Month: September 2021

WE PANELLED THREE respected performance analysts for a roundtable discussion on the current state of analytics in the GAA.

The panel:

• Rob Carroll, International Rules Analyst, The42 columnist
• Ray Boyne, Dublin GAA Head of Performance Analysis
• Paudie McCarthy, Kerry Senior Football Performance Analyst

Note: Some of the answers have been edited for clarity.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

The42: Let’s start with this – What teams have you worked with in the past and who are you currently working with?

Carroll: I worked with Kieran McGeeney for three years in Kildare. I worked with Brian Cuthbert in Cork and I do a small bit in the background with Donegal. I’m also the International Rules Analyst.

Boyne: I’ve been with Dublin at various levels since 2003. I’ve been with the Dublin senior footballers under Paul Caffrey, Pat Gilroy and Jim Gavin. I was with the Dublin minor team and senior ladies in 2014.

McCarthy: I’ve been with Kerry since Eamonn Fitzmaurice came on board in 2013.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

The42: How big a role do data analytics play in the modern inter-county game?

Carroll: It’s massive. It’s changed considerably from 10 or 12 years ago when I started. There were only a handful of teams doing it – a couple of the northern teams and Dublin. Now every team would have at least one guy, and in a lot of cases you’d have three or four guys.

Boyne: I would suspect other inter-county managers are similar to Jim and are quite modern in their approach to football – in the way they want the games analysed and the data captured. Different teams tend to use similar practices and use lot of the same software packages. 

McCarthy: I would class it as big. Eamonn really values it, he’s mentioned it before that he uses it heavily himself. It has to be as it’s a very visual part of what the players do. They want to review what they do. It’s only getting bigger.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

The42: Is it fair to say the GAA was a little late to the game when it comes to performance analysis compared to other sports?

Carroll: The nature of the sport being an amateur organization holds things back, but I work with football clubs in the UK, and the level of work being done here isn’t massively far away from that. The likes Chelsea and Man City aside, at the lower end of the Premier League and in the Championship, the day to day operations would be similar to what’s going on at the top level of inter-county set-ups here.

Boyne: I’m doing it 13 years, before that Armagh would have been the pioneers of it. They adapted it from basketball, at that stage there wasn’t many people in the market for analytics packages within GAA. But it did catch very quickly. By 2008 it was certainly being widely used on the inter-county scene. Coming to 2009/10, there were a lot of clubs beginning to embrace it.

McCarthy: I wouldn’t say late to the game. I think those guys who were working in the background, they’re probably getting a small bit more exposure now. It was always being done. You’d hear stories of back in the ’80s when guys were looking at footage of other teams. The role of the analyst has moved on with the advancement in technology. Now it’s moving at a crazy pace.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

The42: As a general outline, how do teams use analytics to make better decisions on and off the field?

Carroll:  With in-game analytics, teams would be trying to track individual players or team level stats such as kickouts, possessions and turnovers in the game. Invariably those guys are mic’d up to a selector or manager, feeding back in-game information.

Then outside the game you’d be pouring over video, looking at opposition kickout strategy, your own kickout strategy to try and find any chink in the armour. And just putting together five minute videos for individual players trying to pick up on any clues.

Boyne: It’s about the collection of that big data. For example, Netflix and Amazon monitor your habits and then suggest what you should watch or buy. In a sporting context, it’s very similar. It’s about tracking players’ physical, technical and tactical performances.

It’s about gathering that data, isolating where the strong points are and working on them, and on the areas that need to be concentrated on. Then you can construct and build your training around that.

McCarthy:  You’ve got three sections: pre-analysis, which is getting all your footage of the opposition, you’ve got your live analysis on the day, and you’ve got your post-game analysis. I don’t know if I’m a bit different, I’m heavily involved in coaching in my own club. For me it’s only a small part of it, but it still comes down to the nuts and bolts on the field.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

The42: What are the most important data sets when analysing a team’s performance? 

Carroll: You often hear in the media that ‘turnovers win games,’ or ‘kickouts and the midfield battle is so important.’ They all add up to be important, but if you take any of them in isolation, you rarely find that doing one aspect really well is enough. It takes a bit of everything to win.

Kickouts fascinate me because teams spend so long on them. That’s not to say they’re not important, I just think sometimes they’re over-egged in terms of how vital they are to the final outcome. So much happens between winning that kickout and scoring a point. Sure, you want to win kickouts, but they won’t determine the game on their own.

Boyne: You need to work closely with the coach and look at his style of play. Think in a soccer context of Barcelona being a team who like to press very high up the field. That would be key for their coach. You have to be able to analyse what the players who are on the ball are doing, and what the players not on the ball are doing.

Sometimes you can get bogged down with just the events that involve the ball. If you take a 76 minute GAA game, the ball will be in actual play less than 12 minutes. Most players who give a man of the match performance, will have possession for less than two minutes. That means there’s a massive amount that needs to be analysed away from just the interactions with the ball.

McCarthy: You’d have your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which would change from trainer to trainer. They’d look at games differently, but your generic ones are always going to be there. Your kickouts, turnovers, scoring accuracy, efficiency up front, that stuff is never going to change.

It’s not just concentrating on the fella that has the ball, it’s everyone else. That’s the way I like to look at football because it’s the movement of everyone around it that’s the issue for the guy on the ball. I look at patterns of play. How teams gets scores, how teams are setting up, how teams are trying to break the opposition down.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

The42: In terms of in-game analysis, do you ever suggest fixes to management during a game if you see a trend developing?

Carroll: It definitely can happen. It’s different to rugby where you see the manager sitting beside four guys with laptops. Rugby takes a lot longer to play a half, you’ve a lot of breaks in play to watch video. Gaelic is a lot faster than people think. You’re waiting to see if something’s a trend. You would be trying to highlight certain things in relation to what the manager’s gameplan is. You’re there to facilitate those guys, you’re not running the show in any sense.

But at times you would be radioing down to say, ‘they’re picking up a lot of ball here,’ or it might be a certain player on the opposition’s sixth possession or his fifth shot. You’re just trying to give clues as to what’s going on from a higher vantage point, then it’s up to the manager to match that to what they see going on and decide whether that’s a tactical change or a substitution.

Boyne: Maybe it’s why I’ve survived three managers that I don’t tell them what changes to make or cast an opinion. I would hope the information I’m giving them would either endorse their own thought process, or get them to concentrate in a particular area. There’s regular feedback and constant interaction similar to the rugby between the analysis box and the sideline, but I would strictly avoid suggesting fixes.

If you look at the Dublin sideline, Jim and his backroom team have all played at that level. They know the game so the only thing I’m interested in is giving indicators that maybe clear away a little bit of fog of what they’re seeing in front of them.

McCarthy: It varies from game to game as Kerry are moving around county grounds and not just based in one venue. Your main structures are always there. I’m trying to feed those KPIs back to the coaches in order for them to make better decisions.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

The42: What’s the process like of breaking down a game from the moment it finishes to the presentation to players?

Carroll: When I was working with Kildare or Cork, I would try and have that game completely tagged, which is about six or seven hours work, by Monday afternoon. Then I send the video and tags back to the manager, with some general thoughts.

I’d have a one-page document that would go initially, which would list the KPIs about whatever the team is working on. Later in the week, that would expand out to a seven or eight page report with individual player information and maybe some more in-depth stuff around different things the team is working on.

Boyne: All inter-county teams now go for a recovery session after the match, and then they go for a meal. As a performance analyst, you don’t get that luxury. If it’s a championship game in Croke Park on a Sunday, it’s straight home and you’re pulling down all of the data you recorded during the game and formatting that into the traditional high level report, which would be available for the coaches before they finish the post-match meal.

