O’Kelly just the business
Patrolling one little patch of this Bank of Ireland Leinster SFC joust between Offaly and Laois, will be the great Mick O'Dwyer who could use the recitation of his c.v. as a handy training exercise.
Facing him will be Paul O'Kelly, manager of Offaly, the David to Micko's Goliath.
So who is O'Kelly, what's he doing managing a top-class inter-county football team, and how in heaven's name did he get the job?
Well, he was an assistant to Tommy Lyons when Offaly emerged from Leinster in 1997, their first title in 15 years, and appointed to the top job this year.
His other claim to fame is in the business arena. And here, Paul O'Kelly is a real player. "In the late 80's I was managing an office here for an American company, got the option of going to Europe, said no, I'd prefer to stay at home, coach football! I set up my own consulting business, O'KellySutton and now we have offices in Ireland and the States. Currently, we employ about 17 or so, all sorts of accountants and strategy people, marketing experts. We work with individual companies, develop strategic plans for the next five years then help them implement it. We help them identify their plans, their products, their markets, worldwide".
So, with all that professional expertise, what is he doing giving up so much of his valuable time to an amateur exercise?
"The reward, the satisfaction, is in the activity. It's an honour, it's a blessing, to be working with people who are elite athletes. We've got the 30 most talented footballers in Offaly, that's our responsibility, that's also our opportunity, to work with them, develop them to their maximum potential. That's the attraction, the buzz from all of that is brilliant".
The 'we' by the way includes Paul's three selectors, the balance of the management team he insists he could not do without:
"When you've got really bright guys who are also very committed like Eddie Fleming, John Moran and Kevin Gavin working with you on the management team, then you see the results, in terms of performance. Eddie is a proven coach with his club, Clara, worked with Tommy and myself. John is with Tubber and has a great understanding of gaelic football. He was involved with the great Offaly team of the early 80's while Kevin Gavin is a very successful coach with Ferbane and has won several championships with them."
There is another team too of course: "I've got the absolute support of my wife, Margaret, and my family. Three daughters, Cloidhna the eldest, an IT engineer in Philadelphia, won the Pennsylvania ladies football championship last year; Aislinn is 20, going to America shortly on a dance scholarship, a fantastic judge of football and often looks at videos for me. Naoise is 16, and has won two Leinster championship medals at schools, at U-16 and u18, and beaten in two All-Ireland finals. They make the space, provide the support, and my partners in the business, my staff, also help organise things so that I can give whatever time is required here".
Next question - The How? "In the case of an Offaly-man being offered the job of Offaly manager, it's the most important job in football."
Classic case then, fan becomes team manager, except that few fans bring the same kind of professional managerial experience to inter-county football as Paul O'Kelly. Does he apply those hard-learned business principles to his alternative job?
"I think it's more like I apply the principles of sport to business!", he laughs.
"But there is a huge crossover. No matter what you're doing, you try to hit the perfect balance. You have to be very, very ambitious, really dream about what's possible, but at the same time, be very practical about making sure that what you do, every single day, is the best possible step you can take towards that dream. If you can strike that balance between being very focused and very practical in what you do on a daily basis, but do it all while having very clear long-term goals individually and as a team, what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve it, then you have the perfect strategy, day-to-day and long-term.
"In the business of sport, it's the same thing. But what's very important is that everyone understands exactly what we're talking about and that the communication is kept simple. The message has to be simple, the goals have to be challenging but they have to be very, very clear. The steps have to be taken on a daily basis.
"Eddie Fleming (for whom he has much respect) has a great expression every day is a school day. That sums it up".
O'Kelly has already mapped out his plans for the Faithful in 2003. And beyond.
We're in the confines of an empty dressing-room in Gracefield, just outside Portarlington, his players long gone, but still he leans across, whispers conspiratorially: "If I tell you that, I'll have to shoot you!."
One thing he won't be doing tomorrow is taking on Mick O'Dwyer, "not unless he's wearing a pair of football boots!."
Tactics, mind-games with the opposition is not the style by the amiable boss.
"Actually, there's no management involved in the team itself, it's more a coaching job, a development job. There are no management issues, no loose cannons, none of that kind of stuff, the players have responded brilliantly to us, and we've got outstanding support from the county board.
"My primary focus is on developing each individual player to his full potential, that's my first priority. The first step in that is to encourage, cajole the guy to take full personal responsibility for his own development, both in the team environment and outside. Once we have that moving, we then sit the team performance, how it plays, how it operates, on top of that. The talent is in the team, the potential is in the team, that's where it all springs from, that's where it has to be delivered from. We just provide the right environment for that to happen."
There is only one Mick O'Dwyer, but Paul O'Kelly has his own managerial track record, is a pretty unique kind of guy himself.
