Loughnane's legacy: Five assess his achievements

Eamonn Cregan (Limerick manager)

One of the most important things he did in Clare was to change the players' attitude from a losing one to a winning one. You look at his record - two All-Irelands and three Munster titles - and for anybody to do that takes something special. He transformed Clare hurling like no one else had done. They became winners.

But he also brought tremendous pride to the county and all the supporters. There's no doubt that he will be remembered as one of the great managers.

Of course he was controversial as well. He would openly criticise referees and the Munster Council as well as fight with anybody for the sake of Clare or anybody that disagreed with him. I suppose you could say that he let his comments fly from the hip.

I wasn't really surprised that he did step down. There comes a time when one should move on. And of course it's a hard decision. For the last six years Clare hurling has been his life.

We can all learn from the fact that he didn't stall a whole lot. It's a hard decision to make but he's stuck to it. And I don't think it will be the end of the world for him. He's got a family and his school and it might be a while before there's any yearning to come back.

Brian Lohan (Clare captain)

In some ways it is easier for people outside the county to judge his legacy. But as a player I would have to talk about the respect that he was always held in. And ask any other player and you'll get the same answer.

A lot of that had to do with his character and the way he made his commitments happen. When he started back in 1994 he told us about the things we could do, and how we had the potential to dominate Munster. We never laughed at him, but of course a lot of us didn't believe in him. And it turned out exactly the way he said it would.

He has to go down as one of the great hurling managers of all time. It might have been different if he had been in Cork or Tipperary but coming from Clare was different - we had such little success before him.

As a coach, I would always isolate the speed factor, because all our training centred around that. He felt Clare were losing games because they were too slow. Of course he turned that around and brought the game to a new level.

His decision to step down didn't really surprise me. I think it was in his mind at the start of the year. He was there since 1994, and it was a long run. Yet he has so much passion that we'll probably see more of him.

Michael Bond (Former Offaly manager)

There is no doubt that he had a huge impact on hurling. The game is more popular now than ever and the success of Clare helped to bring it on.

Since he took over, the numbers attending games have gone up and so too has the TV coverage. That gives you some idea of the impact he had. From day one I saw him as a players' man, who would defend his players to the hilt.

He achieved so much, taking the team to new heights. I remember seeing them play in the league back in 1995 when they were well beaten by Kilkenny and yet he completely turned them around in the championship.

He had the hallmark of a great manager, instilling great belief and confidence into the players. He was controversial at times but when you put every ounce into the county and things don't work out you can say things in the heat of the moment which aren't always what you mean.

It's easy to go into a winners' dressingroom but for the loser it can take a couple of hours to recover. But he would just stick up for his players, which can only be a good thing, and was never bitter about anything.

I hope he will return. He still has a lot to offer and there are a lot of counties out there who would benefit from his input.

Jamesie O'Connor (Clare forward)

In terms of developing me as a player he was light years ahead of other coaches I worked with. His training was always varied and enjoyable, and of course he worked us hard, putting great emphasis on quality drills and speed.

He knew what he was doing - he had great knowledge of the game, and put a huge amount of thought into it. Then he had this tremendous desire and belief which he very much transmitted into us.

Character is hugely important to him: it was all about winning respect, not just as a player but in life in general. It was lot more than just winning the trophies.

And he gained unbelievable respect. If he asked me to jump out of a plane in the morning I'd do it, that's the sort of thing we're talking about. As well as that, you can talk about him in the same context as the likes of Alex Ferguson for the way that he defended his players.

His decision to step down didn't really surprise me, and I suppose he might have felt that the appetite wasn't there against Tipperary and so it was time to find something else. He gave it absolutely everything he had while he was there so it's difficult to see him coming back.

Tom Ryan (Former Limerick manager)

He certainly created a great buzz in Munster. Clare suddenly became a force. He put great self-belief into a side coming back from heavy defeats in the Munster finals of 1993 and 1994.

We were at the receiving end of their 1995 win and I saw a different Clare team that day. He transformed their tactics and training, although he did have a very good, maybe underrated, backroom team. At times he went completely overboard with his comments. He probably created enemies with his sideline antics and dealings with the media, especially this idea of naming bogus teams. He also took on the authorities and beat them, although I feel he got away with a lot. Any bit of criticism and he would go back into his burrow. A lot of that was unnecessary, because at times he was bordering on the dangerous with his antics.

The fact that he stepped down now didn't surprise me. He took a big chance this year by bringing in a whole new backroom team and they didn't quite get it right.

He did have great passion but of course it's easy to be that way when you're winning. Still, he's put Clare back on the map and every year that he was there Clare always had a chance. And of course he could come back if the time and the place is right.