McDermott's recruitment

[mattockranger]

interesting article from hoganstand


Banner recruit four 'outsiders'

Clare football manager Michael McDermott
26 November 2010

Clare football boss Micheal McDermott has recruited four players from other counties under the GAA's parentage rule.

As a county which hasn't won a senior provincial football title in the last 10 years, Clare can avail of the rule and, according to The Irish Sun, this has led to him capturing the services of a former Meath goalkeeper, an ex-Cavan under 21, a Dublin club footballer and a Kildare man.

But Kilmacud Crokes captain Pat Burke, who has played for Dublin, and Na Fianna brothers Aidan and Brian Downes, have turned down a move to the Banner County.

"We have been hit with two of our starting 15 from the championship last year (Declan Callinan and Brian Carrig) gone away," he said.

"It is a big plus having these four new kids. From talking to them and seeing them in a few trials in October, they were very committed. They seem very enthusiastic about playing for Clare in 2011.

"They are the sort of characters we are looking for. Come January when we pulled everyone in for the McGrath Cup, we will have a closer look at the players there."

McDermott's native county of Cavan availed of the parentage rule this year by recruiting highly-rated St. Oliver Plunkett's/Eoghan Ruadh forward Gareth 'Nesty' Smith.



any idea of the 4 guys? Surely this 10 year rule would apply to majority of counties

[irunthev]

I'd question McDermott's judgement on footballers as he recruited Paul Hehir from London last year based on nothing more than what he remembered Paul Hehir to be like back in 2002, when he was both an outstanding footballer and an outstanding physical specimen. While Paul he is still a naturally gifted player, the days of him being fit enough to play serious inter county football at a high level are a few years behind him now and as a result, he played exactly one minute of football for Clare this year. We'll see if McDermott does any better this time around.
I appreciate the policy he is employing and you have to take your hat off to him..... but at the end of the day, he is recruiting players who aren't considered good enough for their own counties, so it is a bit of a shot in the dark really.
There is a rule there and he is trying to expolit it as much as possible... far play to him for that... but it would also be interesting to hear the opinions of those within the Banner.

[stephenite]

A player who's not considered good enough in the stronger counties could be a massive player for some of the perceived weaker couties

[Dougal]

A player who's not considered good enough in the stronger counties could be a massive player for some of the perceived weaker couties

exactly,nesty was probably consistently our best player this year.has he ever made a dublin league panel?

[blanketattack]

I thought that any player can play for their father's county without added stipulations?

[Gael85]

Clare have called up
David OConnor-Dublin
Declan O'Reilly-Cavan
Mick Aherne-Meath
Niall Browne-Kildare