An ashen faced Tom McGlinchy pictured during Munster SFC defeat to Tipperary
LEAVING Semple Stadium last
Sunday after Waterford senior
footballers were annihilated by
Tipperary the convenient mode
would have been to ‘tut tut’ for
a little while and then quickly
turn our minds to this Sunday’s
return to Thurles and muse over
our far more successful hurlers.
Convenient yes but hardly
fair. Waterford footballers
deserve more consideration and
so does Waterford football.
Such a complete nonperformance
by a group
players that have trained so
consistently in recent months
is disappointing and looking
down from the stand you could
feel their pain.
I mean this was Tipperary
they were playing. It wasn’t
Cork or Kerry or some big
ball giant like Tyrone that the
footballing Gods had pitted us
against in the qualifiers just for
their amusement.
No this was Division Three
football and neighbouring side
Tipperary. Like Waterford,
football in Tipperary is a
minority sport in a hurling
dominated world. The sparse
attendance and empty stands
last Sunday will confirm that
Tipperary football is too the
ugly sister of their sporting
world. But that’s where the
similarities end.
Also sitting in the empty Old
Stand was one Joe Hannigan.
Joe who, you might ask?
Joe Hannigan, father to his
son George, the fl ame haired
midfi elder on the Tipp team.
More significantly Joe, also a
North Tipp Independent county
councillor, is Chairman of the
Tipperary County football
Board – a separate board that
is specifically established to
organise and promote football
only, in Tipperary.
“Ah I see where you’re
going with this Flan!” Let’s
talk to Joe. Joe (and George)
are from a club called Shannon
Rovers in the northernmost
end of North Tipperary. It’s
the far side of Nenagh, closer
to Portumna in Galway to be
honest.
George has also represented
Tipperary in hurling at underage
level but he was always a better
footballer.
Tipperary have had a separate
board for football for a long
number of years but they seem
to have been doing something
different in recent years.
Well Joe will tell you they
have a plan, Joe is the man with
the plan. A strategic plan for
the development of football,
Tipperary 2020.
Plans are 10 a penny in sport
or in business. Pester your local
club chairman enough and he’ll
locate their five year strategic
plan for you, beware the dust
mites though!
No; what is different about
Tipperary football is that
they have a plan and they are
implementing it. It’s not some
clever power point presentation
wielded out to impress a
visiting Croke Park dignitary.
It’s a clear well defined plan
with real targets and timeline’s
stated for the achievement of
these targets.
The ambition to win a
senior All-Ireland by 2020 is
ambitious. But so too was their
stated ambition to win a minor
Munster title (won 2011, 2012),
an All-Ireland Minor title (won
2011), a Munster Under-21
title (won in 2010 and 2015)
and an All-Ireland Under-21
title (beaten finalists 2015). All
ambitious targets and mostly
achieved.
Saying you want to win an
All-Ireland is one thing, doing
it is another. How has Tipperary
football managed to prosper in
a hurling dominated county?
Firstly, as Joe will tell you,
they appointed a Director
of football. A real football
man who knows his stuff.
Kerry’s John Evans (current
Roscommon manager) was
recruited and doubled as both
senior football manager and
also as the county’s director of
football.
When Tipp won the 2011
All-Ireland minor football title
John Evans was on the line
beside their manager David
Power.
Tipperary identifi ed success
at school level as important.
Look at the success which High
School Clonmel or Abbey CBS
in Tipp Town have achieved in
recent years.
Areas that was strong in
football were developed further.
You could draw a circle around
Clonmel with a 15- mile radius
and this was the core area.
Other areas like Tipperary
Town and Thurles were also
developed as secondary areas
while the hurling stronghold
of North Tipperary was treated
as a single area with one
divisional senior football team.
Development squads were
established and promoted.
These squads were not some
box ticking exercise. They
were as intended to develop
and improve players and they
worked. The quality of mentor
was improved.
Upskill and improve or
you’re out. Money was spent.
Tipperary’s Under-21 team
take part in the Hasting Cup.
This is a competition made up
of largely teams from Ulster
and Leinster. If you want to be
the best you have to play the
best.
Okay, Joe I get the message.
It takes a lot of hard work by a
number of people to transform
a plan into success. Joe’s
primary interest was that of a
loving father trying to make
sure his son was given the best
chance to succeed at a sport
that he loves and was good at.
He wanted his son to get a
fair chance, an even chance.
He didn’t want his son to feel
like a second class citizen,
a Tipperary footballer in a
hurling county.
A couple of years ago the
Waterford minor footballers
met on a Thursday night,
some 56 of them with a view
to picking a panel to play
Limerick on the following
Saturday in the first round of
the Munster championship.
Waterford actually won this
game, leading to much mirth
and merriment. “Imagine what
we could do if we actually
trained,” You reap what you
sow.
Waterford have neglected
underage football for a long
number of years so is it any
surprise that at adult level we
are where we are?
The Nire are current
senior football champions in
Waterford. I’d wager that The
Nire’s Under-7 team has better
preparation than some of the
county Under-21 and Minor
teams we have sent into battle
in recent years.
In football, at inter-county
level, we are now closer
to Kilkenny than we are to
Tipperary yet barely 16 months
ago, Waterford drew with
Tipperary in Division Four of
the National Football League
in Clonmel. In fact, we were
one Paul Whyte free away from
winning that particular fixture.
The Tipperary team sheet
is vastly different today with
the influx of talented and
successful underage players
but where are the talented and
upcoming young Waterford
footballers?
There are a few of them
languishing on the fringes of
Derek McGrath’s extended
squad but there isn’t nearly
enough of them.
When you don’t look
after young players properly
at underage level they are
naturally going to be less
committed to the football
cause when they arrive at adult
level.
For many clubs and players
in Waterford a football club
title is more important than
playing for the county. This is
frequently a good indication
of a weaker county. You will
surely read and hear plenty
bout football and the need for a
two tier system, bring back the
Tommy Murphy Cup and so on
this week.
Waterford football doesn’t
need another Division Four
competition. We have one
already.
Waterford football needs a
plan. Talk to Joe.
