Written by Joe O'Muircheartaigh & Eoin Brennan

MIKE McNamara’s reign as Clare manager is set to be over within a matter of days as both senior players and the management team take time out to reflect on a heated exchange that took place at a showdown in the Woodstock Hotel on Sunday evening.
The endgame for McNamara moved closer as the majority of 2009 senior panellists present at the meeting, in the words of one player “stuck to their guns” in refusing to back down from the ‘no-confidence’ motion delivered against the manager on November 1 by a whopping 26-1 secret ballot vote.
McNamara declined to speak to the press after the meeting that lasted over two hours, but county board chief Michael O’Neill, who chaired the discussion, has revealed that there was “a very open debate” between McNamara and disaffected members of the 2009 panel.
“There was a frank discussion and an exchange of views in the meeting. It was thrashed out in the open,” revealed O’Neill. “Both sides are now gone away to review what’s come out of the meeting.
“Both parties have a day or two to come to the county board and we see where it goes from there. I don’t think it’s necessary for players to meet with management again, but I wouldn’t rule it out completely, but everything was fairly well discussed.
“They will come back to me and hopefully before the week is out we will have a resolution. It is something that we would all like to have sorted out a long time back.
“I chaired the meeting – that’s what my role was in it was. Whether it was positive or negative is not something I would comment on to anyone at this stage. I would like to wait until both the players and the management come back to me on it,” the chairman added.
However, one player has told The Clare People that “nothing has really changed” among members of the 2009 panel, 25 of whom were present at Sunday’s meeting that started at 5.10pm and finished at 7.25pm.
“We met with the county board and finally met with the management after many meetings were called off at the last minute. They know our position - it hasn’t changed, so we don’t know where it goes from here. We were lectured by Mike McNamara, as far as most players are concerned nothing has changed at all.”
McNamara was unavailable for comment when contacted by The Clare People on a number of occasions on Monday night, but board chairman Michael O’Neill has said  the controversy “has to be brought to an end one way or another”.
“We have to have a resolution this week, whether it will be to everyone’s satisfaction is another thing. We’d want to be in touch with the man above to know that,” said O’Neill.