Tony Considine

Tony Considine served as manager of the Clare senior hurling team from November 2006 until August 2007. Prior to his role with Clare, Considine had guided the County Limerick club Garryspillane to a county senior title in 2005.

In May 2007, the Clare manager had to survive an attempted vote of no confidence at a county board meeting. According to the Irish Examiner, the vote arose following a "row with goalkeeper Davy Fitzgerald". And, despite a meeting between the two, Fitzgerald was omitted from Clare's National League panel. Fitzgerald's departure was linked to a disagreement between the pair about "training regimes". Philip Brennan became Clare's goalkeeper for the 2007 season.

The forward Tony Carmody also left the Clare squad, early in Considine's tenure, during the 2007 National Hurling League campaign. Another Clare forward, Tony Griffen, an all-star winner in 2006, decided to undertake a cycle across both Ireland and Canada to raise funds for cancer research in the wake of the death of his father from the disease between February and June 2007. This meant Clare was without the service of another experienced attacking player.

Prior to the start of the Munster championship clash with Cork at Semple Stadium on 27 May 2007, a number of players from both the Clare and Cork teams engaged in a pre-match scuffle. Several Cork and Clare players were subsequently handed four-week suspensions. With other wins against Antrim and Laois, Clare emerged top of group A to qualify for the quarter-final of the All-Ireland. Considine's side were defeated, at the 2007 quarter-finals stage, by Limerick. This game, on 29 July 2007, was Tony Considine's final game in charge of Clare.

Role with Clare ends Following a season, described in the Irish Independent as a "troubled season" and in the Irish Examiner newspaper as being "shrouded in controversy" and causing members of the Clare county board "much annoyance", Considine was dismissed from his role as Clare hurling manager in August 2007. Club delegates at a Clare county board meeting voted 45 to 6 to remove the management from their roles. Following his departure, Considine expressed his disappointment at the manner of his dismissal and reportedly stated that "Even Saddam Hussein got a trial".

Considine subsequently returned to working as a hurling media pundit.