After two barren seasons for Clare hurling, Dónal Óg Cusack’s appointment to the management team gives the county a much needed boost, according to Anthony Daly.
The Banner County surprised many when claiming the Liam MacCarthy trophy in 2013 but, despite Under-21 success in recent years, have subsequently failed to build on that foundation.
Manager Davy Fitzgerald, in charge since 2012, has now re-jigged the backroom team and former Clare boss Daly says the ex-Cork goalkeeper, his erstwhile colleague on The Sunday Game, is a massive addition to the set-up.
“This guy eats, sleeps and drinks hurling,” Daly told RTÉ Sport.
“I don’t think I’ve ever met someone as fanatical in the game. I don’t ever think that this experience thing counts for a whole pile.
“If you are a good student of the game and you’re willing to learn and learn quickly, he will [do well]. He knows an awful lot about the ins and the outs of it.
“If you are a Clare player this morning and you hear that news, I presume you’re heading for the gym this evening and you’re excited and lifted by that. A freshen-up is worth anything. Brian Cody has proven that over the years.
“Fair play to Davy, it’s a big call and one that none of us saw coming.
“We’ll all be experts at the end of the year but for the time being it’s just a very exciting call from a Clare point of view.
“We’ll all be experts at the end of the year but for the time being it’s just a very exciting call from a Clare point of view"
“We’re after having two very fallow seasons. Let’s face it – the 2013 All-Ireland probably was one we didn’t expect to get so quickly from a very young team. It sort of fell our way and we took it. We don’t win too many so we weren’t giving it back.
“They’ll feel ready now. They know they’ve underachieved in the last couple of seasons and they’ll want to put that right.
“We’ve a lot of keyboard warriors and high-stool experts. That’s just the reality of being involved in sport.
“People know it all afterwards and if Clare have a very poor year it’ll be seen as a poor appointment and who knows, it could be the end of the road for Davy.
“But if Clare have a great year and rattle an All-Ireland it could be seen as a real stepping stone and dominating for a while because the talent is there and the backroom team seems totally in place.
“He probably feels at 38 that there is time in his life for punditry again [in the future]. He certainly was very, very good at it and it was very interesting to work with him.
“He’ll be a loss to the Sunday Game, but he probably feels that he wants to get stuck in on the coaching side of things.”
Clare’s first hurdle on the championship path is a meeting with Waterford, beaten Munster finalists and All-Ireland semi-finalists last season.
Former Dubs boss Daly added: “They haven’t got an easy draw.
"This time last year Waterford would have been seen as a grand draw but after the year Waterford have had there’s no-one in Clare thinking like that, it’s a really tough draw in Munster.”