Then you’re analysing the video more forensically and that would be towards having a much broader set of data available on the Monday. Everything would be geared towards summarising and presenting back in a team environment on the Tuesday.

McCarthy: When the game ends I’m sitting down hopefully with multiple angles of the footage. I’ve got a template for match analysis. I’ve do a full individual analysis and come championship time a full individual opposition analysis. From there you’ve your online platform that you can share with the team. Then you’ve your statistical report.

Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

The42: What has been the biggest development in analytics you’ve seen in your time working in GAA?

Carroll: The affordability has opened up a totally different world. Ten or 12 years ago, you were trying to tell managers what analysis is and why they needed to do it. You certainly don’t need to do that now. I would use Dartfish for my analysis, that’s nearly a quarter of the price it was 10 years ago. Cameras and laptops are cheaper. It’s made it much more accessible. Even mobile phones have apps now that people are using to do analysis on club games.

Boyne: Sportscode Elite was the top of the range back then and it was used from all of our counterparts in rugby union. It is important not to complicate it, simplification is really important. Technically, you’re starting to get quality information from GPS systems that are tracking players.

You are getting a broader understand of the different work rates and the distance covered by players in different positions, and then detailing the training sessions in terms of what’s required of a corner back and a midfielder, because the dynamic is different. Sport is probably a little bit ahead of what everybody in the street has.

McCarthy: It’s getting more advanced. From the analytics side I use Sportscode software. There’s so much data coming out for inter-county teams that it needs to be streamlined. There’s going to be a need for people in set-ups to bring all that data together – and that’s across all set-ups from U21s, minor to development squads.

So you have a picture of the guys that are coming through, because a lot of this data is being lost from year to year. If you’re changing S&C guys, analysts or nutritionists, there’s a bit of a disconnect between teams at the moment. But the biggest change I’ve seen is analysis is coming into clubs more.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

The42: What sort of information do inter-county players receive about the guys they’ll be marking before a game? How detailed is it?

Carroll: It can vary. Some guys don’t like that much information. Generally speaking guys who want it will get some sort of written report. Then I’d add a three or four minute video trying to highlight some of those key points.

If a defender will be marking Kevin McManamon, I’ll try to show: does he prefer to run on the outside or inside? Does he have a trigger that shows when he’s going to go? I’d look a lot at shot maps to show where on the pitch he tends to shoot from, or what his accuracy is like in certain areas. If he’s in this area, if we can put him on his left foot or right foot, this is the change it might make to the accuracy.

These are split second decisions and players aren’t always going to get them right but it can swing the odds considerably in their favour. Certainly, the defenders would be more into it than the attackers.

Boyne: You will get players who are information hungry about the opposition and you get ones who prefer to play a bit more naturally. It tends to be tailored to what the individual players asked for. There will be general information available because every team is watching each other.

There’s a danger you take yourself too seriously and almost think it’s like playing FIFA on the Xbox, and you’re controlling the game, which you’re not. It’s about simplifying the information. If the man on the street doesn’t understand the information, players and coaches aren’t going to either.

McCarthy: Everything they need for the guy they’re marking is there for them. If a guy comes to me and says, ‘can I have all this?’ I’ll give it to them. But the player has to take ownership for himself. If you spoon feed everything to the players it’s not being efficient.

Is it my job to tell the player that he should be looking at the stuff for the guy he’s marking? No. It should be in his own interest to do that.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

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The42: How much do you attribute the current style of play to analytics? Have numbers coming into the game affected the style of play as a whole or is that too simplistic?

Carroll: I think it’s a mix. Analytics has played a part , but there’s also influences from other sports. Something that drives me mad is some managers can get obsessed with counting possessions. When I was with Kildare and sitting down with Kieran, we decided not to count possessions.

Because if, for example, Ciaran Kilkenny has 40 possessions and Diarmuid Connolly has 20, it doesn’t mean Kilkenny is twice the player Connolly is in that game. You don’t know what affect it’s having on the players in terms of, one: do they just go looking for possessions? And two: even if they get a possession, is their decision just to give a simple pass and make sure they’ve a 100 percent pass accuracy rather than try something that might result in a goal? Counting possession numbers can have as big a negative effect as a positive effect.

Boyne: You don’t want to create a fear factor. I would never see targets as a good idea, because people become more focused on targets than the performance. There’s styles of play and I’m not sure analytics has had a major influence on that.

The really top coaches like Jim McGuinness, know where the strengths and weaknesses of their team is. Know if they have two or three really good scoring forwards, what’s the best way to support them and set-up their team in which to do that. He brought in that whole style of playing defensively to minimise the damage of what the opposition are going to do and then create the opportunities for yourself on the counter. If you have a team of stars you don’t need to do that because you’ve players in every position who can score. Or if you’re Kerry, who are possibly the most natural footballers,

McCarthy: I wouldn’t be along the train of thought along Ciaran Kilkenny’s head that, ‘I’m on 52 possessions.’ That was just the role he was playing and it was up to the opposition team to push up more to affect what he was doing. It can possibly change it from a gameplan pre-game, but not once the game is in flow.

GAA is a free-flowing game. It’s not stop-start like rugby or NFL, when they come to the sideline and chose a play to run. I don’t think that element is in there and I don’t think it affects it on an individual level like that. But before a game you could have an analyst go to a coach and say there’s a certain area where a team is strong. And for deadball situations like kickouts, it could affect it that way.

Source: Casey Rodgers

The42: What’s the next big thing in the industry? Is there anything you can see coming down the line that everybody will be using in five or 10 years?

Carroll: We’re getting to the stage where the coding of games will improve. Teams have got a lot better in terms of the amount of detail they analyse. For example, knowing that I made a successful pass is one thing, but knowing that there were 10 other options on and I took the worst option, is something the tracking data can begin to tell us.

Diarmuid Connolly averaged 22 possessions per game in the 2016 championship. That’s a tiny amount in a 75 minute game, but that’s not all he’s doing. The tracking data tells us all of that, far beyond GPS which tells us how far he ran. But it goes a step further and shows us where on the pitch he was in relation to all the other players and then we can marry that to all the ball contact stuff and we can get a different picture.

I think with data, teams will get better at managing players and the likelihood of injuries. I would know of teams that are tracking the amount of time their players are spending in their car, to try and tailor the training accordingly. Or they do things for those guys that gets them more ready to train, as opposed to the guys that had a 15 minute drive. So teams are tracking that travel time and building that into the training to prevent injuries.

Boyne: I think you’re going to start seeing censors in balls, you’re certainly going to see wearables within sports clothing. You’re starting to see that already. It’s the dynamic of that information and how you use it, is probably the biggest growth area.

McCarthy: The GPS monitor and player loads, that is coming more and more into it. Your GPS systems can now be monitored from up on height.

The big thing in American sports is the virtual reality stuff. Is that going to come into GAA? You’ve got a 10-year-old who’s playing in your club, when he’s 20 is he going to be looking into a screen practising his GAA skills? It might sound far-fetched at the moment, but is it that far off? You go into any software shop at the moment you’ll see more of these VR systems set-up that you put on, five years ago it was just your Playstations. Is that going to come into the GAA? I don’t know. Possibly.

I think it was up in Ulster some college teams they were recording games with drone footage. That could be used once the drones get better a few years down the line when batteries can last for 80 or 90 minutes, At the moment I’m not sure if you can get a full game through a drone’s battery life. But that footage would be fantastic.

