Ger’s disciples following in his footsteps

BEAR with me while I approach the point laterally by way of an interview I had in the seventies with a charismatic cult leader called Kevin Jacobson, leader of a group called Mary’s Followers of The Cross.

Jacobson looked like a Viking and had a striking pair of blazing blue eyes. His robed disciples were both male and female, slept together in dormitories, and were encouraged to resist the concurrent temptations as they spread the word of God. Not one taint of scandal was ever attached to Mary’s Followers – who once lived on the Aran Islands – and they actually applied to the authorities for official recognition as a mixed religious order about 20 years ago.

But the reason I mention them is because I was a young married man with a family when I interviewed Kevin Jacobson in Galway. The man with the blazing blue eyes had such a powerful presence that after an hour I almost decided to abandon wife and children and join the group there and then.

He was something else altogether.

And he was also the spitting blonde image of Ger Loughnane who also has a compelling set of eyes and a powerful presence that brought two All-Irelands to Clare that might well have been three or four. Jacobson’s sect sprang from a breakaway group of the Children of Mary in Dublin in the eighties. As Spring sprang and the ash clashed in league encounters last weekend it could be argued that much of the action was created around the members of what you could call the Legion of Ger! They seemed to be everywhere.

An anonymous Clare hurler was speaking in the aftermath of Ger Loughnane’s glorious tenure in the Banner County.

He said: “Ger Loughnane was fair. He was very fair. He treated us all the same – like dogs!”

One wonders if Ger’s growing band of disciples who are now top level managers are spreading the same ascetic gospel through their teams. Take his former captain Anthony Daly for example. The Dublin manager has surely whipped his brittle charges into shape over the past two years. After their first round failure against Waterford they must have been scourged thoroughly last week in order to achieve the almost impossible and teach Tipperary how to hurl last Sunday!

Even allowing for the vagaries of the early stages of the league (as a delighted Daly did afterwards), there is still something out of the miracle box in a Dublin team so thoroughly out hurling any team from Tipperary. One is reminded perhaps of the revival of the Banner’s fortunes by the man himself in the nineties.

And what about another member of the Legion of Ger? The ex-goalkeeper Davy Fitzgerald, now in charge of Waterford, has maintained the upward progression curve he inherited, in all fairness, from Justin McCarthy.

It was his side which taught a lesson or two to Daly’s determined Dublin in the first skirmish and they thoroughly tested Galway at home at the weekend. After years in the hurling wilderness Davy’s seasoned outfit are making a continuing impact to the point where the wisest old head in the business, Mícheál O Muircheartaigh gave an interesting answer recently when asked would Waterford win any All-Ireland in this era.

“Sooner than many of you might think” was the response. By all accounts the quickfire Davy Fitz also puts his panel through that training regime that demands fire and brimstone and total commitment.

He’s surely a member of the Legion of Ger.

And Sparrow O’Loughlin the new Clare manager, and another star player for Loughnane during his reign, is putting his revived and renewed Banner panel through their paces too. Mike Mac is gone but the punishing workload has not lessened at all for the Banner’s new blood.

After a couple of penal seasons the future appears somewhat brighter in this league, following last year’s relegation, and there may well be a better Championship in 2010 on performances to date.

An emerging Laois are no pushover for anybody this year and Clare had to battle hard in Portlaoise to subdue them eventually.

It was the kind of game from which both players and the sideline management team assembled by O’Loughlin can learn much. The Legion of Ger is now well established on home ground too.

In the aftermath of Loughnane’s controversial and colourful reign in his home county there were some critical comments from the ranks of the players he had driven to the glory they otherwise would not have tasted at all.

That was probably understandable given his style and the depth of the process they had been put through. The “treated like dogs” reaction came through strongly from some.

That’s all water under the bridge now.

Spring has sprung, the ash is clashing again, and it is certain already that this upcoming season will be energised by the growing influence of the Legion of Ger.

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