Transition is made in serene fashion

Clare's backroom team: Seán Moran finds the new men behind the scenes like to go about their business in a quiet and efficient manner

It's hard to imagine a management team less like its predecessors than the current Clare mentors. In the Ger Loughnane era, even the selectors were high-profile. Tony Considine was an extrovert figure who led the singing after big triumphs and even Michael McNamara, theoretically the quietest of the three, communicated forcefully and comfortably when asked.

Cyril Lyons's appointment as successor wasn't a massive surprise. After all, he and Louis Mulqueen had taken over as selectors for Loughnane's final year. But whereas the outgoing manager had been an evangelist, the new man was quiet and soft-spoken.

A long-time hurler with Clare, his career had got as far as the All-Ireland win in 1995, so he was able to provide a link with that landmark team. Still following the most successful era in the county's history was not a task that would have appealed to everyone.

"Cyril's a selfless fella," says John Callinan of the National League winning side of the 1970s and whose career overlapped with the early stage of Lyons's. "He obviously believed that there was still a kick in that team but even if he didn't believe that, Cyril would have taken it on anyway. I hate using the phrase - because it was used about me for long enough - but he's a great servant of Clare hurling.

"The senior players had great time for him and rightly or wrongly that was fairly essential. It was a tough move for Cyril but I'd say it was impossible for anyone of my generation to take it on because Clare had moved on during the Loughnane era so he was the obvious choice."

It was obvious that his regime would be different but Lyons has chosen shrewdly what precedents to follow, according to wing forward James O'Connor.

"Ger felt that he'd been with us for five or six years and there's only so many things you can do new. He needed to make the break. Cyril was a new voice. He wasn't going to try to be another Loughnane - that would be impossible - he's his own man but we've been training the same way and the quality of the coaching has continued."

This was significant according to former All-Ireland winning captain Anthony Daly, now retired. "Loughnane's training was superb and if anything that has actually been notched up."

Of the other selectors Louis Mulqueen already had a high profile as the man who led the county minors to an All-Ireland in 1997 and two years later managed the St Joseph's Doora-Barefield team that won the All-Ireland club championship. For Mulqueen the county appointment has meant a change in style and ultimately the need to adopt a quieter role.

"Louis would be a fairly ebullient character with a strong personality," says Callinan. "I think they worked it out and agreed a course of action. He had a high profile on the club scene, which carries its own baggage. There may have been friction but there is in the same situation in any county. And any issues have been resolved."

The only one of the three who hadn't an inter-county playing career, Mulqueen won an All-Ireland colleges title with St Flannan's. He trains Clare with techniques different to the endurance-oriented regime of predecessor McNamara.

"He's very vocal," according to Daly. "Training is very good but the methods are completely different. He implements the SAQ (speed, agility, quickness) programme geared to maintaining sharpness over a long term. His ability to keep St Joseph's going in the club (they reached a second successive final in 2000) was phenomenal."

The third selector came on board after Loughnane had stepped down. John Minogue is a teacher in St Flannan's and has trained the school teams to Harty and All-Ireland success. He captained a Fitzgibbon-winning UCC team in the 1980s.

"John Minogue is a quiet guy," says Daly. "He played for the county for about eight years and captained the team that won the Oireachtas in 1982. He was a very good club player with a good Scarriff team. He knows a lot of the players through Flannan's although that could be a disadvantage because sometimes the younger fellas felt like they were they were being trained for the Harty Cup."

Despite their low-key approach, the management is strong-willed. Lyons patrols the sideline while Mulqueen and Minogue observe matches from the stand. The core of experienced, leadership figures has been an advantage but Clare still needed a major reconstruction job. This has been quietly delivered.

"As a management they're very confident," says Callinan, "and have made decisions when politically it might have been easier not to make them. With the older players like Liam Doyle and Anthony Daly, it would definitely have been easier to leave them play themselves out but they had the confidence and the courage to grasp the nettle."