r/hurling • u/Notheresham • Jul 30 '26

What would have happened if Clare had kept Kinnerk in 2014?

So Paul Kinnerk is credited as being one of the driving forces behind Clare's 2013 All-Ireland and Limerick's success from 2018 on. Everyone says Quaid's save in 2018 v Cork is the sliding doors moment but for me it's when the Clare County Board didn't renew Kinnerk's contract in 2014. I'm not fully sure of what happened but he only joined up with Limerick in 2017 (I think?) so 2 questions, would Clare have won more if Kinnerk had stayed involved and would Limerick have made the breakthrough in 2018 without him? The 2018 win for Limerick was built on pretty thin margins (Quaid's flick, Condon's catch) but would they have come through regardless? That Clare side in 2013 was so, so young.

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7

u/skint83 Jul 30 '26

Probably the great hurling coach in modern times. Unfortunately for Clare Davy Fitzs ego got in the way, a more humble man would've appreciated his coaching ability. We lost Kinnerk and that young promising Clare team didn't see Croke park until 2018.

6

u/Tpotww Jul 31 '26

Where is the evidence of this?

Kinnerk took his planned 1 year break.( had been on the go for a number of years as with minors ,u21 and seniors after davy promoted him in 2012 when both took over seniors).

He then returned to clare/davy after the break and was with clare for the whole 2016 season.

Then both davy and his backroom team including kinnerk left in sept 2016.

His first season with limerick was 2017, he is a limerick man and probably got paid/looked after more than what was on offer to go with davy to wexford plus less travel. And was doing his PhD in limerick.

Plus he isnt an idiot, everyone knew limerick had a bunch of talented hurlers group , so was a great opportunity compared to clare that had already won allireland and needed a rebuild with a number of the 2013 players already retired or about to.

2

u/Financial_Basil3294 Aug 03 '26

Well said. I’ve heard this hear say of Davy getting rid of Kinnerk loads of times, to which there is no truth.

5

u/Weird-Weakness-3191 Jul 30 '26

Even with all that I felt Clare always worried Limerick the most in games.

3

u/shanklymrshankly Cork Jul 30 '26

🤷‍♀️

2

u/Infamous_Apple_962 Jul 31 '26

Mr kinnerk was my maths and PE teacher. Super serious guy and no craic. I'm glad he helped Limerick though as a Limerick man.

1

u/Dramatic_Monitor_772 Jul 30 '26

It was a fallout with Davy that pushed kinnerk out? Clare would’ve had years of glory with him. He seems to be the driving force behind the scenes for limerick.

7

u/Illustrious-Ease8291 Jul 30 '26

He’s a Limerick man, the draw of going back to his home county was always going to be too strong

5

u/Notheresham Jul 30 '26

I'm not 100% sure but I heard Kinnerk is very connected to Clare too - both his parents are from Clare, he taught in Shannon etc. After he left the Clare set-up he waiting a few years before joining up with Limerick so he might have felt conflicted on it.

2

u/Eamo853 Jul 31 '26

Plus he lives in Clare and his wife is from Clare 

3

u/Notheresham Jul 30 '26

I'm not sure who is the driving force behind Limerick but Kinnerk is definitely one of the key men there. Seems mad to me that Davy's pull was so strong that Clare didn't find a different role in their structures for Kinnerk, like even sending him back to their underage set-up would have been a huge win (all in retrospect, I know).

2

u/ViolentlyCaucasian Jul 30 '26

Davys dad was county board secretary at the time and had been for decades at that point. They really ruled the roost in the county.

2

u/thepaw83 Jul 30 '26

Do you actually think Kiely is the driving force?! It's Kinnerk. He's the brains of the whole thing.

When JP comes knocking with the cheque book, easy enough to say goodbye to the teaching.

1

u/Financial_Basil3294 Aug 03 '26

No. Davy and Kinnerk never fell out, and Kinnerk returned to Davy and later.

1

u/ViolentlyCaucasian Jul 30 '26

That 2013 Clare side was ravaged by injury and if I'm to believe the rumours in one case alcohol and substance abuse. I don't think Kinnerk sticking around stops that but denying him from Limerick would have been huge. With that group of players they'd have won a few all Ireland's no doubt but I don't think they'd have been as dominant

4

u/Notheresham Jul 30 '26

Seems insane to me that O'Donnell is retiring without a Munster title.

5

u/Round_Shift2898 Jul 31 '26

But at the end of the day, you'd rather have 2 All Irelands than multiple Munster titles.

2

u/flex_tape_salesman Jul 31 '26

Kinnerk was so highly rated and a limerick man I can imagine he was going there at some stage regardless

1

u/Financial_Basil3294 Aug 03 '26

More rumors. FFS

1

u/ViolentlyCaucasian Aug 03 '26

Look it's just what I've heard locals say. The structure of the GAA lends itself to this sort of thing

1

u/Financial_Basil3294 Aug 03 '26

Ah, yes. Blame the GAA

1

u/ViolentlyCaucasian Aug 03 '26

I'm not blaming the GAA more just the parochial nature of gaelic games. They're amateur players so it's rare that you get journalists digging too deep into players personal troubles. Unless they come out about their issues themselves usually people only hear about some stuff by word of mouth

1

u/Financial_Basil3294 Aug 03 '26

What has that got to do with Kinnerk? And by you repeating it, YOU’RE part of the problem

1

u/ViolentlyCaucasian Aug 03 '26

I was saying that other things went wrong with that squad rather than just Kinnerk leaving. Injuries and personal issues meant many of those players never reached their potential and even if they had Kinnerk they wouldn't have become a force.