Reidy leaps at Clare call from old sparring partner Lohan
WHEN you are returning to the intercounty fold after a self-imposed ‘year out’, and there’s a new manager on board, it presumably helps to get off on the best possible footing.
Only one problem for David Reidy: his previous introduction to Brian Lohan was not exactly an occasion of peace and harmony.
“Back in 2016 I first came in contact with Brian,” Reidy recalls. “He was the manager of UL and I was playing Fitzgibbon in LIT, and Davy (Fitzgerald) was over us. It was a November evening in St Pat’s under lights, rain and everything … Davy had us wound up, breaking down the door to get out on the field.
“We came out and UL were in a bit of a huddle, and I kind of got a bit over-excited or something. There was a shoulder or two, to the UL lads in the huddle, and I was turning around and all of a sudden I just got a hand on to my neck, basically. I looked up and it was Lohan himself! But once he put his hand on me, your natural reaction is to throw your hand back up onto his – and holy war broke out! It was basically a 30-man on 30-man brawl. So that was my first introduction to Brian Lohan!”
But not their last encounter, and Reidy is already relishing his return to the Clare hurling panel under the Banner’s full-back colossus of the 1990s.
“He’s really putting his own stamp on things. We’re only back training three weeks, but we’re training nearly like the way he played the game,” reveals the Éire Óg clubman ahead of Clare’s opening foray in the Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League, Sunday’s trip to face All-Ireland champions Tipperary in Nenagh (2pm).
But has the elephant in the room – their previous on-field spat – been addressed?
“Come here now, we’re two big boys at this stage,” the 26-year-old demurred. “We had a bit of craic when I came into the panel, we laughed about it, but Brian is a professional man in all walks of life – so we’re on speaking terms!”
As for his defiant response at the time, he added: “It’s kind of a natural reaction – if someone puts their hand on to you, what do you do? You’re either going to crawl away, or you’re going to fight.”
Speaking of fights, Reidy has recently described as “total bulls**t” rumours that he only left the Clare panel at the end of 2017 because of a “big falling-out” with then joint-managers, Gerry O’Connor and Donal Moloney.
Instead, he opted out to study a fulltime master’s in marketing and management in Limerick IT.
“I was playing, basically, full-time hurling at this stage with the county; and then I was (working a) part-time job. Something had to give, and unfortunately hurling was the unlucky one,” he explains. “The body was 100 per cent, it was more of a mental break as well that did me a world of good. But again, throughout the year, from early on, I had conversations with the managers – up until March or April even.
“Everyone has their own opinions when you take a year out on your own behalf. Are you going to get called back in? You’re in a privileged situation when you put on a Clare jersey, and it probably was a big gamble as well. But luckily I did get the call … Brian rang me a week after he got announced as the Clare manager.”
Reidy’s college return proved a winner in more ways than one: last August, the same month that he finished his master’s, a position in the LIT marketing office became available. He applied and was successful. On a less sanguine note, his county return has been countered by the loss of 2018 All-Star Peter Duggan for the coming season.
“Disappointing to see him go, but it’s been in his head the last couple of years,” says Reidy. “But we’ll have new faces. We have this bunch of players for one year, and one year only, and that’s the mentality you have to take … you have to drive on to be successful.”