*Sean McMahon. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CLARE’S U20 footballers are the first of the county’s side to enter the cauldron of championship action this weekend with Seán McMahon honoured to lead them into battle.
Seán from the Banner GAA club in Ennis is on the U20 panel for the third year but the 2025 campaign sees him assume the captaincy, a role he is privileged to have. “I’m absolutely loving it. Every year you get to play with your county is an honour, every time putting on the jersey and going training I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t enjoy it, this is what it is and I absolutely love it, I’m buzzing for championship I can’t wait”.
A first year PE and Geography student at UL, McMahon believed they have an abundance of leaders within their dressing room. “I believe when you go out that you have fifteen leaders on the field, lads show leadership in different ways, some lads do it talking, others do it by playing, we’ve fifteen leaders on the field and I don’t think age really matters in any sort of aspect of it, I would have always hoped that I would be kind of a leader even if it was my first year up and there’s lads in that bracket now like Sean Fennell in midfield, he’s shown as much leadership as the likes of myself and other boys that have been here for three years”.
He continued, “You’d be looking to drive lads on and train them, but, you know, lads will be looking to drive themselves on as well. At the end of the day the captain just goes up, shakes the hand of the referee and does the toss, that is about it, with the new rules only the captain can ask the referee a question but every on the field is a leader”.
Maurice Walsh became manager in December following Michael Neylon’s resignation in the aftermath of how the appointment of the Clare senior football manager was dealt with by the top brass of Clare GAA.
There is little difference in the set-up, Seán observed. “I absolutely respect anyone who’s going to put their name forward. It’s the same now as any management, we’re going to go out, we’re going to work hard. We’ve been training hard since the start of the year, these lads are very good, they have us really disciplined, they’ve put in a brilliant effort since we started, I don’t see much of a difference, we’re as fit as we can be, we’re playing as best we can so hopefully we can bring that to championship”.
Ciarán Russell’s addition as coach has been a big plus, despite the Banner versus Éire Óg rivalry. “He’s brilliant, he’s absolutely brilliant. When it comes to an inter-county set-up you put the club rivalries aside, he’s very good, he’s down to earth and he will tell you if you are wrong or right, he is a good man for encouragement, he is a great addition”.
For the Banner, Seán is the first club member to captain Clare in the U20 championship. “It’s a great honour to represent your county team, to be captain has been a dream of mine, honestly. We’ve a young club, we’re up and coming. we’ve had a couple poor enough years recently but I feel we’ll be back better than ever this year. The concentration now is on the minute is on this intercounty championship”.
His father Pat a native of Cooraclare is an active member of the Ennis club and has been a very strong influence in Seán’s career to date. “He would have a big background in football so he’d always have had the interest, be taking care of me and be really encouraging. He lives and breathes football which was drilled into me from a young age, there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing with my time. At the end of the day, it’s a massive honour to be captain of an inter-county team, I’m really happy about it and my family are proud of me, I just love to make them proud whenever I go on the field, you know, sometimes they’ll have off days, sometimes they won’t, but at the end of the day, they’re the ones that are supporting me no matter what”.
Getting to the pace of championship can catch teams on their first day out but Seán is confident Clare will adapt. “Even with the league the year before, you’d always find it even with even with our club league, the league is one side of standard, but when it gets to the championship, it’s a whole different level. In the league the first year, we beat Limerick in it and when it came to championship we had a slow start, we had a good game against Kerry when it came around but we didn’t win in the end, there is a different feel to championship, the boys have more passion, it’s what every young boy wants to do when their young to play championship with their county”.
He added, “I believe we’re in a good way for our championship. I don’t think that’ll take us too long to start up anyway so hopefully now we’ll go alright on Saturday. Cork and Kerry have been kind of in everyone’s eyes above everyone for a few years but ourselves, Limerick, Tipp and Waterford, you know, we’ve been pushing on the last few years so I don’t see there’s quite as any reason one of us can’t put it up to them because we all have very strong panels and could be able to put it up to them”.
New rules give forwards like Seán a better chance to showcase what they have to offer, he felt. “It really lets lads show how good they are at football, we’ve very good footballers all around the field, it really lets lads express how good they are at football, you can’t have fifteen men behind the ball ruining the game anymore, especially at this time of year when you might have a strong wind which could take teams out of a game for a half but with the new rules it is end to end so lads will be able to really show what they have. It’s probably tough for a back, it’s always tough for a defender to come up against lads of inter-county standard but the new rules are good, the game is fast-flowing and if a back wants to move forward they can, once you keep the three back it increases the communication and makes the game better”.
Waterford are first up for Clare this Saturday followed by a trip to Tipperary on March 15th and a home time versus Limerick in Doonbeg on March 22nd. The best approach is to start on a winning note, McMahon maintained. “Last year it came down to our final game but we want to be going out every game here to win, set yourself up in the best position, I’m sure the other teams are the exact same, so nothing will be easy, we’ll hopefully start off with a win this weekend but I’m sure if we don’t, we’ll bounce back from it”.