What I’d love to see is footage being centralised and made available to all counties. I can’t see a reason why there can’t be a central platform. There’s so much footage, it would be great if, say, the analyst from Wicklow can log on and download Kerry vs Donegal in the first round of the National League and learn from that. We’re all on about putting more coaching resources into each county, but the analysts can learn from the way the other guys play and show that to their players. ‘Look what they did here and look what we’re doing.’ It would great to make that available.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

The42: What do you make of the criticism that analytics takes all the unpredictability – the magic – out of the sport? 

Carroll: I don’t think it does. I think the reason we love sport is because it’s unpredictable. I don’t try and convince people they should or shouldn’t. Some people like to watch the game and be immersed in the game. Part of me wishes I could do that as well. I sit down and watch a GAA match and I code it in my head, even without me knowing that’s what I do.

Some people just like to know the information and understand the game better. I don’t know if it takes away from the game. I think it enhances it. I think you see with the interest in fantasy football, people are interested in that side of sport. They are interesting in knowing the facts and figures around the game.

Boyne: The amount of errors in a game means it’s quite unpredictable. The level of strength and conditioning has meant the game is played at a higher intensity and physicality. So you see players being stripped of the ball more than you would have 10 years ago.

It’s difficult to predict when you’re going to give the ball away. The shot to score ratios have not greatly improved in the last 20 years. You put 30 humans on a pitch and try predict and what’s going to happen and I’d say good luck to you. Missed shots, passes, blocks, interceptions, breaking ball – a lot of that you just can’t predict.

McCarthy: It’s just a tool that’s there. As I mentioned I come from a coaching background. It’s not something you should solely build your gameplan around. It’s in no way taking away from the game. Not a hope. It’s a big part of all set-ups at the moment. It’s what use you make of it.

Myself and another analyst can get footage of a game, we can both go to the same trainer and both tell completely different stories of that game. The statistics might be exactly the same but how we present it might be different. It’s a positive because it gets players talking about different scenarios of games, but it’s how you interpret it.

You might have had a turnover from a ball a guy kicked in, but the run mightn’t have been good. So is it the guy who kicked the ball in or the guy that made the bad run that caused the turnover? There’s so many variables, it’s a difficult one.

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FROM ROBBIE BRADY to Rio de Janeiro, 2016 has been another busy year for Irish sport.

But how well do you remember those big moments and the people who were at the heart of it all?

We tested some of Ireland’s top sports stars with 10 questions in The42’s first-ever Christmas quiz.

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Yesterday saw Colm Cooper knocked off the top of the leaderboard by Jackie Tyrrell, with the Kilkenny legend setting a new high score of 8/10 as the one to beat.

Today it’s the turn of another hurler, and our final GAA participant, 2016 Hurler of the Year Austin Gleeson of Waterford.

We reckon there’s at least one question in there where he should get the answer…

If you’d like to give the quiz a go yourself before watching the video, scroll down to see the questions below.

Source: The42.ie/YouTube

The42 Christmas Quiz – Questions

1. How many goals did Ireland score at Euro 2016?

2. Who scored Ireland’s final try in the Chicago win against the All Blacks?

3. Ann Downey managed which county to the All-Ireland camogie title?

4. How many UFC fights did Conor McGregor win in 2016?

5. Who won this year’s Connacht football championship?

6. Name the Irish sailor who won Olympic silver in Rio this summer.

7. Who won the 2016 FAI Cup?

8. How many All-Ireland football titles have the Cork Ladies now won in a row?

9. Who was named 2016 Hurler of the Year?

10. How many games did Ireland win in the 2016 Six Nations?

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THE LIAM MACCARTHY cup found a new home in 2016 when Tipperary ended a six-year thirst and surprised holders Kilkenny.

It was also a year where Austin Gleeson ascended to new heights at just 21 years of age while at the other end of the age scale, Jackie Tyrrell withdrew from the inter-county game after a stellar career.

On the club circuit, we discovered a jewel in Clare. Ballyea’s journey from obscurity to Munster senior champions is laced with historical feats and they still have an All-Ireland semi-final to look forward to after Christmas.

As always, some quality moments of score-taking were produced throughout 2016 and here’s a selection of them.

Conor Cooney (Galway) – Goal against Tipperary in the All-Ireland semi-final

The 2015 All-Ireland semi-final produced a memorable encounter between Galway and Tipperary with the westerners clinching the tie by just one point to set up a final with Kilkenny.

This year’s semi-final however, was far from a repeat performance. But there was a nice spread of quality scores, one of which was a sublime goal from Galway’s Conor Cooney.

While thundering towards the Davin end with ball in hand, Johnny Coen spotted Cooney drifting into space and offloaded possession at the perfect moment to allow Cooney to unleash a stunning shot from distance.

Source: officialgaa/YouTube

(Skip to 0.30 for Cooney’s goal)

Austin Gleeson (Waterford) – Point against Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final replay

The Waterford player who can adapt his specialties to an attacking or defensive role, carved his name into the annals of hurling history with some of his solo performances this year.

Source: GaelicShinty+Hurling/YouTube

He was duly awarded the GAA/GPA Player of the Year and this individual effort against Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final replay, surely helped tilt the verdict in his direction.

Not only does Gleeson display the power and agility required to shake off the Kilkenny defenders, he also exhibits a rarely seen skill in hurling. After evading the initial challenges, Gleeson hops the ball (if such a term can be applied to hurling) off the ground with his hurl before catching it on the bounce and dinking to the left and slapping it over.

Joe Canning (Galway) – Goal against Clare in the All-Ireland quarter-final

It wasn’t one of his highlight years but Joe Canning remains a special talent. His ability to emerge with a moment of skill that can change the trajectory of a game should never be undervalued.

It’s a talent that he produces intermittently, which is probably why we appreciate it even more. Against Clare in this year’s All-Ireland quarter-final, Canning treated us to another impromptu exhibition.

Source: officialgaa/YouTube

From the throw-in after half-time, Galway went on the offensive. Johnny Coen and David Burke sliced their way through the Banner’s defence with little retaliation from their opponents, in a move which resulted in a Canning goal.

Canning could have played it cautiously and popped the ball into his hand to avoid any chance of getting dispossessed.

But Canning backed his speed of wrist to tee up the shot with his hurl, before applying the swing. By the time a Clare body had arrived on the scene, the net was already swaying.

Tony Kelly (Clare/Ballyea) – Point in the Munster club final

While the Clare hurlers continue to seek their All-Ireland winning form from 2013, Tony Kelly has found some respite with his club Ballyea.

This unassuming parish has achieved a succession of historical achievements this year and Tony Kelly has been instrumental throughout.

His Munster final display against Glen Rovers of Cork was particularly noteworthy. Five points from play, incredible yards gained with his pace and some impressive stick work were the key points of his distinguished performance.

Ballyea’s Tony Kelly hitting a sensational score during his side’s first ever senior Munster final victory.

Source: Youtube

This first-half effort shows Kelly infuse all of these attributes in one movement.

John ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer (Tipperary) – Goal in the All-Ireland final.

It was turbulent season for ‘Bubbles.’ A sending off in the Munster semi-final victory over Limerick saw him cast out onto the peripheries for a number of weeks.

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He served his suspension for the Munster final but found it difficult to reclaim a starting jersey after his time in exile was finished. He was named on the bench for the meeting against Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final before finally getting the nod in the final.

He announced himself back to the stage with a stunning 1-05 as part of Tipperary’s comfortable win over Kilkenny.

