Nice guys can finish first, too

JOHN ALLEN has had to face a new challenge these last few days, being back at school in Togher, in Cork city, where he teaches fourth class.

As manager of the All-Ireland hurling champions and mindful of the supreme test he and his team face in Sunday’s All-Ireland final, he has had to balance the duties of his day job with the more onerous demands of overseeing preparations for the game against Galway.

Of course, it’s no different for Conor Hayes, an engineer, except that Allen was able to devote his full attention to the team during the summer recess. Now he has to juggle the two commitments and it hasn’t been easy. There isn’t an hour that goes by without him “thinking” about hurling.

“I said to someone lately that before I used to think I knew a little bit about lots of things. But now, I know nothing about anything other than hurling,’’ he laughed. “Any manager would tell you that. It just takes up all of every day.”

Originally from Aghabullogue and living in Ballincollig, Allen is affable and well-liked. If you never met him, you would know from listening to him - for instance when he talks about taking over from Donal O’Grady late last year - that he is sincere, a genuine nice guy.

Before Conor Hayes won the first of his three All-Ireland medals in 1980, he already had two in his pocket. And early that year he had the distinction of winning a National Football League medal (against Kerry) before winning a Munster championship medal three years later. I’m not aware of any inter-county manager of recent decades who has such a ‘mixed’ background.

Though he knew Donal O’Grady would not be continuing after guiding the team to All-Ireland success last year at the second attempt, Allen says he “never saw himself” stepping into his shoes. However, once the job was offered to him, he decided in less than an hour that he would accept.

“I never had any want or need to have the job, never,’’ he insists. “I often said last year that it would be difficult for whoever took over from Donal, because he did such a great job. Different names had been mention mentioned, Gerald Mac (McCarthy), Tomás Mulcahy and Seanie Leary - even Ger Loughnane. I wouldn’t be in their category as a former player, so I didn’t see myself fitting in. I knew Seanie wasn’t interested, because we had spoken before about him taking the job. I wasn’t the most qualified, but the Board wanted to keep the structure together - the trainers, the physio, the other selectors so on.”

Yet he made it clear at the time that he would not have accepted if he hadn’t been able to call on the same people who were involved behind the scenes last year. Having the same team in place was vital.

“I couldn’t say enough about the quality of people involved,’’ he added. “Everybody does so much work - and there is huge work managing a team to this level. I heard somebody talking recently about (Kerry trainer) Pat Flanagan and I have no doubt that people like Pat, or Seanie McGrath and Jerry Wallace with us, are as important as we are. The respect that our players have for Seanie and Jerry is huge and the same with (physio) Declan O’Sullivan. Having that continuity was vital.”

Interestingly, he says that “directing the operations from the sideline” is what he found hardest to cope with. On the other hand, picking teams can be relatively easy, taking no more than ten minutes some times, but up to two hours on other occasions.

Asked if the present management tended to be too loyal to players, Allen said they genuinely picked players whom they felt “suited” to the opposition. Players can have off-days, he agreed, but they can recover well in training.

“I wouldn’t say loyalty is the right word - I’d say doing what we think is right on the day.’’

Allen wasn’t surprised to see Galway edge out Kilkenny. In fact, in an interview before Cork’s semi-final, he stated that on the basis of their display against Limerick, Kilkenny weren’t “as invincible as people thought earlier.” He added: “Maybe Galway are a lot better than people thought,’’ and he correctly predicted that on “a given day, Clare could be opposition for anybody.”

He draws a parallel with the young Cork team which faced up to Kilkenny in the 1999 final and beat them. Galway also have a young team and plenty of speed.

This will mark the fourth meeting of the counties this year, having clashed in the League and twice in challenge games. He has been happy to continue Cork’s running game - even though he concedes that some criticism for “over-elaboration” is justified - and he doesn’t see Galway playing what he described as “an overly traditional Cork style.” Support play is a strong feature of their game, too, he pointed out.

While Sean Óg Ó hAilpín captains the team by virtue of his nomination from his club as county champions, Allen agrees that he couldn’t have made a better choice. He describes him as the most professional ‘amateur’ sportsmen he has ever met, although he says that there are others in the team who are measuring up to that status. He has been pleased to see him pick off a few scores along the way.

“I have seen him other years coming up the field and he wouldn’t have the confidence to take a shot. I’m delighted he has that confidence this year. Given that we do play such a running game, half-backs are going to get into positions at times where a shot is ‘on.’ For that reason, it was good to see Sean Óg - and John Gardiner - getting a point against Clare.”

He readily admits Cork’s form over the campaign has not been as good as he would wish. Specifically, it has lacked consistency, even though he points out that no team is going to play consistently for 70 minutes. What he wants from his team in this final is “a sustained period of good hurling,” which is what they have prepared for.

“Certainly we have not dominated games for long enough. Outside of the first half against Tipperary, when we played fantastic hurling for most of the half, we played adequately when we needed to play. I wish that we play better than that over a longer period.”