CLARE’S TWO-TIME All-Ireland senior hurling championship medallist Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin has taken charge of Tipperary club side Toomevara.
O’Loughlin has enjoyed great success with Limerick clubs in recent times and will now hope to revive the fortunes of Toome’, who won the last of their 22 county titles in 2008.
Clarecastle native O’Loughlin captured All-Ireland SHC medals in 1995 and 1997, before going on to manage the Banner County in between stints with Limerick sides Adare and Kilmallock.
In charge of Adare, O’Loughlin masterminded three successive Limerick title wins from 2007-2009, before guiding Kilmallock to glory in 2014 and an All-Ireland club final appearance earlier this year.
But Kilmallock lost the 2015 Limerick SHC semi-final to Munster champions Na Piarsaigh and now O’Loughlin has decided to try his luck with club management in Tipperary.
“The club is pleased to announce the appointment of Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’ Loughlin as joint manager with Philip Shanahan of the Toomevara senior hurling team for the coming season,” a Toomevara statement confirmed.
And O’Loughlin, 48, is looking forward to his stint in charge of the ‘Greyhounds.’
“I know a few lads down there and they were looking for someone.
“They tell me they have a few good young lads coming through but they’re in transition, really.
“It’s very much a case of going down there and hopefully improving them, to be competitive.
“Until we get into the thick of it, we won’t really know what we’re dealing with but I’m looking forward to working with them and learning from them.
“I’ve been with a few clubs in Limerick and Cork, and a stint in Clare, so it’s going to be interesting to see the different brand of hurling and the lads you’re dealing with.
“It’s one that I’m looking forward to. There’s no doubt about it, they have a great tradition and history down there.
“They were so successful up to the mid 2000s and the challenge for us all down there is to see can we be competitive again.
“Historically, Toome’ have always had good hurlers and unless something’s happened that I haven’t heard about, I’m sure that’s still the case.
“I’m hoping we will all come together and give it a lash.”
O’Loughlin has also been monitoring developments in Clare and believes that Donal Óg Cusack’s appointment as coach alongside manager Davy Fitzgerald is a positive move.
“I think it was needed. After winning the All-Ireland in 2013, expectations were very high.
“To say the least, it’s been disappointing since, they just haven’t performed but these are the same players we’re dealing with.
“It’s not as if they’ve gone away or anything, it just needs a bit of freshness again, different approaches and ideas.
“The most important thing is an injection of good vibes and if Cusack brings that to it, great.
“I’ve been saying all along that this is the best panel of players that Clare have had in a long time.
“They should be competitive and haven’t been so there must have been something wrong.
“But if this guy can bring new freshness and a different approach, and the guys buy into it, hopefully it will work for us.
“It has been a very disappointing two years and after getting to the top, an awful lot of hurling people thought we’d be there a long time.
“I certainly did and I’d be disappointed if we don’t become competitive again. A different approach to the type of hurling we’ve been playing will be one of their tasks for the new year but there are good vibes around.
“But the bottom line is that bringing guys in from outside is not going to solve the problem, lads have to buy into it themselves.
“We need to get that side of the house in order and hopefully the likes of Podge Collins and Cathal McInerney will be back. We can’t afford to be losing lads like that in Clare.
“They’re good hurlers and know what it takes to win as well, which is important.”