Source: CR’s Video Vaults/YouTube

His second-half goal cooled the fire of Kilkenny’s comeback and was a joy to watch.

The precision of his shot is always worth a replay.

Colin Fennelly (Kilkenny) – Goal against Waterford in All-Ireland semi-final replay.

Kilkenny may have lost their crown this year but to talk of their impending demise after one setback would be foolish. Those who indulged in that notion six years ago soon learned the cost of prematurely ordering a gravestone for Kilkenny hurling.

Prior to their capitulation at the hands of Tipperary, they thrived in two tricky assignments against Waterford this year.

The replay saw the Cats prevail and this stunning goal from Colin Fennelly helped them on their way to edging the tie. (Fennelly’s goal can be found at the 0:14 mark)

Source: Ar an taobh líne/YouTube

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Updated at 21.56

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THE 100-year anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising was always going to be particularly poignant in Rathfarnham, a sprawling suburb on the south side of Dublin, where Irish revolutionary Patrick Pearse’s legacy is still a main attraction.

After relocating his St Enda’s school from Ranelagh to Rathfarnham in 1910 to continue his liberal approach to education and his devotion to the Irish language, it was there that his political ideas began germinating and his involvement in the push for independence took hold.

But for all the links this area has with history — Pearse was partly drawn to the region due to its association with Robert Emmet, another famous revolutionary — 2016 in Rathfarnham will be remembered for different reasons.

It was in the sporting arenas, at home and abroad, that saw these parts get more attention than usual.

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IT WAS A fitting start to the biggest day in the 47-year history of Ballyboden St Enda’s — one of the biggest sports clubs catering for the Rathfarnham area.

The players didn’t need to be reminded of the occasion’s enormity — St Patrick’s Day at Croke Park is ingrained as the Holy Grail for every club player across the country.

As they stood huddled around a plaque commemorating one of the greatest to wear Boden’s blue and white stripes — the late Jim Stynes — Paul McGinley, another celebrated past pupil of St Enda’s GAA, delivered a rousing speech to the class of 2016.

Stynes’ loss is still fresh in the memory in these parts, and the legacy he left goes deeper than his remarkable sporting achievements; the 1991 Brownlow medallist having achieved so much as a philanthropist and charity worker after his playing days came to an end.

McGinley’s words were spine-tingling. Grips tightened around hips as the 50-year-old, a former team-mate of Stynes, addressed his captivated audience.

A speech by a Ballyboden man who achieved world fame in a different code, delivered in front of a plaque to recognise the life of a club man who left his country and his parish for Australia while still a fresh-faced teen.

It was a special moment at their Sancta Maria grounds; one that brought together the tales of two men who remained proud of their roots no matter where in the world their talents took them.

As the current senior footballers soaked it all in, the entire Ballyboden St Enda’s story and who they were representing became clearer. Just in case they needed reminding.

The wheels were in motion, and it was time to get on the bus.

“It was a really nice moment, none of us were really expecting it,” Ballyboden captain Darragh Nelson recalls.

“We just stood around in a circle and Paul gave a bit of a pep talk.

“Obviously him captaining the Ryder Cup team, he talked about his experience with that and told us just to leave everything out there.

“The management obviously organised it and it was just a nice moment to kick-start the day.

It really hit home just being around the Jim Stynes plaque, obviously a former Ballyboden man.

“And Paul McGinley, another former Ballyboden man, giving us a talk. Two huge sporting icons from the area, so it set us up for a perfect day.”

Perfect being the word. Things couldn’t have gone much better for Ballyboden, the same side who were widely written off ahead of their county final clash with St Vincent’s just months before, their first decider in eight years.

They also entered March’s All-Ireland final against Castlebar Mitchels as heavy underdogs, but they once again made the bookies look foolish.

Boden wrote their own script and raced into a 2-3 to 0-0 lead with just 16 minutes played, and the Dublin champions went on to win their first All-Ireland title at a canter.

It was something few would have predicted when the group got together for pre-season training at the start of 2015. But coach Andy McEntee, who recently left the club to take the reins with Meath’s seniors (after winning the Division 1 league title), had them well drilled.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

“Preparations went well and on the day, getting a start in the match was hugely significant … it was just a great day,” Nelson adds.

“That’s why you play club football.

“You want to be playing on the biggest stage for your club.

“And to play in Croke Park, especially in the centenary as well, 100 years on since 1916, it was just a really, really special year to be crowned All-Ireland club champions.

“Seeing a sea of blue of white, all the Ballyboden fans — your family and friends, everyone that has been around the club for years and just seeing them after the game was just surreal.”

To many across the country Ballyboden — a 1969 amalgamation of Ballyboden Wanderers and Rathfarnham St Enda’s —  is another monstrous Dublin club that dwarfs the majority of their opponents with their catchment area but Nelson is quick to point out that there is nothing industrial about it.

It’s a club like any other, a place with a beating heart and human soul, and an organisation that relies heavily on its administrators  – the like of games officer Brian O’Regan maintaining the structures for Gaelic games to thrive in the community. It’s a place that embraces its identity, and is proud of it too.

Ballyboden’s Darragh Nelson tackles Cian Costello of Castlebar Mitchels.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

Nelson recalls the warming atmosphere around the Rathfarnham, Firhouse, Knocklyon and Ballyboden areas during those dark winter months in between their county title and the All-Ireland series.

“Winning the All-Ireland meant so much to us and so much to the people of Ballyboden and to the management.

“In terms of what the GAA means to the people of Ballyboden as well, it’s on a par with some of the parish clubs down the country.

There would be a lot of other sports around the area. I don’t think we’ve had to battle to try and keep players. I think the players that play in Ballyboden know what a big club it is.

“I’ve been around the club since I’ve been about eight or nine and it’s just been enjoyable all my life.”

Padraig Harrington, another local man and former Ballyboden player, was representing the area in Rio, with McGinley in his corner, just five months after the All-Ireland win. But it was the performance of Annalise Murphy, who also lives locally, that stole the show.

It had been a whirlwhind couple of weeks for the 26-year-old, but when she saw a sign above the Rathfarnham Credit Union congratulating her on her Olympic silver medal, she couldn’t help but smile.

Looking back now, fresh from competing in a largely male foiling moth field in Bermuda, the reality of her achievement has started to dawn.

“Yeah, I’ve been able to let it sink in,” Murphy tells The42.

“I’ve sort of dreamt my whole life of the Olympics and I don’t know if I actually dreamt of winning an Olympic medal because I never really knew if I’d be good enough to win an Olympic medal.

“It’s been great, just even the support I’ve got from so many people has made it really great as well.

“I’ve won a few awards and I look at it and go ‘I don’t know if I deserve this, I think other people do more than me’.

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IF YOU DON’T get time to sit down and watch this one this evening, hit the record button.

Donal O’Grady, All-Ireland senior medallist with the Cork hurlers as a player and manager, is on a journey through history to uncover the origins of the county’s famous GAA jersey.

What he discovered will surprise many people – and especially the people of Cork.

While fans of the Rebels have always associated red with Cork, this wasn’t always the case.

Former Cork player and manager Donal O’Grady.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

O’Grady says: “It’s an honour for me to tell this story, the link between the jersey and the battle for freedom is an incredible tale.”

The tale is ‘An Fhuil agus Bindealán’, or ‘blood and bandage’, and it airs on TG4 this evening (St. Stephen’s Day) at 7.45pm.

Background

The year is 1919, Cork is a leading GAA county but the senior hurlers had not tasted All-Ireland success since 1903.

A gap of 16 years is a long time for Cork fans but 1919 brought a new hope.

