By Declan Rooney

Clare football manager Colm Collins remains in the dark about a possible return to the inter-county scene for All-Star nominated Gary Brennan, but an ankle injury could hamper any possible comeback.

Brennan opted out of the Clare panel for the 2020 national league but did impress in the Clare SFC for his club Clondegad, although their championship run ended in defeat to Cratloe last weekend.

An ankle injury ended Brennan’s club season last Friday, but according to Collins he still doesn’t know if the talented midfielder will be making a comeback for the Banner.

“You mightn’t believe this but I don’t know. He hasn’t committed as of yet, be it yes or no,” said Collins, who is in his seventh year in charge of the Clare senior team..

“He’s playing really well. He keeps himself in great shape, he is a fantastic player.

“He turned over his ankle against us [Cratloe] in the championship and went off, so depending on the damage that was done to that...at the moment he is officially on the injured list.

“Hopefully it’s not too bad, but I’m not sure. He had a scan on Wednesday so we’ll see what came out of that.”

“I’m long enough around now not to be depending on anything. I don’t take him for granted. If Gary comes in with us, we’d be absolutely delighted. If he doesn’t, we’ve played this year without him.

“I was hoping we’d hang on to him for a few more years. Eventually we are not going to have him so when that happens we have to get on with it and no more about it.”

Collins’ side will return to competitive action on 17 or 18 October when they host Fermanagh in a crucial Division 2 tie that sees third from bottom Banner men against the relegation threatened Ulster side. The following week promotion chasing Armagh will be the opposition at Cusack Park, while the Munster championship quarter final against Tipperary is scheduled for a fortnight later.

Collins will begin redrawing his squad in the coming week after the county club semi-finals take place, but he has confirmed he will be inviting some new young players into the squad after impressive displays in the Clare championship.

“As we speak this minute nobody has indicated that they are not coming back. But I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next few days. We’ll make formal contact with everybody in the next week or so.

“Anecdotally I haven’t heard of anybody that isn’t, but we have to wait and see when we make the call.

“But we will be bringing in some extra players. There are a couple of young fellas who were very impressive with their clubs. Absolutely, we’ll be bringing them in.”

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