Cork’s gas man desperate to light up HQ

ALL-IRELAND SFC QUARTER-FINAL:

Time management must be one of Daniel Goulding’s strengths.

“It’s a challenge,” he says. “The PhD is probably the thing that suffers most.”

Not something the supervisor would like to read, surely? “Ah, she knows.”

Getting a job with Bord Gáis has slowed him down with the his doctorate but he’ll keep on keeping on.

“There’s still progress being made, and while there’s progress being made I’ll keep going with it; it’ll just take a lot longer than if I were doing it full-time. January to September aren’t great times to get stuff done on it.”

Then there’s the impact of geopolitical turmoil. Events in Ukraine cloud Goulding’s horizon.

“We’re affected by that because even though that’s domestic gas, we get our gas from the UK, which gets theirs from mainland Europe, so . . . the big talk now is security of supply, so safety and security are key issues.

“The PhD is on policy implementation, what’s required to get renewable gas kickstarted in Ireland. We have natural gas but that’s a fossil fuel, it’s finite but biogas is produced from organic waste — grass, slurry and so on.

“Germany are big on it, there are plants in the US, it just hasn’t kicked off here yet in a big way.”

Clearly Gaelic football engages an entirely different set of gears.

“Yeah, but sometimes it’s the football you need to switch off from. When you go so deep into the season, which we’ve been doing in recent years, it’s like having another job, basically, on top of your actual job.

“Because of that sometimes you’d feel the need to get away from it, but that can be easier said than done, too. Particularly when things aren’t going too well. You’d be looking for ways to escape a bit.”

Well, he mentioned it. The Munster final had to be parked because if you dwelt on it, he says, “you’d only end up with negatives . . . acknowledge the mistakes you made and figure out the solutions that will make sure they don’t happen again.”

That even sounds academic. Does the analytical background from the day job help in that context?

“It depends on the person. Some people are very carefree, and having an academic background can hinder you, thinking about things too much. It’s a balance — it’s probably a help to be able to look at problems holistically, after all, and not just put something that went wrong down to a particular mistake you made. There are so many things that go into it, all the preparation and so on, that you need to look at it all sometimes.”

And there are the times you need to look at none of it. The toxic backlash to the 12-point loss in the Munster final didn’t surprise Goulding that much.

“When you’re younger you’d probably pay more attention to what people are saying, but as you get older you realise that it just doesn’t help, that you’re better off staying clear of it.

“Even the papers, you’re probably better off staying away from them when you get close to games because they’re just going to add to your thought processes and that’s not coming from within the camp.”

That’s an interesting aside given the recent epidemic of siege mentality that’s broken out in GAA circles.

Goulding doesn’t see much benefit in that outlook: “Not particularly, no. The media provide a valuable outlet, promoting the game at all levels, there’re huge positives with it. There are going to be sections giving their opinions, giving stick to people they don’t like, but you’re trying your best to get on with it. If you want to let it fuel you to get on with the games, fair enough, but there’s no mileage in that view, I think.”

Tomorrow he’s back in Croke Park. He’s played there a nice bit, as he puts it, but that doesn’t mean he takes it for granted.

“First time there you’re bound to be nervous. It’s bound to knock you back a small bit. But you should really try to enjoy it.

“It’s an amazing place to play. The pitch, the atmosphere, you have to soak it up and go for it. There’s a wall of sound rather than people’s individual voices, particular remarks. You can’t hear individual comments, though it’s loud. For a free-taker there can be a swirling wind there at times which you wouldn’t get in other stadiums.“What you see is that a lot of teams running a defensive system can find it harder to put that into practice in Croke Park because it’s that bit bigger, there’s extra space to cover. But once you’ve played there once experience shouldn’t matter.”

He has a specific take on what experience means.

“What experience should help you with, once you know how to use it right and irrespective of the venue, is probably noticing passages of play and what needs to be done to adapt.

“You can’t just rely on a message coming in from the sideline, you need to be able to act yourself and make your own decisions according to what the opposition is doing.

“When Donegal beat us in 2012, for instance, it was very clogged up, but Mayo don’t clog it up as much. They [Mayo] are all about the breaks at midfield, and they have a very powerful half-back line to use there.

“Dublin, then, seem to want to attack from everywhere . . .”

Cork aren’t favourites tomorrow. Mayo are the experienced side with plenty of mileage, but Goulding doesn’t think the quest for glory has tipped into desperation for them.

“The Munster final has shown us — you’d think — that things have gotten as bad as they can get, hopefully, and the only way is up.

“We really, really need to have a go off this — Mayo have won the last four Connacht titles, they’ve played in the All-Ireland final twice, so it’s a huge task, but we just need to have a go off it.

“Chances running out [for Mayo]? Collectively, no, I don’t think that’s ever discussed because once you start thinking ‘last chance’ then it becomes a negative. As people get older different things come into their lives anyway.

“Fellas getting to 31, 32, could think, ‘I only have a couple of seasons left’. That can either make them a small bit more anxious — or throw off the shackles and go for it.”

A fair analysis. A workable policy?