McStay and McHale’s coaching skills extolled by Curran

A new book endorses the coaching skills of Kevin McStay and Liam McHale, who were recently missed out in the appointment of a new Mayo football management team.

Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly were preferred to replace James Horan, but former Roscommon goalkeeper Shane Curran’s new autobiography Cake pays glowing tribute to McStay and McHale’s coaching.

The two Mayo natives steered Curran’s club, St Brigid’s, to the 2013 All-Ireland club title and impressed Curran from the first weekend they took club training.

“It was superbly organised from start to finish,” writes Curran.

“McStay spoke to each player individually and the training drills, skill work and coaching insights from McHale were top-class...

“Virtually everything was done with the ball. There was a heavy concentration on ball skills. And they introduced a structure to our play whereas previously we’d tended to perform off the cuff.

“There was an emphasis on moving the ball quickly out of defence, through the hands, until you got into a certain zone on the pitch. Once you reached that zone, players on the ball and off the ball were supposed to know how to react and where to go.”

Curran also calls on the GAA to relax its rules about eligibility in order to facilitate clubs and counties struggling for players, pointing out that, economically, clubs and counties in the BMW (border-midlands-west) region are losing players to urban areas such as Dublin.

“To keep small clubs going, and to keep marginalised counties even vaguely competitive, they [the GAA] might have to loosen up the ties that bind. They might just have to give players permission to play for counties other than the county of their birth.

“I would like to see players who are surplus to requirements in counties with huge population bases freed up to play for one of the marginalised BMW counties.”

Curran adds that those economic pressures and the presence of outside managers in clubs and counties are combining to weaken the ties between players and rural clubs. Clubs are “prepared to spend and they’re prepared to recruit an outside manager who they think will make a difference.

“This is putting pressure on the amateur ethos and the old principle of parish loyalty. You wonder is it only going to be a matter of time before we see the same trend happening among players, too? There’s plenty of gossip about players being lured away from their home clubs, especially country players transferring to Dublin clubs, for various financial incentives.”

Curran doesn’t spare some TV pundits either, blaming them for fuelling online “trolling” of players.

“They seem to have no idea of the hurt they cause players and their families,” writes Curran, “which is all the more surprising, given that they were all players themselves at one time or another. They must have short memories. They are using players and manager for fodder for entertainment, while undermining and belittling them.

“And in doing so they are giving free licence to online trolls to do their worst.”

Curran says Joe Brolly in particular needs to “examine his conscience” when it comes to criticism: “Joe seems to think it’s all harmless fun. But there are consequences when he goes over the top with his facetious remarks.

“People get hurt. There is collateral damage and it can run deep.”

Cake by Shane Curran is published by Penguin Ireland (€19) and will be in shops soon.