Liam Sheedy: Nailing the one-percenters to make All-Ireland week the best of your life

You are trying to achieve a fine balance between enjoyment and the tension needed in a high-performance setup. You want people relaxed but also lifted by a sense of occasion.

Fri, 15 Jul, 2022 - 07:00

Liam Sheedy

By Sunday evening, the statisticians will have crunched the All-Ireland final into puckouts, tackles, turnovers and shooting efficiency. But you’d love to see a table adding up the ‘one-percenters’ accumulated during the build-up that primed the winners to perform.

That was my focus on weeks like this.

A fortnight ago here, I recalled the empty feeling leaving Croke Park after losing to Waterford in the 2008 semi-final. I made a commitment then that if the final hurdle was ever reached, I would love every minute of the build-up. Thankfully Tipperary were back the following year and with three weeks to prepare.

You are trying to achieve a fine balance between enjoyment and the tension needed in a high-performance setup. You want people relaxed but also lifted by a sense of occasion. You need players confident of the contribution they can make to a winning effort but you want everyone bursting to displace some of those players in the matchday 26. You want to relieve pressure but you need pressure.

So it’s a juggling act and the first key is nailing routine.

I’d get to Thurles early every evening to meet Caroline Currid to compile lists and tick boxes. Everything needed was written down and boxed off. Two from management and three players to the media night 10 days before at the Horse and Jockey. Not too much was given away!

And then the camp the weekend before the game. Laughter is a key ingredient in any preparation, I’ve always believed, so I tried to get Pat Shortt to come along to Carton House. Unfortunately, his schedule wouldn’t allow it so we brought in a magician instead. Larry Corbett spent the evening trying to catch him out and work him out which is typical of the man’s personality.

During the weekend, we got every player to write a positive one-liner about everyone else in the panel. We compiled their words into individual motivational cards which we handed out after the pre-match meal on All-Ireland Sunday. A snapshot for everyone of what their comrades thought of them. They were glued to the cards on the bus and I was certain it would fuel performance. We managed to take the game down the home straight but came up short and the Cats claimed their four in a row.

I was gutted to lose but proud of the performance. There were tears in the Burlington that night but the scale of the welcome we got in Semple the following night played no small part in fueling our determination to be back.

Roll on 12 months in the final again facing the same opposition. The routine was secured from last time around but we wanted to get it 1% better.

I reached out for help to some of the greatest supporters in my inner circle and they delivered without question. Their style is to do things under the radar but I will never forget them for it and it meant we could do everything we wanted in the build-up.

I rang Pat Shortt and suggested if he had come the year before maybe we’d have got over the line. The accusation he could be the cause of losing to Kilkenny two years in a row did the trick and he had us in stitches for 45 minutes in Carton on the Friday night. A complete release of tension.

The internal match the following day was ferocious. I was reffing when Seamus Hennessy, instead of catching and striking, let fly first time and wrapped his hurl around Brendan Maher who was laid out. Brendan was carried off but the game continued. I was bricking it as it was unthinkable to go into battle without him, but I had to let the panel know that if he wasn’t to make it someone else would step up.

That camp also gave Eamon O’Shea the opportunity to spend quality time with the players on the pitch. The relationship he had with them was a joy to watch and his magic was sprinkled all over their performances.

Declan Coyle, who was my mentor during my tenure, met me on the Saturday morning to help reinforce the key messages. We agreed that last year we were hoping we could win while this year we knew we could win.

Seamie Callinan hadn’t started the semi-final but was a critical cog and hugely respected within the group. I met him outside the Ragg that week and told him that he would be finishing the job as the team that started the semi-final had done well. I asked him would he speak to the group after I announce the team in training.

What will I say? Just speak from the heart, Sham.

He told the room how gutted he was not to be starting but how committed he was to finishing the job. It was a massive leadership moment.

We couldn’t repeat the motivational cards, so I met with Mick Ryan and Eamon in the Abbey Court in Nenagh and we spent five hours writing a personal message to each player from the three of us. They all ended with the message, “you are ready to perform”, along with our three signatures.

At the matchday meeting at the Radisson, I could see the belief in everyone around me. I told them at 1:15pm we were going to win the All-Ireland and my only ask was that they put everything they have into being the best version of themselves and love every minute of it.

The dressing room walls were plastered with articles about us written by people who thought they knew us but should have known better. I had asked some lads to speak about what it would mean to win an All-Ireland with this family. Declan Fanning nailed it and I knew we were ready.

The euphoria of the aftermath was electric. My late mother and inspiration Bid singing ‘Happy are we all together’ to a crowd of thousands was a special moment. It’s a week and year we will never forget.

Roll on nine years and it is Kilkenny again.

I noted this week Kerry had to cancel their traditional All-Ireland final ‘Open Day’ due to Covid fears. In 2019, we had an open night, hoping to build on the momentum from the huge feelgood factor among supporters following the fightback against Wexford.

We were blown away by the numbers that showed up. When the lads headed down the tunnel the stadium erupted and it put the hairs standing on the back of my neck. I knew there was 1% in that and full credit to the players who stayed all evening signing autographs and taking photos with the kids.

Once again we headed for Carton. Jim McLoughney had his team there ready to measure us up and we would not see our suits until we arrived in the hotel after the game. These sideshows can become a distraction and you want to avoid anything taking your focus from performance. The same with banquet and match tickets. You want no distractions the week of the game.

Eamon, Tommy Dunne, Darragh Egan and Eoin Kelly have the lads buzzing on the pitch and the environment just has that feeling of magic about it.

The training session is followed by a team meeting and, hold on, there is someone here from Templemore to sort out Garda Vetting. In comes Pat Shortt and once again he gave an exhibition like only Pat can. He can always say he played a major part in some of Tipp’s greatest days. The internal match has our players in scintillating form and we know we are ready.

On the Monday before the match, I ring Gary Keegan and tell him I am edgy as we haven’t been in here in nine years. My mind is racing a bit. He told me to write down all the things I am grateful for and that exercise changed my outlook completely. I realised these weeks are there to be loved no matter what happens.

Once again, we got them all to write out a positive message for every player and hand these out the morning of the match. Darragh and my daughter Aisling deserve all the kudos here for the work in pulling it all together.

Once more the group headed to our great coliseum and did themselves justice, performing under the highest pressure. The calibre of some of our play was reward for the work Eamon, Tommy, Darragh and Eoin had put into the lads, fully supported by everyone in our backroom team. And for every one of the panel for living and loving those special weeks.