Brian Lohan's appointment as the new Clare senior hurling manager has been confirmed.
With Louis Mulqueen, the only other nominated contender, having already pulled out of the race, the Wolfe Tones’ clubman’s confirmation as successor to joint-managers Gerry O’Connor and Donal Moloney was a fait accompli.
Lohan’s selectors will be Ken Ralph and James Moran, natives of Tipperary and Limerick respectively, with members of the wider backroom team yet to be confirmed. The trio worked together with Lohan as manager when UL won the Fitzgibbon Cup in 2015.
He has been given a two-year term with the option of a third.
Ir brings to a conclusion a long and unwieldy process that saw Moloney withdraw his interest in continuing in a sole capacity, citing county board inaction, after O’Connor had opted to step down having served three years with the senior team.
A delegation of players met with county board chairman Joseph Cooney some weeks ago to outline their dissatisfaction with how the appointment process had been handled.
Lohan becomes the fourth member of Clare’s All-Ireland winning sides of 1995 and ‘97 to take charge after Anthony Daly, Ger O’Loughlin and Davy Fitzgerald while Cyril Lyons, who was part of the ‘95 success, also had a three year stint in the job directly before Daly.
Although Clare won the League under Fitzgerald in 2016 and Moloney and O’Connor came close to reaching last year’s All-Ireland final, they have largely struggled in the aftermath of the surprise All-Ireland win in 2013, despite a glut of underage success, and failed to emerge from Munster this year.
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