Kidney looking for a head start

FORMER Armagh football star Enda McNulty has been drafted onto the managerial ticket to help provide a psychological edge to Ireland’s Six Nations challenge.

Although the Armagh All-Ireland winners has already influenced the careers of many sporting figures in this country — not least a number of Leinster players — it is a new departure for Irish coach Declan Kidney to formally add a performance psychologist to the coaching ticket.

Irish manager Mick Kearney was on hand at Carton House yesterday to explain the thinking behind the appointment: “He is a trained psychologist who knows all the trigger points in terms of mental drills and skills, rituals and mental toughness; the secret of what Enda does is that he communicates, people can have all the training in the world but if they don’t communicate well in a team environment then it doesn’t actually work.