ROSS MUNNELLY SAYS that Mick O’Dwyer’s drive for Championship success won’t lessen the likelihood of him steering Clare out of the league basement.

The Kingdom legend was appointed Micheal McDermott’s successor as Banner football boss last week.

But despite being heralded as the greatest GAA manager of all time, there have been some misgivings in Clare about Micko’s age and his well-established preference for the summer months at the expense of the league.

Laois forward Munnelly, who won a Leinster title under O’Dwyer in 2003, backed his former mentor, now 76, to give the county a massive lift.

“Micko is as enthusiastic as ever,” Munnelly told Clare FM’s Sideline View.

“Those who get close to him in the Clare squad will realise his passion and hunger for the game. That’s going to have a massive impact on the players around him. It rubs off. He has an infectious influence on the team.

He added: “Micko will definitely want to win any game he’s in charge of Clare for. Certainly that’s the way he was in Laois. Obviously he intensifies things a lot for the Championship but Mick O’Dwyer is a competitor and he likes to win games.

I’d expect bright things from Clare and especially from the style of football that they’ll play. Mick O’Dwyer, he’s an all-action football kind of manager and it’ll be exciting times ahead. He’ll bring on young players and it’ll be fantastic to watch Clare for 2013.

Wicklow’s Leighton Glynn, who played under O’Dwyer from 2006 to 2011, expects him to go “hell for leather” in the Championship as always but said the foundations have already been laid in Clare for Micko to win promotion to Division 3.

“When he first came to Wicklow, it was all about Championship,” Glynn told Sideline View. “Certainly it worked for us. We had some great days out in the Championship, we won a couple of first round, second round games. We had a very good run in 2009.

“But as the years went on, as players you don’t want to be plying your trade in Division 4. We had chatted about it and in fairness to Micko, in his last year, his last two years, he focused in a bit more on the league but it just didn’t happen. We were beaten on the last day in both years not to qualify.

He will go hell for leather for Championship but I think Clare are probably in a better position than we were when he came to Wicklow. We only beat Clare on the last day to get promoted [in 2012], so Clare were very close last year.

They’ve a fine team and they’re probably a bit further on than we were at the time. I think it’ll be a little bit easier for Micko to get out of Division 4.