Hectic schedule for lynch
Paul Fitzpatrick
You think Niall Lynch has had a hectic few weeks? Well, you’re right – and you may not even be aware that, away from the football pitch, his wife gave birth to the family’s fourth child and third son.
Baby Ruan, in his fourth week, attended the semi-final of the Senior Championship against Killygarry a fortnight ago. What he thought of the Stars’ performance isn’t clear; his own journey is beginning just as that of the senior team his father manages nears its destination.
Two days after that win, Dad is answering questions for local media after training. Has he been getting much sleep?
“Enough,” he says.
“The Kingscourt boys told me we’ve a half-forward line so hopefully! It’s been good fun and I’m developing lots of time-keeping skills.”
That will have been needed. Sunday marks Kingscourt’s 10th match in what has been an arduous campaign. At times, they looked out on their feet but they came out punching and will answer the bell against Castlerahan, ironically, in better shape than when it all began what seems like a lifetime ago.
“A journey” is how Lynch describes it.
“It really has been a long campaign. To be totally honest you try and tend to forget about the matches that you lost but people will forget that we were seven or eight points up against Ramor. I remember being four points up against Mullahoran so even on the days we lost there were good points.
“This team probably came of age again in the replay against Cuchulainns. Having Padraig Faulkner back was a major, major plus. It allowed us to move Alan Clarke further up the field, it probably caught Cuchulainns on the hop and I think we scored 3-16 or something like that and that kind of set us off on a good path.
“We were hoping to get back to Breffni Park but we got drawn again in Virginia against Ballinagh and that turned out to be a good thing as well. Joe Dillon came into the fray that day.
“Since that, we have Philip Smith back and Cian McArdle so although people talik about all the games we had, they have turned out to be a benefit to us. We didn’t plan it that way, we didn’t look for nine matches but the team has got stronger over the last couple of months, it has given us a chance to look at lads in different positions and probably to find our best team.
“There were good parts to every game. If we put together a 60-minute performance, we’ll be very, very hard to beat in the final.”
Lynch’s skills as a coach have been forged in high-pressure situations. Deputy principal in St Bricin’s, Belturbet, he played senior football with London, won a championship as a player with Cuchulainns and led Virginia College to two All-Ireland Vocational Schools titles before managing Mullahoran to a county final replay win over his current club in 2012.
Crucial to his approach is moulding a game plan around the players at his disposal and not vice versa.
“I don’t think you can impose one specific style of play on a group of Gaelic players. If you’re coming in to manage a team, there’s no quick fix in year one. People who think there is are badly mistaken. What works with one group mightn’t work at all with the next.
“But you’ve got to find a way that works with a group. I believe that the best coaches that we have should be working with U8s, U10s and U12s. And if you look at the most successful club that we have in Cavan in recent years, Cavan Gaels, and go back, that was their approach 15 years ago. They are reaping the benefits of that now.
“You’ve got to go in, assess the strengths of what the group can do and try to find a way to out-score the opposition. Obviously, if you’re particularly good at defending, that might mean winning games 10-7. But if you’ve got attacking footballers and you can do that, maybe you can win games 16-15.”
Having lost to Mullahoran, toiled in victory against Drumgoon and drawn with Cuchulainns, Lynch identified that the team had become infected with a malaise. So, he took out a scalpel and operated, the most drastic change seeing Alan Clarke go to full-forward in a swap with Barry Reilly.
Throw a couple of returnees into the mix and suddenly the Stars were humming again.
“Barry has been a revelation since he went to the middle of the field. He was a bit subdued at full-forward. Padraig Faulkner and Joe Dillon are potential Cavan senior footballers at full-back and full-forward so to add them into a panel, it really helped everybody.
“It raised the standard in training – one of the nights last week, before we headed for Breffni Park, we had 15-a-side here at training and three or four subs.
“Nine weeks earlier, we had 12-a-side on the field. When you start winning matches, it brings the group back to the pitch. Not everybody has the same level of work done but these lads have grown up together, played schools football together, and we do feel that we left an opportunity behind us last year. We’re delighted to be back in the final and we fully intend to make the most of it.”
Losing by the odd point in 31 last year hurt badly but a win in a league play-off over Cavan Gaels applied balm to the wound.
“It took a long time to get over. The best thing for the club here was that we played Cavan Gaels roughly three weeks afterwards in a league semi-final and we played well that day and we won by about eight points and that helped a little bit.
“And thankfully we went on then and won the league final, it would have been cruel to lose two finals in the one year.
“That helped us get over it. It was in the back of our minds heading into the Cavan Gaels match, they had only had two games, we’d had a good few, we also had the hunger and the hurt from the year before, but to be totally honest it won’t count for anything against Castlerahan.
Between the hectic schedule of games, and the new addition, Lynch hasn’t watched Castlerahan live in recent weeks – but he’s aware of their strengths all the same.
“I would have coached I would say at least eight of those players through different teams in Virginia and they do bring unbelievable speed to their game.
“They seem to be playing with quite a few defenders as well and they are breaking out very fast. You have to remember the quality of some of the forwards that they have – Cian Mackey on his day, and he seems to be back to his best, is an exceptional footballer.
“You’ve got the O’Connell twins and Cian McEnroe and Enda Flanagan as well and Daniel Lynch is back this year and rifling off two or three points per match.
“So what Castlerahan have is a lot of very good footballers and obviously they’ll have the hunger, it’s the ’70s since the parish won, so they’ll bring hunger and speed and they’ve definitely got an ability to score.
“I’m delighted to have two weeks because it gives us a week to sort things out and recover and a week to prepare. We’ll be looking to keep everything as normal as previous weeks, as if we weren’t playing a county final at all.”
But they are, for the third time in five years. Lynch, and Kingscourt, are doing something right.
LYNCH ON...
Management
“I would find in my day job and in managing football teams that there’s something you can pick up every day, and you might pick it up in the strangest places. It could be in an article that you’re reading about other managers or coaches or it could be in a situation that you come across.
“Managing teams is about creating an environment that the lads enjoy, that they feel comfortable in and that they want to improve in. All the best managers are continually learning – if you speak to Mickey Harte or some of these excellent coaches, they’re not young men.
“It’s great to be in this game young but you can learn at it every day and there’s phenomenal enjoyment from winning something. Now there’s good enjoyment from helping teams to improve but journeys like we’ve gone on this year are phenomenal.
“And it has been a journey but we’ve done it together and we’re there now.”
Avoiding the hype
“We’ll try and keep the boys in a little bit of a bubble in a sense that we’ll encourage them to listen to exactly what we’re saying and try not to listen to outside influences.
“There will be people home from America, England and all over the world and they’ll want their family members to play well. We’ll be encouraging the boys to enjoy the atmosphere but to focus in on their role and their specific job within the team.
“And if you keep everything normal for the younger lads, they’ll get there but it’s important that they enjoy it too.
“I felt last year with only having a week there was only about two nights here for me coming through the town that there was bunting and signs up. But all that will be up this weekend and I think the lads will have a great time.”
Experience of last year’s final
“This final will be won on the day, hopefully in the 60 minutes. Last year’s experience will help but it won’t make any difference to the result on Sunday.”