EVERYONE responds to tragedy differently. Some give up, some curse God, and some amaze us with their resilience.
I received Jim McGuinness’s book Until Victory Always as a Christmas 2015 stocking filler but, ashamedly, only got around to finishing it at the weekend.
Much more than a memoir, I found the book to be a fascinating tale of the former Donegal manager’s relationship between personal tragedy and triumph.
Along the way there were moments of stubbornness, compassion, ruthlessness, control and fun. I was intrigued by the meticulous attention to detail, and the incredible bond the manager had developed with his players over his four years at the helm.
In today’s column, using anecdotes from his time in charge, I will look at some areas where counties will look to gain an edge in the months ahead.
As the 2017 season began in earnest at the weekend, it was great to see that all the McKenna Cup games were extremely competitive with four points the largest winning margin by any team.
As we move closer to the League, counties will be stepping up their preparations. Just like Donegal under McGuinness, they will do anything to gain the upper hand.
The Donegal manager was a real master at uncovering that golden nugget of motivation to feed through the group. Ulster is an incredibly parochial province and intense rivalries between counties are a huge thing.
Coming up to the 2012 All-Ireland final, McGuinness found himself emblazoned on t-shirts and murals depicting him as the Argentine revolutionary ‘Che’ Guevara.
It was no surprise then to see him call the book Until Victory Always, the English translation of the phrase most associated with Guevara: hasta la victoria siempre.
Every rebel needs a cause, and that’s where McGuinness was exceptional in stoking the fires of competitiveness within his players when it came to his two biggest rivals, Monaghan and Tyrone.
After losing their Ulster crown to Monaghan in 2013, McGuinness claimed that at the final whistle, instead of celebrating their victory, four Monaghan players chose to stand over and goad Donegal captain Michael Murphy.
No prizes for guessing what image could be found on the dressing room wall ahead of the Ulster final the following year.
After a League defeat to Tyrone in 2013, he claimed that a handshake with Mickey Harte was accompanied by the words: “You were great All-Ireland champions.” “Were”.
With lots of derbies to look forward to in both League and Championship, you can be sure every piece of dirt from the past will be dug up, every newspaper article scrutinised, all in pursuit of something that will give their players that extra little nugget of motivation.
Although it has softened in recent years, you can also be certain that the old rivalry between Down and Armagh will heat up in the months ahead prior to their meeting in the Ulster Championship.
Whether it was a long weekend in beautiful Downings on the north coast of Donegal or a week in the sunny Algarve, the objective was the same when it came to team-building breaks: To get as much preparation done as possible and to develop a stronger bond within the group in your time spent away from home.
I have been running a business specialising in team-building weekends since 2009, and I firmly believe a few days and nights together can be as beneficial as an entire month’s training out on the pitch.
Kilcoo seniors were one of our first ever bookings in 2009, and it was particularly pleasing to see how a carefully planned and varied weekend played a small but important part in bridging a 76-year gap since their previous Down senior title.
Video analysis, the formation of tactical plans, one-to-one meetings, group meetings, pitch sessions, team-building activities and recovery sessions are all integral parts of these weekends, which not that long ago, were nothing more than glorified piss-ups.
Beyond the serious stuff, the camaraderie that can be harnessed in the downtime is also vitally important. McGuinness tells a great story in his book about a plate of biscuits during a night time tea session on a training camp in Portugal.
Some of the players secretly lifted a handful of Oreos from a plate, carefully scraping out the centre, before replacing the cream of the biscuits with toothpaste. Neil Gallagher was the first to sample one, and as he took his last bite, he professed to his team mates that the “bickies” were nice but “wile minty”.
Moments like that can’t be manufactured, nor do they happen on the training ground. They just happen organically through people getting closer and spending more time together, in an environment outside their comfort zone.
County managers up and down the country will be carefully planning their training weekends in the days and weeks ahead. Those who use their time the wisest can get ahead of the game.
Most inter-county managers now realise there needs to be a multi-faceted approach to the conditioning of players. When McGuinness took over the job as manager of Donegal U21s Michael Murphy was 16st 8lb.
Fast forward a few years and the big Glenswilly man had completely transformed his body shape to weigh in at 14st 10lb of pure muscle. I would say with a degree of certainty that without this body transformation Michael Murphy would be nowhere near the player he is today.
When Mattie Donnelly was asked to join the Tyrone panel for the second time in 2011 he turned down the opportunity so he could go away and “properly” prepare himself for the physical challenges that would lie ahead.
To be blunt about it, he was just too weedy, and he recognised that. Fast forward just five years and the Trillick man is now an absolute machine who just happens to be a two-time Allstar and, like Murphy, one of the finest footballers in the country.
Quite a few counties in Ulster seem to be on a mission to bring a raft of young players through their ranks in 2017. But, like Mattie at that time, many won’t be ready physically.
Then there will be others like the Michael of 2009 who will need a different plan. The counties that can spot, plan, resource and implement this change the quickest will be the ones to gain an edge.
So, those are just a few areas that will be at the forefront of managers’ plan in the months ahead, but as the great man – ‘Che’ not Jim – once said: “The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.”
