Eoin Cadogan: League offers opportunity of a fresh start — who will take that chance?

With new managers in place across the country, the honeymoon period will see set-ups learn what they have at their disposal when it comes to the cut and thrust of championship.

Cork manager Pat Ryan during the Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League Final against Tipperary at Páirc Uí Rinn. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

The secret to change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.

- Socrates 

WITH the 2023 campaign on top of us, I must admit to somewhat of a different feel to the year ahead than 2022. Whilst I was only recently retired, I pucked every ball in my own head with the Cork lads, or any player for that matter. On the good days and the bad. 

Similar to a personal break-up, time is the only healer. You see things differently. The raw emotion you might have felt early doors begins to wilt, and you become detached from any previous connections. You look at everything through a different lens. Coldly, void of emotion.

When I look at the hurling counties for 2023, there's the obvious change up in terms of management. From a player's perspective, depending on what stage of your career you are at, the feelings can be mixed to a new broom. A new manager doesn’t typically throw the baby out with the bath water but he does tend to land a few rockets amongst the group by not including a couple of names everyone else assumed were staples of the dressing room and playing group. For the younger player looking to impress, there is a naivete there to a certain degree because you don’t view a new management team as a threat. You see it as fresh, an opportunity to get a run in the early rounds of the national league and if it doesn’t go to plan, age profile is on your side. There’s a freshness and rawness in that mindset. It allows you to play without fear and when one plays without fear they tend to see the best version of themselves.

Contrast that to the older statesmen, who is looking to have conversations early with management, presuming the new manager's style permits that option. You will get a fair idea by the language used where you stand after that first meeting. I remember sitting down with a certain manager at the beginning of pre-season to review my previous year and areas of development. The conversation started with him reminding me that 'you’re not getting any younger, you are X years of age'! Like I was unaware. Immediately alarms bells sounded in my head. 'I’m not in his plans', “F*ck, I need to change this perspective asap'. 

'I’ll just stop you there, I understand my age might be a concern but all I ask is that you judge me on how I’m performing in training and games and not on my birth cert….We have GPS monitors and if my speeds and numbers don’t match the level required then I won’t be in your plans. Simple as”.

It was risky but a bit of maturity and belief in yourself can go a long way.

I remember sitting into the car after saying 'you need to back this up now Eoin boy, so look for every edge possible' but I do believe I might have changed his viewpoint ever so slightly after our conversation. 

Not all managers are the same though.

Looking at the key new appointments some will give a little bit more than others. The honeymoon period or Year 1 can be a learning curve, getting to know players and learning exactly what you have at your disposal when it comes to the cut and thrust of championship.

Pat Ryan, Cork: The Cork supporter in me is genuinely excited to see how things will go this year. I can honestly say that any player I’ve spoken to who has been coached or managed by Pat has said he’s the best they’ve dealt with. He’s approachable, fair, honest and a massively passionate hurling man. Combine that with a further new set of eyes in coach Donal O’Rourke, Donal O’Mahony, Wayne Sherlock, Brendan Coleman and Fergal Condon, and you now have a group who have been All-Ireland winners at under 20 level and who can hopefully blend the young with the experienced players.

The year starts without the experienced Mark Coleman, goal poacher Alan Connolly and the engine room of Darragh Fitzgibbon but there lies the opportunity to blood new players and let them experience the cold steel of inter-county hurling during the Allanz League. There is a bedding-in period especially for younger players to try to cope with the training volume, intensity and demands of senior hurling. For Cork, Championship is what matters most.

Liam Cahill, Tipperary:  In my eyes, it was inevitable that Cahill was going to return to Tipperary. More a case of when than if. Having experienced success with the county's underage teams in 2016 (minor), U21s in 2018 and U20s in 2019 he will be looking to develop as many of those younger players as possible throughout the league. Michael Beavans joins Cahill and is renowned for being the on-field hurling coach whilst Cahill drives the highest of standards with that ruthless ability that's always needed at inter-county level. Something tells me I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to halt him mid-conversation if he tackled me about my age! In saying that, I had expected that there could have possibly been a few of the older players axed, but he has shown his faith in Noel McGrath to steer the ship. Any team Cahill has managed has been renowned for their huge energy, work-rate and athletic ability. How many of the older statemen will fit that bill come Championship?

HUDDLE UP: Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald. Picture: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

Davy Fitzgerald - Waterford: Davy enters his second coming as the Waterford manager. The public perception is that of a madman prowling the sidelines, causing controversy and screaming from the rooftops. He is much much more than that. During my stint in Limerick Institute of Technology in 2007, Davy managed our group to a Fitzgibbon Cup and I saw first-hand the level of detail and care he has for his players. During that period, the standards and intensity in training was a steep learning curve for me as to what was to come. He has an abundance of experience since and retains that incredible ability to bind a group together and maximise their potential. The bravado we see is a smoke screen, in my opinion, for a man who will bring energy, structure and belief to this young group of Waterford players. Couple that with the experienced Peter Quelly and Tipperary legend Eoin Kelly and you have an interesting combination. Cahill had brought them on, can Fitzgerald now add that vital, extra potency to the mix. Or will it all end in tears?

Derek Lyng, Kilkenny: The successor to Brian Cody - has there ever been a more challenging handover in hurling? Similar to Alex Ferguson's eventual retirement from Man Utd, his successor David Moyes suffered for time and by comparison. Derek Lyng hasn’t shirked that challenge and has brought the steady hands of Micheal Rice, Peter Barry, Conor Phelan and Peter O'Donovan on board - all previous selectors at under 20 level. What has gone before was great, but now it’s my time.

While there can be no disputing Cody’s legendary status, I can imagine the current Kilkenny crop of players are looking to prove that it was also their drive, passion and hunger to win that was integral to Kilkenny’s previous success. Something tells me very little will change. The black and amber will do what they always do when it matters most.

Each new management group will be looking for their takeaways from the League. Some have the luxury of focusing on the performance, gelling new players and tweaking a style of play for the summer ahead without feeling the heat if they lose a game or two.  For others, the expectation and pressure will be there from the get-go. Player availability, injuries and results all add the heat but let us not forget, we all start somewhere.