I received a call from RTE 1 radio last Sunday, while watching the matches at McHale Park,
requesting a comment on the large number of managers who have either got the heave or voluntarily stepped down from their posts in the past few months. They wanted to know what I thought was the reason for the high casualty rate. There is no doubt that managing an inter-county side brings a tremendous amount of pressure into your life. Not many involved or interested in our modern games accept failure of any kind and the pressure to deliver silverware is enormous. It is now a very tricky business and you must remember that it is often likely to only end in tears! The job just isn’t much fun any more and it completely dominates your life. Now I don’t want to turn any aspiring, young, able-bodied managers out there away from getting involved. How would you ever know what it is like unless you go and experience it yourself? Ger Loughnane experienced the ugly side of the modern GAA world on Monday night when the Galway club delegates decided he would no longer be tasked with the responsibility of managing the Galway hurlers.
I wasn’t too sad to see his management days come to a shuddering halt in this fashion. Although Loughnane was noted as a great hurler in a county that was starved of success, it is for his exploits as manager of the Clare senior hurlers in the 1990s that he is best known. His training sessions became infamous among players for their intensity. I recall vividly the excitement he generated amongst the hurling fraternity in Galway two years ago when he was appointed to the position as manager. More important I recall him promising that he would deliver an All- Ireland within two years. If he didn’t he said that he would consider himself a failure. Ger, as Anthony Daly ever so subtlety mentioned on TV after Galway’s defeat to a 14- man Cork side in this year’s championship, “will now realise that players have something to do with the winning of titles,” not just the lofty elite manager! Daly had of course been an inspirational captain for Clare under Loughnane and led them to two All- Ireland titles. He later took over the management of his beloved county. Loughnane, after a few years of punditry, had become very critical of his native county, describing county board delegates as ‘mushrooms’ and alleging that Daly, during his time in charge, had allowed himself to be influenced by senior players and others. In fact he criticised his former captain at every opportunity, much to my disgust, and I am very sure, to Anthony Daly’s. Ger had become gorged on winning when he had a great team and in his eyes he was king. There are lots of people who would have had little sympathy for Loughnane this week. He will realise, more than most, that he should have seen the writing on the wall and jumped a few months ago before coming out on the wrong side of a tight vote.
Five-minute burst sees Ballaghaderreen through
I associate championship football with long summer days, great weather, ice cream vendors, and good banter from the terraces. We had most of that last Sunday at McHale Park with two very exciting, high-quality games to satiate the appetite. Crossmolina and Ballaghaderreen were on the undercard, with a 2pm start. There was a terrific crowd around the pitch before the game with everyone eagerly anticipating two good games of football. I grabbed a seat close to a few friends from the home town and quite close to a number of Aughamore fans who were really generating great excitement from an early stage. As it transpired they had good reason to be getting into party mood as Aughamore won the intermediate county final. In an earlier prediction of the outcome of the senior semi-final, I had highlighted the danger of the Ballaghadereen full-forward line in particular. Barry Regan, Andy Moran and Joe Dillon are a really formidable unit and they have been tormenting defences in this year’s campaign.
Crossmolina in fairness got their selection spot on and they really tore into this game from the throw in. They looked really hungry for ball, their tackling was slick and they forced Ballaghadetreen onto the back foot on several occasions. Everyone, it appeared, had been delegated a task and they went about it manfully. The game plan was to stop quality ball getting into the full forward line. Cross deployed a man in front of the full- forward line at every opportunity and all was going brilliantly from their perspective. Ciaran McDonald was deployed at full forward as it was anticipated he wouldn’t have the legs to stay with Pearse Hanley, who it was expected would attack from the centre- half back position at every opportunity. The Crossmolina mentors were delighted to see Pearse move to the unfamiliar full-back position, where his defending never looked bomb-proof. In fact McDonald looked a class apart as he landed a couple of trademark points from outrageous angles. Crossmolina led at the break and the consensus was it would be they that would progress to contest the county final, if they could prevent their opponents from scoring a goal.
It is a great credit to the Crossmolina full-back line that they kept the opposing full- forward line at bay for so long. The Ballaghaderreen 2008 version is a lot better than that of last year. These boys, it appears, have been hardened by the tag of underachievers and they struck gold in a five minute burst, scoring three goals that finally put another county title beyond the reach of the Cross boys. It was always going to take something momentous to get them across the line as Crossmolina refused to die and kept looking for a way back right to the finish. Ballaghaderreen were made to look ordinary enough for 55 minutes last Sunday. Yes, they were brilliant for five minutes, but the watching Charlestown will have learned so much from observing their style and angles of running over the last three games that they too will have a game plan in place to try and prove the bookies wrong. (You can get 15/8 on Charlestown to win the County title next Sunday. I know one or two who might just be tempted! )
Two lively ladies from Aughamore never realised that I was eavesdropping on them last Sunday. I wasn’t really but I thoroughly enjoyed the running commentary on the intermediate final! It was a great advertisement for intermediate football, with some top class scores. It ebbed and flowed and as a neutral I was really hoping that the game would end in a draw. But then that would have spoiled the party for those two Aughamore ladies!
