're a small county coming from a smaller base."

McDonagh, treasurer Bernard Keane and football liaison officer Tom Downes travelled to Ó Sé's pub in Ventry last week to convince him to return to intercounty management.

"We went down with a mission and that was to bring Páidí Ó Sé back as the manager of the Clare football team, and we were delighted with the result coming away."

Ó Sé delivered the usual, good- natured theatrics that surround these media events. Sprinkles of the native tongue were evident.

"Ar aghaidh leis An Clár agus ar aghaidh leis an obair (Onwards with Clare and on with the work). I didn't contemplate going back into management at all in any shape or form, but I suppose age got a hold of me and Clare people came down to me and they were so genuine that, being honest with you, I wasn't going to refuse them."

Reviving Clare football is a significantly greater challenge than Westmeath. Limerick beat them 2-5 to 0-8 in this year's Munster championship. In the qualifiers they beat Antrim, only to lose to Fermanagh. They have not won silverware since John Maughan guided them to the Munster title in 1992.

"The biggest challenge will be to play Waterford in the championship," noted Ó Sé. "Division two is a daunting division and it's an extremely difficult division to get out of, as I found out in my time with Kerry.

"To get over the first round challenge, to retain our divisional status and maybe a little more - but I won't be looking beyond the first round of the championship."

Neither will anyone else.

On a related subject, the Sligo County Board denied this week that Ó Sé had been approached to act in an advisory capacity for manager Tommy Breheny.