Limerick GAA 2022 - Dual Kings (Part 1)

Itā€™s like rugby now. You see in La Rochelle rog does the coaching and Gibbs is the manager. Same in Leinster with Cullen over seeing everything with Lancaster on the pitch.

Man management is probably the other big thing.

You need to be able to make hard calls, you have to be ruthless; but you also need to know when to go easy on a fella, talk to them. Foster a good team spirit, drive standards, motivate players. Overseeing the hurling and gameplan and everything but trusting your coaches with the minutiae.

Clarkey > Kinnerk :metal:t2:

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sure i had it in the soccer.

I couldnā€™t tolerate bullshit but i was a superb coach - with drills and stuff. I tried management. Absolute fucking disaster no people skills.

Worked with an absolute legend of a peoples skills guy and we got shit done

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Training must actually be the easiest part of an intercounty managerā€™s job.

On a daily basis they probably have to spend hours in contact with various people.

Come out of work and thereā€™s probably a missed call from the secretary over fixtures and dates, physios texting injury updates, the coach looking to alter the training schedule, the county treasurer wants to know about the impending training camp, the groundskeeper has been on about gear left in the dressing room after the last session. And thatā€™s before you get to any of the players who may be stuck in work or under pressure with exams. Or journalists looking for quotes. Bloody arduous job to take on.

Somehow have to knit all that together to forge a cohesive, successful team. Must be great satisfaction when it pays off but tough going when you donā€™t get the results and everyone in the county/country has an opinion on where it went wrong. And isnā€™t slow in letting you know!

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food and beverages = for training and matches
gear for training = cones, bibs, sliotars, ladders etc etc
working the schedules of 40 other men towards a goal.
working with nutritionists
working with psychologists
working with coaches
working with underage coaches

thatā€™s before you get anywhere near the county board

John Kiely and Brian Cody are miracle workers

Itā€™s frightening really, the level it has gone to. Youā€™ve video analysis, stats etc on top of that too.

So important to get the right people in beside you. Physically impossible for the one person to shoulder that burden alone.

youā€™ve 3 or four lads talking in your ear during a match with bits of information and youā€™ve to match that up to your eyes.

These lads are highly functioning humans. All of them

Iā€™ll give you and example of myopic vs hyperopic.

Was doing stats for a county team that were winning well and I was counting basic errors and mistakes, one corner forward had 1-2 and the other lad was having a mare. fed in to the boss that info. Right, so, Iā€™ll make a sub. Full sure the lad that was having a nightmare was coming off.

He took off the lad with 1-2 and moves the lad having the nightmare across. The corner back was stone useless so he ends up with 0-03.

He says to me after, now Iā€™ve two happy corner forwards.

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There isnā€™t a forward at any level who would be happy taken off after scoring 1-2!

Heā€™d be bulling the next day again

Like a bear!

Happy to a manager isnā€™t smiley happy people happy.

Itā€™s two lads who are fucking bulling

Depends on the characters involved

@Aristotle I think Tony is staying on with us. He understands the Kilmallock psyche.

Heā€™s bought a bigger cap for when ye meet Doon

To be fair, most counties will have a kitman & liaison officer who do a lot of the heavy lifting on some of those things.

Itā€™s probably a clichĆ© but kitmen do all the shitty jobs that no one else wants to do; itā€™s a completely unheralded role but that stuff absolutely has to be done.

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yeah - itā€™s beautiful to watch a well run session from start to finish, when it goes off like clockwork.

Gillane is with Caherline this year. Theyā€™ve possibly underachieved in recent years. Although I donā€™t know if thereā€™s much young players coming through there.

Only one team from the east has been in a junior hurling final over the past 25 years. Caherline wonā€™t improve on that for 2021

A good Liason Officer is worth their weight in Gold. Takes all that contact with Co Board and external people away from the manager.

Kinnerk is completely in charge of the coaching too, he has full autonomy. And heā€™s trusted. Thatā€™s key too.

Club Coaching is a tough gig. A lot expected of you but you donā€™t have the support network of inter county set up and youā€™ve no idea what numbers youā€™ll have when you turn up, so have to adapt on the spot quickly. I know of lads who came from Inter County set ups back to club scene who genuinely couldnā€™t deal with that stuff. Itā€™s difficult enough to work on tactical or puck out stuff at inter county level but itā€™s workable because you can take players aside etc, try doing it with club teams and some of the lads not directly involved can get very frustrated very quickly

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