At this time, Ireland was in chaos, the war of Independence in full swing. Cork was an epicentre of the struggle. The British were losing the war in Cork and coming under enormous pressure.

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From 1913 to 1919, the Cork GAA team wore a blue jersey with a saffron ‘C’ emblazoned on the chest.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

Indeed, when Cork played Kilkenny in the Allianz Hurling League at Páirc Uí Rinn back in March, they wore a commemorative kit to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising. 

O’Grady says: “Can you imagine a Cork team in blue? We’re just so associated with the red, would our history have been the same in a blue jersey?”

In the weeks leading up to the Cork’s first game in the Munster championship in 1919, men representing the British forces raided the county board offices on Cook St.

Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s jersey from Cork’s All-Ireland senior hurling centenary winning team of 1984.

Source: INPHO

There, they found the blue jerseys and stole them.

Cork GAA, at the time, was heavily connected to the IRA in the city and so the British forces felt that this theft would send a strong warning.

Undaunted, the county board went on a frantic search for jerseys and, luckily, came across a set of red jerseys from the Father O’Leary Temperance Association Team, which was recently defunct.

The Cork senior hurling jersey of 2001.

Source: INPHO

The jerseys seemed to inspire the players and the team went on a great run, culminating  in Captain Jimmy ‘Major’ Kennedy scoring four goals as they triumphed over Dublin in the All-Ireland final on a scoreline of 6-4 to 2-4, thus ending the 16-year barren spell.

Consequently, Cork decided to wear the ‘lucky’ red jerseys in all future games.

Source: TG4/YouTube

The role that Cork played in the war of Independence cemented Cork’s identity as the Rebel county.

The war became etched in their collective psyche and, born out of this struggle, the new blood red jerseys recalled the sacrifice of Cork men and women who gave their lives.

Director of ‘An Fhuil agus Bindealán’ is Pat Comer, a former goalkeeper and All-Ireland senior football medallist with Galway.

Patrick Horgan sporting the Cork jersey from the 2016 season.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

Comer said: “As a proud Galway man who has worn the county colours, I know the passion jerseys evoke but there’s certainly something extra special between Cork people and the red jersey.”

O’Grady meets current and recent players to discuss how much the red jersey means to them.

Directed by Pat Comer and produced by Éamonn Ó Cualáín and Samuel Kingston from Fócas Films, the documentary airs on TG4 this evening at 7.45pm, straight after the Munster v Leinster rugby game.

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IT WAS A few days after Tipperary’s final Allianz League Division 3 outing against Sligo when a “no holds barred” meeting involving players and team management took place at Dr. Morris Park in Thurles.

Strength and conditioning coach Dave Moriarty left deflated, wondering where the team was headed and questioning why he’d decided to get involved in the first place.

Liam Casey, Kevin Fahey and Jason Lonergan informed their team-mates that they wouldn’t be sticking around for the championship, and were heading to the US instead for the summer.

Tipp had survived in Division 3 but that was only confirmed on the last day, from a position where they were right in the hunt for promotion after four rounds.

Successive defeats to Longford and Kildare put the kibosh on any hopes of Division 2 football in 2017 and losing such talented young players left manager Liam Kearns and his backroom staff behind the 8-ball ahead of the championship.

Dave Moriarty is strength and conditioning coach with the Tipperary senior footballers.

“I thought, my God, what have I got myself into?” says Moriarty.

“This was going to be a very short year unless there was a dramatic change. It was a case of, Jesus, we get over Waterford and we play Cork and who knows after that but yeah, coming home after that (meeting), I was scratching my head.

“I thought ‘this is an inter-county set-up’ and I would have expected a lot more from certain players, not all.

“And I did not envisage in my wildest dreams what occurred in the following months.

But what I’ve always said is that things happen for a reason or in strange ways. Momentum is very hard to get but once you have it, it’s a great ally in your arsenal.”

The tide soon turned as Bill Maher had linked up with the footballers after being deemed surplus to requirements by the hurlers.

And in early May, Kearns whisked the squad away for a training weekend during a glorious period of good weather, staying at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Limerick and using Cratloe GAA’s facilities as a training base.

They arrived at 10am on the Saturday morning and left for home shortly after lunchtime on Sunday. In between, the hours were filled by sweat, video analysis, sleep and plenty of laughter.

“Bill Maher coming back to the panel from the hurlers was another shot in the arm we needed,” Moriarty agrees.

“He played a pivotal role in the championship games he played in – an outstanding character and athlete.”

Bill Maher: ‘An outstanding character and athlete.’

Source: Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO

Tipp weren’t slipped up by a potential banana skin against Waterford, even without eleven players who featured against the same opposition a year previously.

“While we didn’t play excellently, we got over it.

“Despite the players we’d lost and all the issues we had, we were in a good place, coming under the radar against Cork. We had a lot of work done, believed in the work we had completed and it bore fruit.”

At a pre-match meeting before the Munster semi-final against Cork, Moriarty remembers Kearns being “very animated, very passionate” and leaving the Anner Hotel for Semple Stadium, he felt that “something big could happen.”

And it did, as Tipp beat Cork in a senior football championship match for the first time in 72 years.

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Philip Austin, who’s preparing for a 12th season as an inter-county footballer, references that pre-match meeting too, without being prompted.

“It’s the first time we ever really, really believed we were going to topple a big team before the game,” he says.

“Things had been so average, so stop-start up to that point, but it just seemed that maybe in the couple of days before the game, things started to gel and there was a good feeling around the camp again.

“I felt that was the turning point myself and after that, the whole thing kicked off.”

Losing to Kerry in the Munster final was a setback, with Austin and team-mate Conor Sweeney, who was nominated for an All-Star award, left surprised by the Kingdom’s tactics on their home soil.

Tipperary forward Philip Austin.

Source: Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO

“For one reason or another, the Kerry game didn’t go for us. We couldn’t get over their tactics of dropping players back, they played very negative and we weren’t able to counteract their negativity,” says Austin.

And Sweeney reflects: “We spoke before about not playing the occasion and I don’t think we did, but we were a little bit surprised with how they set up.

“They let us have our kick-outs and their inside forwards worked so hard, we couldn’t get through the middle third and they had the field packed with players, which surprised us a little bit.

“Experience told but we learned an awful lot and that served us greatly for the games after.”

Tipperary captain Peter Acheson prepares to lead his side into battle against Kerry.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

On a famous Saturday evening, 23 July, Tipp travelled to Kinspan Breffni Park for an All-Ireland qualifier with Derry, and carrying a sense of grievance with them.

Why, they wondered, did they have to play Ulster opponents at a venue where they (Derry) had beaten Cavan a week before?

The backdrop created something of a siege mentality and Tipp used it, Sweeney kicking two injury-time points to seal a come-from-behind 1-21 to 2-17 win.

Austin says: “I think what people forget is that we were very, very lucky against Derry.

We kicked the last two points and they missed two shots at the end. Had we not got the rub of the green that day, we’d have no All-Star nominations or an All-Star, none of this ‘Tipp goodwill’ and Clare would have robbed the limelight.

“Sport is very fickle, very marginal, and it comes down to inches.”

For Nenagh Guardian sports editor Shane Brophy, the aftermath of the Derry win was his seasonal highlight.

“I just thought the last 15 or 20 minutes after that game…that was special.

“The build-up all week was about having to travel up there, we were up against it and to produce a quality performance, almost lose it and then have the courage to go and win it again in injury-time and not panic, that was incredible. That was the pick for me from the overall year experience.”

