Clare hurler debunks one of GAA’s biggest myths about managers

It’s never easy being an inter-county manager.

Sure, it’s pretty much a full-time job in itself, the hours put in are incredible.

Waterford’s Derek McGrath left his job for a year to focus on managing his side and even more high profile is Kieran Kingston deciding to step down from the Cork job due to the sheer time put in.

He told Michael Moynihan of the Irish Examiner:

“For the foreseeable future, I’m unable to combine my work and family commitments with the sheer amount of time needed for inter-county management at the top level. I’m self-employed and I travel with my work, which thankfully is very busy at the moment. This impacts on the time available for intercounty duties.

“As many inter-county managers have pointed out recently, only those involved at this level are aware of the sheer level of time commitment involved. To be honest, you need to walk a mile in a manager’s shoes to get some idea of the job.

“It’s a professional commitment in all but name, and it amounts to a second full-time job for any manager who has ambitions not just to participate, but to succeed at the highest level.”

So, surely when there are two managers it makes it easier? Well, history begs to differ.

Kevin McStay opened up on the struggles of co-managing earlier in the year which led to the departure of Fergal O’Donnell as Roscommon manager but that didn’t stop Clare in hiring Donal Moloney and Gerry O’Connor as joint managers of the senior hurling squad.

The pair guided Clare to three successive Under-21 Hurling titles between 2012 and 2014 so there doesn’t seem to be any power struggles there and one of their players, David Fitzgerald, gave them a glowing review.

He was speaking at the launch of AIG’s Fenway Classic in Croke Park during the week and spoke about the season:

“I felt it was a good and a bad season, we did develop as players but we were disappointed. We made a Munster Final, which is great, and that was development but we felt like we didn’t play to our potential on the day and against Tipperary,” Fitzgerald told reporters.

And then the Clare hurler spoke about his managers:

“They were settled in last year as well, just kind of more down to the players to perform on the day than blame managers or whatever, it’s up to the players themselves.

“It’s still the same really, any management team there’s three or four in the backroom staff and you just treat them all the same, we’re just there to learn from them.

“It’s shared responsibility, it’s fifty-fifty between them.

“They’ve worked together for years so they know each other very well and they know all of us really well.”

So, there you have it, two managers can co-exist. Myth busted.

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