*Aidan McCarthy. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CLARE’s All-Ireland winning freetaker Aidan McCarthy will not be part of the county panel for this coming year.
Top scorer for Clare in the epic 2024 All-Ireland final win with 1-7 to his name, Aidan was dropped from the county squad in the middle of the Munster championship.
The Clare Echo has learned that Aidan made an approach to Clare senior hurling manager Brian Lohan in advance of collective training resuming in the middle of November.
Lohan is understood to have taken a full week to consider the matter after receiving a phone call from McCarthy. After engaging with his management on the offer, the four-time All Star contacted Aidan to thank him for his offer but that they were planning without him for 2026. A return in the future has not been ruled out.
As the second youngest starting member of the Clare attack in the 2024 All-Ireland final, the decision not to bring McCarthy back to the fold is considered strange not least because of his ability but also with the view that several of the experienced Clare hurlers are likely to retire within the next two to three years which would necessitate the need for younger players like Aidan to step up in a greater leadership capacity.
Wounds between the Inagh/Kilnamona attacker and the Clare senior hurling management have not healed in the seven months since his exit from the squad.
“I did not walk off the Clare senior hurling panel. I was willing, ready and able to line out for my county against Tipperary on Saturday evening if selected,” he confirmed in a statement in May regarding his departure from the panel. Remarkably his exit has never been reported by either The Clare Champion or Clare FM. “He’s not on the panel, We’ve loads of guys on the panel, and that’s who we’re going to talk about. Aidan’s not on the panel,” Lohan said following Clare’s final outing of the championship last season when questioned on the matter by national reporters.
McCarthy released the statement after eyebrows were raised when he was omitted from the matchday twenty six for Clare’s third outing in the Munster SHC versus Tipperary, a game they ended up losing which ended their All-Ireland defence. His exit came during a run where Clare were greatly hindered by injuries.
Prior to this, he had been substituted in Clare’s first two championship outings of 2025. He was taken off with sixty minutes played in the first round draw with Cork and with forty seven minutes on the clock in the second round loss to Waterford. He was Clare’s top scorer in the Cork draw, hitting 1-7, six of which came from frees. He failed to score in the Waterford game and had four wides.
Newly appointed Clare senior football manager, Paul Madden approached McCarthy about joining the football set-up but he turned down this request, The Clare Echo understands. His only appearance of the 2025 Clare SFC was his introduction as a substitute with sixty minutes played as Kilmurry Ibrickane lost to St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield in the quarter-finals. He only linked up with the Bricks after the championship commenced but is believed to be involved from an earlier stage for 2026.
He captained Inagh/Kilnamona in this year’s Clare SHC where they exited at the quarter-finals to eventual winners Éire Óg. He scored 1-10, all but the goal coming from placed balls as Inamona fell to a 3-21 1-17 defeat to the Ennis side. Aidan was part of the club’s U16 management who in recent weeks won the A championship with victory over Corofin/Ruan.
McCarthy made his championship debut for the Clare seniors in 2019 and in 2021 was nominated for Young Hurler of the Year. Before this, he had been named at wing back in the Electric Ireland Minor Hurling Team of the Year for 2027.
A workplace accident which saw him sustain a broken bone between his leg and ankle in December 2021 left him sidelined for the start of the 2022 campaign. Around this time, Lohan was reportedly very helpful to McCarthy and is said to have played a key role in helping him secure employment with AIB in Ennis.
For Lohan’s first year as manager in 2020, Aidan featured in all championship outings in the half-back line and scored a second half goal in Clare’s All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Waterford. The following year, he was infamously sin-binned in a controversial decision by James Owens which had a big impact on proceedings in their provincial semi-final loss to Tipperary.