Keith Ricken: You want players to enjoy it and to remember how they felt
Enjoyment, more so than silverware, is what Keith Ricken wants his U20 footballers to take from this year’s campaign.
Excluding the junior victories of 2011 and 2013, Cork have not won an All-Ireland football title since the Sam Maguire triumph of 2010, a nine-year gap the U20s will attempt to bridge at O’Moore Park tomorrow.
Ricken’s chief concern, above and beyond stopping Tom Gray’s Dublin, the same Tom Gray who, along with Michael O’Flynn, put the estimated cost of redeveloping Páirc Uí Chaoimh at €95.8m earlier this year, is ensuring that his players have enjoyed their time as a Cork U20 footballer and that when they reflect on this run to the All-Ireland final, they’ll do so fondly.
“I met Dan Joe Foley last week, he’s a former chairman of the Carraig na bhFear club and played for them for 30 years. We had a good chat. He said to me, at the end of the day, all you have are memories. Winning and losing, they just go, it’s how you felt is what stays with you. You want these players to enjoy it and to remember how they felt,” began Ricken, who doubles as Cork IT’s GAA development officer.
“We had 50 players in this year for quite a long time and as championship came closer, logistically, you had to reduce numbers. I had to tell young fellas that and, obviously, they were devastated as they gave everything to it, but to a man, everybody said, ‘thanks for the opportunity, I loved every moment’. That’s your success. Everything else – cups, trophies, press, media – that’s unimportant when it comes down to the reality of what it’s about.
“Dan Joe mentioned that and it just struck home, the values of what we’re trying to do. I’d be happy if our lads came through and said they enjoyed their time here.”
With Gene O’Driscoll having stepped down as Cork U20 manager in January of this year, Ricken was on his way to Belfast to watch the CIT camogie team when he got a call to know would he step into the breach. And although he had no intention of taking on any team for 2019, he’s incredibly glad he agreed to take on this particular job, describing the players as “unbelievable ambassadors” who have enriched his life over the past seven months.
“I’m lucky in that I get to work with young people every day of the week. I find them fantastic. They sometimes can be naïve, as we all can be, but they’re enthusiastic and certainly not cynical. That’s good for you, personally, it’s good for your family. I bring my kids to training because the team are good people, they have a very good way about themselves.
“They’re fantastic and unbelievable ambassadors for their families, their clubs, their communities and for the GAA. I certainly want my kids growing up with guys like these as role models. I see nothing but positivity about them and am delighted to be involved with them.”
The term manager is one he has a severe dislike for given he doesn’t see himself as managing or controlling anyone on this panel.
“What we are really trying to do is to equip them with coping skills and life skills. When a guy has his stuff together off the field, he tends to bring that onto the field and he’s good in his decision-making. I’ve found over a lot of years that sport is very reflective of where you are. Sport is life. We have a lot of barriers and defence mechanisms that we can put up in front of us but when we go to play a game of sport, they’re the first things to drop. If you’re in good form, you’ll see it out on the field.”
He welcomed the decision to play their final as a double-header along with the Cork-Kilkenny U20 hurling semi-final. Contrary to the views of GAA president John Horan, Rickens maintains there are plenty within the county who support both codes.
“The more double-headers we can have, the better. Generally, Cork people – despite what people say – do tend to follow all the sports and it’s nice to give them the opportunity to go to two matches. There’ll be a huge crowd, I imagine.”
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