Retiring GAA Stars tribute thread - May cause brain/neck damage

The haircut doesn’t do him any favours. Maybe should have spoken to Karl, Darran or Barry John about the cost effective options available to him.

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Mr Costello, your time has come

Pat Donnellan has called it a day. Cruciate injury in early 2016 pretty much finished him.

“I wish to sincere thank everyone that has helped me and made sacrifices on my behalf to ensure that I could represent Clare to the best of my ability. To my wife Edel, my parents, my brothers and sister I will be forever grateful.”
“I will always consider myself a privileged person to have been able to play for Clare and I hope that I did my utmost for the cause while playing. It is hard to express in words what it meant to me, my family and my club to captain a Clare team. To be able to lift the Liam McCarthy on behalf of Clare and its people was a dream come true and I will always be thankful that I was considered worthy of the honour to be the representative of the Clare team by Davy Fitzgerald.
“Thank you to my club O’Callaghan’s Mills, to all of my former managers and coaches who instilled a love and respect for the game in me every day I took to the field. Thank you to Clare County Board, Club Clare Hurling Supporters and to all of the backroom staff who encouraged and supported me throughout my time with Clare. Thank you also to my employers and work colleagues in IAC for the wonderful support.
“I would like to thank all of the players that I have played and trained with over the years. I always felt a sense of belonging and brotherhood in a Clare dressing room and I have been lucky to be friends and teammates with you all.
“Finally, I am looking forward to supporting the team from the stands into the future and I wish the Clare team and management all the best for 2018 and onwards. An Clár Abú.”

3 gone clare are fucked

Nobody gone that was good enough to start Joe,
But Clare are probably in trouble alright.

Whats clearly happening here is Clare management have taken a leaf out of Mick Ryans book and allowed players who served county so well so fall on their own sword so to speak and preserve dignity. Tipp players like Woodlock, McGrath, O Mahoney et al announced retirements in staggered fashion in much the same way as whats happening in Clare now.

:astonished::astonished::astonished:

What would he be like?

The oerception right or wrong would be that a dub getting it would mean even more money for dublin etc.

Whats his background? I remember being sonewhat inpressed with him on some issue back along.

Cork aren’t much better

Ah to be fair that’s not really true, Cork are in a much better position looking to the future, although I don’t think they’ll win an All Ireland for a few more years, they should be competitive in about 2020, Clare are well behind.

Clare are done next year is a big year for cork

Any word on a new manager

Haven’t a clue Joe, I’ll be down for the county final, will report back if I hear anything.

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Nice guy - if you’re on his side - I’ve heard more good than bad about him. Not sure of his work background, but he was the one with the vision of the strategic plan etc. so he’s done immeasurable good for Dublin GAA. He is the best man for the job

He certainly takes no shit from no one - that and the fact that the new President is also a Dub may be the thing that goes against him. But then also, the GAA being the political fuckers they are, would probably be delighted to get him out of Dublin so that may go for him

We’ll see who else tags their name to it. I dunno if Jarlath could throw his hand in, though not sure of his background, (as in if he has the business acumen) but he certainly is political enough

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:rage:

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A real conundrum for you - A Dub or Jarlath :wink:

I already put Gilroy forward, he should have gotten it last time.

Burns is a fucking tool.

Unforeseen circumstances had Pat deciding his future over the weekend

IT could have been a very different association had be taken the reins instead of the Monaghan NFL lover.

Costello is ex civil service but was reasonably high up and knows how to manoeuvre his way around the red tape. Would hate to see him go. He has recently introduced a new initiative in the Dublin county board pairing philanthropists with newish Dublin GAA clubs in need of funding for pitches, lights, clubhouses etc and the donator offering interest free loans. It’s been fairly low key so far but alleviates a lot of the fundraising pain clubs are experiencing in putting their facilities together.

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