Shane Brophy, Nenagh Guardian sports editor.

For Sweeney, it was a memorable afternoon.

“Extra special for me, getting the scores at the end,” he admits.

“It typified the way we played all year, never say die. A lot of people might have thought we’d let that slip again but like Cork, we had to win the game twice and maybe three times.”

Conor Sweeney celebrates his late winning point against Derry.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

Tipp’s win sent them hurtling into a very first All-Ireland senior football quarter-final, and a clash with Connacht champions Galway.

Sweeney scored 2-2 and will never forget the final minutes of an exhilarating team display.

“It was class, just incredible. It was strange because we were so comfortable in the last ten minutes of that game.

“I remember turning to Kevin O’Halloran and we smiled at each other, we knew we had it won. We knew in our hearts and souls that we weren’t going to let it slip.”

****

One of Tipperary’s best-known supporters is Kevin Hanly. He followed the team from the depths of late winter all the way to Croke Park in August.

He remembers getting the train to Dublin for the Galway quarter-final with a group from Tipperary town and a sing-song broke out. A Galway man and some Kerry folk joined in too.

Nicola Ni Chonaill, another familiar face at Tipperary’s hurling and football games, kicked it off with a rousing rendition of Slievenamon and the sing-song lasted all the way to Heuston Station.

“When I went to the game, people beforehand were coming up and asking me what I thought,” says Kevin. “They’d seen all my videos and stuff on Facebook and Twitter, and I was confident.

“That second 35 minutes was something special for Tipp football, everything clicked into place and all the hard work that people have put in for years all came together.

“I couldn’t believe what was happening, we were getting so excited that a semi-final was just around the corner but until the final whistle blew, I didn’t believe it was going to happen.

I can remember we stayed around and the players were coming across to the Croke Park hotel. We all started singing Slievenamon, 50 or 60 of us, and the cameras from RTÉ news were there. The players were being clapped and applauded – they were a really special couple of minutes.”

Before they left the pitch, Tipp’s players had savoured victory with a group of supporters who converged beneath the Hogan Stand.

Those were special moments, as fans who had been seated in the Cusack Stand made their way across to the opposite side of the pitch via the Davin Stand, a mass movement of blue and gold.

Source: MuscularChristianity/YouTube

The voyage would eventually end at the All-Ireland semi-final stage, Mayo outscoring Tipp by 1-7 to 0-1 in the ten minutes leading up to half-time and building a match-winning platform.

“I think it was a massive chance lost,” Austin insists.

“We were dominating, 6-3 up and then the Jason Doherty goal against the run of play.

“We were six points down at half-time but we came back into it in the second half.

“It was always going to be difficult but we brought it back to two points and had all of the momentum.”

An Evan Regan mishit bounced into Conor O’Shea’s path and the Mayo man netted to re-establish a healthy advantage.

Tipp were spent and Austin says: “We couldn’t claw it back, ran out of time. I kicked four wides myself that day, that would have brought us a lot closer. That still haunts me.”

But, as Austin notes, perhaps the luck factor has a habit of balancing itself out over the course of a season.

Tipp had some along the way, most notably in the Derry game as he’s already alluded to, but then Mayo ran out of it by conceding two own goals in the drawn All-Ireland final against Dublin, before losing the replay by a point.

Philip Austin comes under pressure from Mayo’s Donal Vaughan.

Source: Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO

“Maybe they got the luck that day and didn’t get it in the final,” Austin muses. “A game of inches, that’s the way it works.”

But Tipp left Croke Park in August with their heads held high, and Hanly remembers the ovation the team was afforded leaving the pitch.

He’d watched the wonder grow all year, “going from a couple of hundred to 12 or 14,000 in Croke Park.”

After the Galway quarter-final, Tipp captain Peter Acheson presented Hanly with his match jersey, a gesture of recognition and acknowledgement for his support.

And Hanly, a keen hurling fan too, noted how Tipp were given applauded off the pitch after the Mayo game, when he’d previously seen county hurling teams losing semi-finals and almost leaving with their tails between their legs.

“There were a couple of thousand of us in the Hogan Stand applauding, and Mayo people there as well when Tipp came off.

“I’ve been to many hurling semi-finals and we’ve lost a couple.

“I can never remember them getting a standing ovation. You’d be more critical of the hurlers losing a semi-final but Mayo and Tipp supporters stood and applauded them into the dressing room. That was special and showed that everybody appreciated the run in 2016.”

A run that was achieved despite some pre-season setbacks, most notably the lads who left for America, the loss of Colin O’Riordan to Sydney Swans and Steven O’Brien and Seamus Kennedy’s switches to the hurlers.

Former football panellist Seamus Kennedy won an All-Ireland senior hurling medal with Tipperary in September.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“Our attacking performance against Cork was a personal highlight,” says manager Liam Kearns.

“3-10 from play, we took all of our frees and chances, had no wide in the first half and only three in total.

“That was our best attacking performance all year, exceptional really and also the fact that they showed character having blown a lead in the last ten minutes to win it a second time.

Derry, in similar circumstances, to show character again when we found ourselves behind in injury-time of that game, having had to go up to Cavan to play them and so on. That was a recovery from the Munster final defeat too, so they showed that they were made of good stuff in both of those games.

“The performance in the All-Ireland quarter-final was excellent but we missed a lot of scores,” Kearns adds.

“If we had taken our chances, it could have been something else. But the thing about Croke Park was the fact that it was a quarter-final and to beat a traditional county like Galway brought our players into the national consciousness.

Liam Kearns savours that winning feeling following the stunning victory over Galway.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

“That game brought home the type of football we were playing, how we were going about it and how good the players were. It was a big statement and gave us the chance to show what we were all about, young and improving all the time.

“We didn’t expect to beat Galway the way we beat them but I wasn’t shocked that we played well in Croke Park.”

Brophy argues: “Maybe it was about time. We’ve always had the talent in the county and over the last seven or eight years, the structures have been put in place through the development squads where things were organised in terms of football.

“We saw the fruits at underage level and now it’s come through at senior level.

“Leaving Markievicz Park after the final League game (against Sligo), you’re hearing stories of who won’t be around and wondering if we’d get out of Dungarvan alive (first round of the Munster championship against Waterford). And then to end up in Croke Park…”

And so, in Tipp, the 2020 vision remains on track. County football board chairman Joe Hannigan is keen to honour the memory of Bloody Sunday victim Michael Hogan by winning an All-Ireland senior title to mark the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.

“I’d have fierce belief in the foundations that are there,” says Hannigan, father of midfield star George.

We’d have made progress through the development of players at underage and we had always targeted 2014/2015/2016 as the years these guys would come to fruition.

“On the face of it, losing some of your marquee players at the beginning of the year, you’d be saying ‘where are we at now?’

“What happened during the year was amazing really, because the fellas that were there, they kind of become like a club team, they were very united and everybody played their part.

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“We had a great management team, with Liam Kearns, Dave Moriarty, Paul ‘Cracker’ Fitzgerald, Shane Stapleton, Tommy Toomey and the physios Ian Dowling and Paul McMahon.

Former Munster rugby star Ian Dowling is Tipperary’s senior football team physio.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“Everybody bought into it, down to the kit-men. The belief that they could achieve was the highlight of the year for me.

You always have to set targets and we set a fairly high target. We’re looking at 2020 to win an All-Ireland to honour Michael Hogan. He lost his life in Croke Park on 21 November 1920 and we owe it to the memories of those men who played to be where we are.

“We’re a dual county and you’re going to have the issue of that as well, that’s just the way it is, we have to work with that and all the problems that brings with club fixtures and getting matches played when you’re successful.”

