{"id":669395,"date":"2026-10-30T01:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T01:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/669395\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T01:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T01:22:12","slug":"martin-obrien-steps-down-after-four-seasons-at-clonakilty-helm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/669395\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin O&#8217;Brien steps down after four seasons at Clonakilty helm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">Martin O\u2019Brien has stepped down as Clonakilty football manager following four seasons in charge of the West Cork club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">O\u2019Brien took over ahead of the 2023 campaign, succeeding Haulie O\u2019Neill, whose two-year tenure culminated in Clonakilty\u2019s appearance in the 2021 Cork Premier SFC final.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">A former Clonakilty player, O\u2019Brien brought plenty of pedigree to the role, having been part of the club\u2019s Cork SFC-winning side in 2009.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">His spell in charge delivered a number of notable championship runs. Clonakilty reached the quarter-finals in each of his first two seasons at the helm, only to come up against the formidable challenge of Nemo Rangers on both occasions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">While the 2025 campaign proved more frustrating, with Clonakilty failing to progress from the group stages, the team responded impressively this season to return to the latter stages of the county championship.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/5276337_17_articleinlinemobile_DSC_8666.jpeg\" alt=\" Ross Mannix in action for Clonakilty against St Finbarr's. Picture: Larry Cummins\" title=\" Ross Mannix in action for Clonakilty against St Finbarr's. Picture: Larry Cummins\" class=\"card-img\"\/> Ross Mannix in action for Clonakilty against St Finbarr&#8217;s. Picture: Larry Cummins<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">O\u2019Brien guided Clonakilty to the semi-finals, marking the club\u2019s best run in the competition during his time as manager. Their campaign came to an end against defending champions St Finbarr\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Despite that defeat, the season represented a positive step forward for the West Cork outfit, who showed resilience to bounce back from the disappointment of the previous year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Over the course of his four seasons in charge, O\u2019Brien oversaw a period of transition within the squad while continuing to keep Clonakilty competitive at the highest level of club football in Cork.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Reaching the knockout stages in three of his four championship campaigns reflected the consistency achieved during his tenure.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/5276346_9_articleinlinemobile_DENIS_20game_207.jpg\" alt=\"Clonakilty goalkeeper Mark White makes a fine save from Nemo Rangers' Luke Connolly in 2023. Picture: Denis Minihane\" title=\"Clonakilty goalkeeper Mark White makes a fine save from Nemo Rangers' Luke Connolly in 2023. Picture: Denis Minihane\" class=\"card-img\"\/>Clonakilty goalkeeper Mark White makes a fine save from Nemo Rangers&#8217; Luke Connolly in 2023. Picture: Denis Minihane<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Attention will now turn to identifying O\u2019Brien\u2019s successor as the club prepares for the 2027 campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Martin O\u2019Brien has stepped down as Clonakilty football manager following four seasons in charge of the West Cork&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1964,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-669395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-cork-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}