Shane Daniels relishing busy schedule

By Cian O’Connell

In Championship football, the numbers rarely lie. Éire Óg, Ennis have won four of the last five Clare SFC titles, illustrating that this really is a glory laden spell for the proud town club.

A well organised Kilmurry-Ibrickane outfit will be afforded the utmost respect by Éire Óg, who are setting a decent standard in the Banner County.

Éire Óg manager Shane Daniels is encouraged about the recent spell. A dedicated and dynamic collection of players are serving Éire Óg. “It's something we look at constantly - our own standards,” Daniels says.

“Every game we play, we go back, we look at it, to see are we getting anywhere near our standards. We've really high standards. We probably never meet our standards, but we try to reach them. That's something we work on all the time.

“In fairness to the group, they're really, really committed. Their own personal standards, that's something they hold really high.”

Football is always on the agenda for Daniels. A selector for Paul Madden’s Clare senior team, Daniels is ready, willing, and able to keep going with Éire Óg. “I've been going non-stop for the last year and a half to two years involved with teams,” he reflects.

“It's great when you're winning games, and you've something to look forward to at the end of it. That's brilliant. The other side of it is that when you start losing games, it can be frustrating.

“With the club for the last couple of years, I can't complain too much, we've had a good run. Hopefully, that continues.”

Daniels switch from player to coach was sharp. “I was kinda forced into that a small bit,” he laughs. “I'd retired, our 'keeper left to go to Canada, I was asked to play in goal. So, I played in goal for two years with the team, and I was a selector.

“When that finished up, I was asked to go in as manager. I know most of the lads, and have seen most of them from underage, when they were coming up. I know the group. It was a good transition.”

Madden sensed Daniels’ potential as a coach. “I've been lucky enough to know Paul a long time, too,” Daniels responds.

“I was lucky enough to be involved in Éire Óg with him, and he asked me in with Clare. Paul is a really good guy. I'm delighted I worked with him in the club and now the county, too. It's brilliant.”

A spirited Munster SFC display against Kerry suggested Clare could make an impact in the Tailteann Cup, but Offaly and Longford both triumphed at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg. “We'd encouraging moments throughout the year, but overall, we were disappointed with the way the year finished up,” Daniels says.

“We're a fairly new management team, it was our first time involved in an inter-county set-up. We've loads of learnings from last year. What we want to do is to keep improving, every time we go out on the pitch.

“We've a lot of learnings, and hopefully we're going to improve on that. The team had really good performances against good teams. We'd a really encouraging performance against Down up there, and the Kerry game. We're hoping to improve on that.”

Following the inter-county season, Daniels was quickly back into Éire Óg mode. “It's fairly full on, but I'm really lucky with Éire Óg, the management team I've put together are well able to look after it, if I've to miss a session or two,” Daniels remarks.

“We've a top coach in Seánie Buckley, he has been phenomenal for this team for the last number of years. I've selectors in Alan Malone, Luke Moore, and David Russell, who've been fantastic too. I'm really lucky with the backroom team I have there. They can take over if any of us are missing.”

What are some of the chief reasons for Éire Óg’s consistency in recent years? “I think the club has always had talent; phenomenal work has been done at underage,” Daniels says.

“The most important aspect is creating a culture within the senior team that people want to come to play. I think a large portion of that has been down to Seánie Buckley, our coach. When Seánie came into Éire Óg, we were kinda like a team that was struggling.

“We'd three quarter-finals in a row lost, we'd a lot of underage success, but couldn't bring it through to senior level.

“He brought up the standards of the training; he's just been a brilliant guy to have around. We're just in a situation now where we have players really wanting to join our squad every year. That's fantastic for us. It has been brilliant.”

With so many dual players involved, the schedule is hectic. “The desire of the players is absolutely phenomenal,” Daniels says.

“We've 14 dual players that go between both each week. Their attitude and hunger for every game, what they've done over the last two, or three years is absolutely amazing. Every week, they're playing games, coming out with the same attitude every week. They want to win every ball.

“Even in training games at the moment, the desire from the two teams to win those games is absolutely phenomenal. They're a credit to the club. What they've done over the last couple of years, they lost out in a hurling semi-final to Inagh-Kilnamona a couple of weeks ago, that game could've gone either way.

“They came out the following week for us in a semi-final and put in a fantastic performance. They've been an absolute credit to the club, and I can't speak highly enough of them.”

Enda Coughlan and Evan Talty are carrying out effective work with Sunday’s opponents Kilmurry-Ibrickane. “I think it's going to be a fantastic final,” Daniels says.

“Kilmurry are a really good coached team, Enda Coughlan has went in there this year, and has done a fantastic job.

“They're similar to Éire Óg in a way. They've experienced players and a crop of players coming through which is brilliant for Clare football. We're really looking forward to the game, and two really good teams going at it.”