Kerry's Tony Griffin: 'Never waste a good crisis'

Performance coach Griffin has indicated this will be his final year with the Kerry set-up.

HONOURED: Former Clare hurler Tony Griffin with his children Jesse, age 3, and Jerome, age 8, at the launch of TG4's award-winning Laochra Gael series. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

There are few secrets with the ever-engaging Tony Griffin. Mayo come to Tralee town this Saturday and of course, Kerry’s performance coach is going to speak with the players about their two defeats to the visitors last year.

“As they say, never waste a good crisis,” smiles the Clare man, promoting his Laochra Gael show on TG4 tomorrow night (9.30pm). “Like, you definitely do. These guys are smart so it’s choosing when and what to motivate them with. They are very motivated anyways.

“That’s not saying they’re going to go out and beat Mayo this weekend – Mayo are flying it – but what they are going to do is be conscious of not losing three times to Mayo. And fear is a good motivator in that way and so is anger. So you would tap into it to an extent while trying to keep it about the effort, not the outcome and what does that sound like and look like?

“All this time, these guys are thinking about up the road. They have a twin focus – it’s this weekend and getting themselves right. They want to perform individually but as a squad, they’re looking up the road. This is a statement game for Mayo, probably, and for Kerry also but Kerry are unearthing a few new players and that’s a project in itself.” 

Tapping into pain and regret is something Griffin is there to do, but do so constructively. Kerry obviously have more to prove this year as they did when he first came on board with them in 2022.

“The best way to describe it is Dublin in 2023 had more want than Kerry had because they had things to rectify and put right, whereas now Kerry have something to put right. So you don’t run away from it, you use it but as a player, if you overuse it it’s like anything, it just becomes a cliché and it holds no energy for you. There’s no fuel in it if you just keep tapping into it.” 

THEREIN LIES AN UPSIDE: Dejected Kerry players and mentors, top to bottom, Tom O'Sullivan, David Clifford, Tony Griffin, Tadhg Morley, and Jason Foley after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Dublin and Kerry. Pic: Daire Brennan, Sportsfile

Griffin has indicated this will be his final year with the Kerry set-up. Back living in Ballymore Eustace in Kildare after spending six months in Ballyferriter last year, paradoxically he feels the distance will help him in his role.

“One of the gifts in 2022 was I had a lot of objectivity. I was able to see things they didn’t because I was an outsider who only came in three or four weeks whereas last year I was in there all the time. I was so connected to it that maybe I wasn’t talking or speaking up enough about patterns that I was seeing.

“Maybe I was believing that ‘it’ll be alright when they get to Croke Park’ but these things don’t usually disappear because you go out and play on a bigger pitch. Last year, I did a lot of group sessions, I’ll do a lot more one-on-one this year.

“I do have a little bit more of a fire but I also don’t want to go in with a shotgun shooting at everything. It’s about stepping back and saying, ‘how can we make a difference here?’ 

“Probably having a closer relationship with Jack (O’Connor) this year. Last year was tricky with his double hip operation, the results weren’t going our way but also the lads have three months pre-season more done than last year. So they have got the physical ticked earlier this year so that leaves more work to do on the mental.” 

Knowing he was going to leave the panel, Griffin gave Micheál Burns, a man he describes as “a lovely fella, heart-on-the-sleeve kind of guy”, a few days before ringing him on Monday night. 

When the decision was mutually agreed upon, he saw no decision to try and convince him to stay. “The likes of Micheál, he's a teacher, his world is small without football so we spoke about that on the phone, he could have ups and downs. It’s part of a grief or a loss.

“The thing he said he’ll miss most is meeting up with the lads four times a week. Your world gets very small and they move on, it’s very ruthless. 

"The next guy in and they’re only thinking about their individual performances, they might not have time to meet up with him. So I was talking to him about that, that it doesn’t mean the friendships are gone and stay in touch with everyone.”