And Sweeney says: “We have a panel of nearly 40 at the moment, and hopefully that will remain a panel of 40 for the foreseeable future. You’re always going to lose a few for different reasons but it looks strong at the minute. That’s what you want, lads pushing each other and it provides the opportunity to play A v B matches.”

Kearns adds: “We’ve set the bar very high for ourselves but we’ll take it game by game, starting in Division 3 and targeting promotion as a goal.

“It’s the only goal we didn’t achieve this year but we’ll set new goals for the players.

“And we have to get back to Croke Park and a Munster final, and try to beat one of the big two in Munster again. There isn’t a lot of wriggle room, it’s a big challenge for us.”

A challenge they’ll be ready for.

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MICHAEL SOLAN’S AN infrequent Twitter user. “Not very active” is how he’d describe his experience of the social medium.

At 34 years of age, and manager of an All-Ireland winning team, Solan doesn’t need to log on to a computer or reach for his smartphone to seek approval and affirmation.

The sense of satisfaction that comes with a job well done is very much within Solan following Mayo’s march to EirGrid All-Ireland U21 football glory at the end of April.

One of the big stories following that Mayo win was the cowardly abuse directed at Cork goalkeeper Anthony Casey. 

Solan, while manager of the Mayo team, had sympathy for Casey and believes that he handled the situation extremely well.

“He worked extremely hard to put himself in a position to be the Cork U21 goalkeeper.

“He’s a great lad and any of that sort of stuff that goes on online, it’s not something anybody can control.

Cork goalkeeper Anthony Casey was the victim of Twitter abuse following the All-Ireland U21 final.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

“It was completely unwarranted but you can’t stop people talking to their computers and typing an opinion that they don’t have to back up.

“It’s not going to cause Anthony Casey any problems – he’s a fantastic goalkeeper with great talent.”

As a manager, Solan knows that he’s there to be shot down if things don’t go well.

But in an age of ‘analysis by paralysis’, he prefers to steer clear of the social media world for the most part.

Regardless of what decision you make, you’re wrong to somebody. If you’re looking for 100 per cent approval, you’d be as well off looking somewhere else.

“Football is a game of opinions and everybody has their own. If you were to tie yourself up worrying…”

Solan prefers not to. A two-time county SFC medallist with his club Ballaghaderreen in 2008 and 2012, he was also an All-Ireland senior B colleges medallist with St Nathy’s in 2000.

In 2014, injury brought the curtain down on his playing career and while Solan’s only experience of a Mayo panel was as a minor, he doesn’t believe that previous inter-county playing experience is a prerequisite if you harbour ambitions of becoming a successful coach.

Solan spent a year working as manager of his home club before cutting his inter-county teeth as coach with the Mayo U21s alongside Niall Heffernan.

Michael Solan celebrates at the end of the All-Ireland U21 final.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

In October 2015, Solan was appointed as successor to Heffernan, who had been in the job for two years.

Less than six months later, Solan had masterminded Mayo’s fifth All-Ireland title in the U21 grade, and their first for a decade.

“We would have realised pretty quickly that it was a pretty significant achievement for the players involved.

“When you’re competing at the higher end of championships, the aim is always to get the job done. It turned out to be very satisfying when that did happen.”

Not that it was straightforward for Mayo. Far from it.

There were a couple of vital one-point victories along the way – the Connacht final against Roscommon and the All-Ireland semi-final win over Dublin both dug out late on.

“The games we played in over the year, a lot of them were topsy-turvy, swinging over and back,” Solan recalls.

“Momentum changes at various times – it was the same in the final. We were a few points down approaching half-time, 0-4 to 0-7, but a bit of a scoring burst put us in a decent position.”

Conor Loftus was a key player for Mayo’s U21s this year.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

Mayo bagged a couple of quick-fire goals to turn the game on its head and three more goals in the second half were good enough to get the job done.

The winning margin was five points at full-time, as Conor Loftus and Liam Irwin bagged late majors.

Extra-time still loomed large until Mayo came with another big surge but the experience gained from edging tight games was vital with the final in the balance.

“It’s always very satisfying, especially any time you win by a point,” says Solan.

It’s a very fine line in terms of the balance of the game and we beat both Roscommon and Dublin by a point. When you come out of a tight game or two like that, the next time you’re in that situation, you have the experience of being exposed to it before.

“It allows lads to carry on, to do their jobs at the end of the game, nobody panics and you have that bit of experience.

“Look over the course of the U21 championship – two of the provincial finals (Munster and Connacht) were won by a point, Monaghan won the Ulster final by two and the Leinster final was won by three after extra-time. Very fine margins at the top end of the championship – there wasn’t a whole pile in any of them.”

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Fans will see end results and score-lines, and form their opinions from there.

But for Solan and his players, they’ll remember the small things, a block, tackle, the time that player tracked back.

“A lot of small things,” he smiles.

“They wouldn’t be real stand-out things that would be very noticeable to people watching on TV but 100 small things that we felt would have turned things.

Tackles and blocks that lads would have done that flew under the radar…we had impacts from subs at various different stages. It wouldn’t boil down to any one or two season-defining moments.

“It’s just more a consistent effort from everybody involved, everybody just kept at what we asked them to do, kept going until the final whistle.

“Everybody goes out on the field with the intention of working hard – we were no different.

“That was our aim, to make sure we were an extremely hard-working team – get that as a foundation and build the other blocks with your players, the skills they have, the tactical system you want to implement on any given day. They’re the building blocks to get over the line.

“We were blessed with what every team needs to be successful – talented players and a squad. Regardless of anything else, you need the players.”

While acknowledging that winning an All-Ireland title in an extremely competitive grade is a “fantastic achievement,” Solan doesn’t over-egg it either.

Mayo captain Stephen Coen with his mother Mary after the All-Ireland U21 final victory over Cork.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

“Any time you’re winning a national title is great (but) I would say it means as much to Mayo as it would mean to any other county to get it done. I don’t think Mayo are a special case.

“It meant every bit as much to Tyrone last year and any other team over the years.

“As a group and team, we’re incredibly proud we got it done this year. It’s a fantastic achievement but I don’t think we would see it as any more special than any other team.”

From the 2016 squad of 32 players, Solan will be able to call upon 18 of those players again next year.

Captain Stephen Coen is overage, Young Footballer of the year Diarmuid O’Connor too.

David Kenny, Irwin, Loftus and Michael Hall are other players who have served their time in the U21 grade.

“Thats the age grade – always a big turnover from year to year,” says Solan.

“That’s part of what makes it an exciting age grade, the renewal of teams every year, the renewal of the challenge.

“We’ll start off the same as last year, not focusing on the big picture thing.

Diarmuid O’Connor is one of 14 Mayo players overage for the U21 grade next year.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“Early in the year, it will be about getting the squad together, the correct building blocks in place and ensure you give yourself the maximum chance of providing a set-up and organisation that players need.

“Our aim isn’t looking to anything to do with championship. We’re playing in the North-West Cup in January – that’s our sole focus at the minute, bedding in the new squad.”

Anecdotally, Solan is renowned for the meticulous nature of his preparation.

He smiles when the description is put to him.

“I don’t think I’d be any different to any other manager – whatever needs to be done.

“You can’t really talk for what the players expect – our aim is to give them the best possible set-up we can give them. That’s certainly our aim as a management team.

“We’re blessed with very good strength and conditioning and medical teams, and that goes a long way towards keeping players fit and on the field.”

