Coach’s couch with Diarmuid Healy

Bravest coaching call, any sport?

“The decision by Fr Tommy Maher, Donie Nealon and Des Ferguson back in the late 60s to hold residential hurling training courses in Gormanstown. That call revolutionised the game.”

One free to win it, one player to take it (not one of your own players)?

“Joe Canning of Galway. His free to level the All-Ireland final a few weeks ago showed skill and, even more important, character.”

The greatest pressure free, hurling or football, that you’ve seen?

“Has to be Joe’s in the drawn All-Ireland final. Any last-minute free to pull a game out of the fire is high pressure, but when you’ve missed a free a minute or two previously, as happened to Joe, the pressure is all the greater.”

The best ref around? Why?

“Dickie Murphy. Or Brian Gavin of Offaly, who uses common sense and lets the game flow.”

Managerial challenges: Keane and McCarthy in Saipan, who was right and who was wrong?

“The buck always stops with the manager. It should never have been allowed to reach the stage where a player reacts as Keane did.

The manager should have seen this coming and taken preventative measures.”

Who’s the most underrated sportsman in Ireland?

“The local GAA club chairman — who works like a slave and is the focus of all criticism.”

The ugliest moment in sport?

“When a melee happens in Croke Park, with all the Respect signs in the background.”

An extra ticket falls into your lap for your favourite sports event — what sportsperson would you bring along?

“An underage coach from my own club who does trojan work under the radar.”

The biggest sports tearjerker of all time? Why?

“Katie Taylor’s success — a marvellous achievement as a result of hard work by a massively genuine person.”

The worst choke of all time?

“Mayo in their All-Ireland final appearances.”

The one player in any sport you’d love to coach?

“Any young player with a strong character who’s willing to work hard.”

The one player in any sport you’d hate to coach?

“Henry Shefflin. How could you improve him?”

Your dream selector, not counting your current ones?

“Someone with the wisdom of Solomon from the Old Testament, the shrewdness of Bill Clinton — and the decisiveness of Don Corleone.”

The one sports moment you wouldn’t wipe from the VCR?

“There are two, both of them first-time All-Ireland wins I was involved with. One was when my own club, Conahy Shamrocks, a small rural club, won the All-Ireland junior hurling club championship in 2008, and the 1981 All-Ireland senior hurling final for Offaly, the county’s first.”

The one sports moment you’d visit if you had a time machine?

“The 2084 All-Ireland hurling final. After two hundred years of development, it’ll be interesting to see the game that has developed by then.”

The one sports moment that’s more overrated than any other?

“The winners’ dressing room after the All-Ireland final. After months, and sometimes years, of preparation it’s all over in a flash. The enormity of what’s happened doesn’t truly hit players until they’ve woken up the following morning.”