Gaels will be our biggest challenge, says Ger

IT’S just as well Ger Cunningham is an easy-going chap, a well-developed sense of humour.

In October, this year he coached Newtownshandrum to the Cork county senior hurling title, beating two-times champions Blackrock in the final; within the past few weeks he guided the tiny north Cork club to its first Munster title, followed that up last week with an All-Ireland title for the other team he coaches, UL (University of Limerick), winning the Higher Education League title over Garda College.

Considering the quality of the opposition in both competitions, the strength in depth in the club championship especially, that’s a considerable achievement on any man’s CV. Yet for all that, there are those, even in Cork, who still think he’s someone else, that he’s the former Cork goalkeeping legend of the same name.

“No, I’m not the REAL Ger Cunningham at all,” he laughs, “though I’ve been mistaken for him over a hundred times in the last year, I’d say. But it’s only natural that people in Cork who don’t know the set-up in Newtown automatically assume that the Ger Cunningham involved is the former Cork goalkeeper.”

Fact is, this Ger Cunningham isn’t even from Cork. “I’m from a small village in Limerick called Knockainey, between Bruff and Hospital. They have a senior hurling side there now, a good young side like Newtown, but not at that standard yet. But even in Limerick I wouldn’t be well known, I’d say a lot of people think it’s Ger Cunningham the goalkeeper coaching Newtown and UL. It’s taking a while for people to realise that it isn’t the legend that’s involved, but my own humble self.”

I don’t know who it was that uttered that ultimate put-down, “he’s a modest man with much to be modest about,” though I know that Harold Wilson, the former Labour Prime Minister of Britain, is in there somewhere, either as subject or speaker. This Ger Cunningham, however, has nothing to be humble about. A former hurler and footballer, dual player at minor level for Limerick, he is a college-educated coach and it’s on the other side of the white line that he now feels most comfortable.

“I started coaching as part of my course in Tralee in the mid-’90s, Health and Leisure, did a few coaching certificates and absolutely loved it. After that I never had any interest in playing, preferred to be on the sideline looking in than inside looking out.”

So, despite the fact that at the time he was still in his playing prime, with plenty of real potential, he made the switch, traded togs for tracksuit, whistle and clipboard for hurley and sliotar. That he made the right choice is evident in the way the Newtown players, even those with experience at the very top, speak of his coaching methods, his planning, his tactics, his general expertise.

“That’s nice to hear,” he smiles, genuinely chuffed. “I don’t train the team anymore, Tom Noonan does that, brought in after I was diagnosed earlier this year with rheumatoid arthritis. Patsy Morrissey looks after all the logistics, brilliant organiser, so he’s earned the title of manager. But anything to do with the hurling side, I take it. Spreading the workload around like that seems to be working, they’re a talented young bunch of players but you have to spend a bit of time with them individually. They’re an absolute pleasure to coach, and great credit has to go to Bernie O’Connor (former coach) for that. He has moulded that team to what it is, he has instilled the work-ethic in them, the skills, and he doesn’t get the credit for that, even within the parish. To be honest, I’m picking up a lot of the credit that is rightfully due to him.”

There it is again, the humility. Mind you, speaking of former Newtownshandrum coaches, last year’s man, Tom Ryan, came in for a lot of criticism from a lot of the players and from team captain John McCarthy particularly, after Newtown lost the county final to Blackrock. Ger was part of that backroom team and while he’s loath to join in the criticism, it wasn’t the best of times.

“Ah yes, Tom, my good friend Tom. Look, I’m a Limerick-man and the man got us to two All-Ireland finals, so I respect him, but it was very frustrating for me, looking on. Everybody assumes that because I came on board last year that I came as part of a package, so to speak. I didn’t, Tom came first and then I was asked to come on board, to do the training. I jumped at the opportunity, a Limerick-man, to work with the great Tom Ryan.

“Straight away, however, he tried to get Newtown to stop running with the ball, to get them to develop a Limerick style of hurling from ’94 and ’96. Unfortunately it didn’t work. Tom is the best in the world, but he found it difficult to relate to this particular group of players, didn’t work up the best relationship with them. That’s probably where it broke down, those two things; he tried to change their style of hurling, and he couldn’t relate to them.

“You see, Newtown had a winning style already, their own style, developed over the years with Bernie; not physical, but not afraid of contact either, they can mix it if they have to. But they prefer a big wide open pitch, they’d run all day for you; Tom tried to get them to hit the ball, just get it and hit it. They couldn’t come to terms with that and the whole year became a struggle. They still made the final, played their own style of hurling most of the way but they were struggling.”

Enter Ger Cunningham and like the good jockey that knows when he has a good horse under him, he gave them their head, guided them, steered them, rather than trying to take them back to school. So far the results have been spectacular, far more than their coach, very honestly, had expected. “I pinch myself every morning and think, this is a fairy-tale, this is not happening to Ger Cunningham. I never dreamt of this, never in my wildest dreams. Thirty years of age? I’m younger than Dan Riordan, the oldest man on the field for Newtown, and to have coached a team to the Munster title and now be on the brink of even bigger things, it’s a fairy-tale to me. But I knew from last year, I stood back and watched this group of young fellas train and play and I knew they were special.

“I saw the bond they had, the way they all get on. We went on holidays in February, to Tenerife, and myself and Patsy stayed separate to them. We left them all into an apartment block, just stood back and observed. I’ve been away with teams before, saw the messing that can go on, but I knew then this crowd were special, the way they conducted themselves.”

Now all that stands between Newtownshandrum and Croke Park on March 17, All-Ireland club final day, is O’Loughlin Gaels. Kilkenny champions, proud men, strong, able hurlers, making their own slice of history. That will be some contest.

“This is our biggest game, the biggest challenge so far, the most hardened all-round side we’ve met. Six Kilkenny panellists on their team, four on the panel this year; Martin Comerford is an Allstar for the second year in a row, Andy is a legend. They’ll be very hard to beat. They’ve fought hard to win every one of their games, came from behind in every match to win, and that’s an attribute we have as well.

“Hopefully, it won’t come down to that, but I’m nervous about it and I know the players are aware of the challenge. This is the game, no one wants to lose an All-Ireland semi-final.”