Michael’s not the only high achiever in the Solan family. His brother, Barry, is Mayo football’s head of strength and conditioning who’s also working with Arsenal’s first team squad. 

Michael smiles: “There’s only the two of us, two years difference in age.

“We’d be pretty close and have a lot of the same interests as well.

Barry Solan (left) pictured with Mayo senior football team manager Stephen Rochford.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“He’s very interested in his job, very motivated to get better and it’s no surprise to me or people who know him that he’s doing well for himself and ended up working at a high level in sport.

“He loves it (Arsenal). It’s a bit different to GAA, his work is during the day as opposed to the evenings and he loves the set-up, the experiences, and the daily work he gets to do.”

Michael Solan’s success with the Mayo U21s has helped to heightened the sense of expectation in the county that senior glory will happen sooner rather than later.

Michael himself is wholly optimistic about the future, and is a big fan of senior team manager Stephen Rochford.

“Obviously based on this year, they’re not very far away at all,” says Solan.

“They’re a fantastic team and have been competitive for the last five or six years.

I would see them as obviously one of the top teams in the country and I still expect them to be in the latter stages of the championship next year. This year, we had a good crossover from senior to U21, and you’d hope that the lads going into senior with an U21 medal, that it would give them a bit of confidence and bringing that into the set-up is good.

“Mayo are extremely lucky with the set-up they have, with the current management.

“I worked closely with Stephen at various points and players graduating from U21 know they’re going into a set-up where they’re going to be pushed on.”

Curses? Not for Solan.

“Nonsense. I wouldn’t have any air-time for that at all. That’s something that barely even merits a mention.”

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SARAH ROWE HAS a pretty tough decision to make over the next few weeks, but at the same time it’s a pretty nice position she finds herself in.

Source: Tom Beary/INPHO

Splitting her life between gaelic football in Mayo and soccer and college in Dublin, the 21-year-old decided this year that she should make a decision and stick to one sport or the other.

She chose representing her native county Mayo.

But now, she’s back to square one.

Mayo had quite a successful 2016 but fell short on two occasions, both in the league final to Cork and Sinead Aherne’s last-minute free kick knocked Rowe’s side out of the All-Ireland championship.

“I kind of wanted to focus on one sport and see how I would get on, if my performance would improve,” she tells The42. “Focusing on one sport, being a one-sport athlete, everything meant that when we lost, it was all the more heartbreaking.”

“Normally, when I lose a gaelic match, I’d have a soccer season ahead of me, or I’d have another big match with soccer coming up, so I’d automatically turn my focus to something else.

So when that was over, everything was over for me and I had nothing to look forward to. I was weeks just doing my own training, saying ‘Jesus I do miss the soccer a bit.’

Luckily for Rowe, this lull period didn’t last long as she was approached to rejoin Shelbourne ladies for the remainder of their season.

As she returned, the north Dublin side won the Women’s FAI Cup in the Aviva, and completed the double as they got their hands on the league title for the first time in the club’s history.

Shelbourne now qualify for the Champions League as a result, and Rowe is yet again torn between the two sports.

“I suppose I face another hurdle now in the next few months with decisions – whether I want to play Champions League or whether I want to play for Mayo – so that’s the next thing.

“If I decide soccer I’ll get to go to the Champions League and the World Student Games. If I decide gaelic, I’ll just be playing with Mayo. I think I am swaying more towards the gaelic, I’ve committed to going back this year so I’d say there’ll be no turning back really.

“There’s obviously a thought in my head – ‘will I be able to manage the both?’ more so than picking one over the other – or will I just manage one and focus on that. If there was an opportunity to manage both I would, but I just don’t think at this level now, and how ladies football has improved so much, that I could actually do that.”

Source: Stephen McCarthy/SPORTSFILE

Rowe, who played with Ballina Town and Castlebar Celtic before moving to Dublin, signed for Raheny before they amalgamated with Shelbourne when she started studying in DCU.

Her international soccer career is a fruitful one, representing Ireland at underage level while also earning her place on the women’s national team squad on several occasions.

She traveled to the Basque Region with the side for a challenge match during her Leaving Cert year, was involved in further challenge matches in Croatia and then was kept in the set-up for training camps at home.

“I decided to take gaelic more seriously, so since then, I haven’t really been in the loop. There’s a new manager coming in this year, things may change, and who knows there might be fresh eyes and that.

You don’t really know what’s going to happen, but as one of the Irish managers said to me before, ‘you have to be playing soccer for me to be able to pick you.’ I have to be playing day-in, day-out, and full-time to really want to have a chance with the Irish set-up.

Rowe is in her third year of studying Physical Education and Biology in DCU, and is a prominent figure on their O’Connor Cup team.

This year she was also a LIDL ambassador for their ladies football coverage.

“They’ve done so much, I don’t even think it’s describable, the fact that ladies football is now a thing to be talked about. There’s more people coming to games, there’s more funding involved. We can’t thank them enough really.

“It actually wasn’t that time-consuming [being an ambassador]. I wasn’t really working this summer, I was fairly flexible. I really enjoyed it, and I’m looking forward to the year ahead to see what they do next year.”

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One thing that’s surely time-consuming for the dual player though, is the fact that she has to balance her two sports alongside her academics, as well as spending time with family and friends. The last few months of the year has seen her train almost every night between just Shelbourne and DCU, never-mind Mayo and her home club Kilmoremoy.

“I actually don’t really [find it difficult to find a balance] to be honest. Throughout the year if you manage your time well and do your work during the day, then go training and rest in the evening, you’re fine. But it’s just a matter of how you balance your time.”

“It’s been part of me for my whole life, in school and everything. I probably found it a small bit harder in school, because you’ve to travel from A to B, but then again in school you had your mum cooking you dinners and stuff, so it’s a small bit different too.

“I don’t find it too bad. When the exams are on I’ll probably be a bit stressed, but I always find when I go to training I get a release and think ‘look the exams not the end of the world, relax’ and I’ll go back to it in the evening and my heads completely cleared, so it works in my favour rather than against me.”

Source: SPORTSFILE

Looking back on 2016, it’s been a rather hectic year for Rowe, mainly filled with highs thankfully.

“I suppose, winning the Connacht title, and winning the cup final with Shels in the Aviva were probably my highlights. Also with my club Kilmoremoy, we won the junior county title and the Connacht junior title as well, so that was on top of all with Shels and DCU.

“The lows are more so personal lows when you’re not performing yourself, when you feel like you’re giving everything but things aren’t translating for you in the pitch.

“You obviously go through stints like that in the season where you’re like ‘Jesus, I don’t know is all this worth it to be unhappy’ but other than that, the biggest low then in terms of a team thing was losing out to Dublin by a point [in the All-Ireland semi-final], that was absolute heartbreak, because we felt that we could have went all the way this year.

“2017 looks like it will be another crazy busy year. DCU will still be going, my club will be in intermediate now, so a bit of a step-up. Then there’s Mayo starting very soon and Shels, there’s a lot going on there and maybe the World Student Games.

We’ll see. I won’t be making any rash decisions yet anyway.

For now though, Rowe is looking forward to taking a break and some well-earned time out over the Christmas period, before the mayhem all starts again.

“It will be lovely to get the time off, and just sit back at home and not have to worry about going training in the evening. I’ll definitely do my own thing most days, maybe five days out of the seven I’d say I’ll do a run or a gym session, but I think the fact that I’m not committed to a set time, and it’s flexible I don’t mind as long as that’s the case.

“I’m looking forward to the down time and eating all the chocolate in front of the fire as well – and the jellies!”

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