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Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Here, now and ready
As the latest chapter in Raymond Dempsey’s managerial career takes him and his Mayo U-21 team to Cloone this Wednesday night, Anthony Hennigan discovers a man as serious as ever about his football.
THERE were a thousand reasons why any Mayo man would have loved to take on the job. There were five major reasons – four consecutive Connacht titles and an AllIreland to boot – that might have steered potential candidates from the job also.
After all, it’ll be hard to improve on, but easy to fall below the standard that has been set.
It’s clear, however, that Raymond Dempsey believes his decision to seek the nomination as Mayo under 21 manager – and the decision to appoint him was a correct one.
“I think the continuity is very useful for Mayo football. That’s the bigger picture. The county board saw it fit on this occasion that I might be the man for the job and I think that’s good for Mayo football,” observes the Knockmore native, who spent his previous three years nurturing the county’s minor footballers.
It’s obvious he sees his role as something much more than the winning of trophies – not that that won’t feature among the major ambitions of his tenure. But development is key, he insists.
“You have to distinguish between successful counties and successful individuals. If players are just willing to come into a county panel and are not willing to develop and push on, then they’re basically no good to Mayo football.
“Players who come into county panels have different goals from thereon. Okay, they have to go back to their clubs and be leaders and provide a good example but they have to want to push on and be some of the best players in the country.
“That’s what inter-county football is about. It’s not just about getting your day out for your county. You have to want to be successful and you have to want to develop yourself and you have to have a desire to be a winner in the county jersey.
“Your targets and your goals and your standards have risen the minute you have become an inter-county footballer,” says Dempsey, content there’s a depth to the U-21 squad that travels to Cloone tomorrow night (Wednesday) for the championship opener with Leitrim.
“I think that there’s a panel of players that a lot of senior (Mayo) managements will pick from in the next few years,” he predicts.
Of course, that has already happened. Aidan O’Shea, Ger McDonagh, Shane Nally and Robert Hennelly are among those who have provided options to the senior county management, so too others who emerged from Dempsey’s 2007 Connacht League winning crop such as Kevin McLoughlin and Alan Freeman.
It’s a different set of circumstances, however, that pertain now compared to when last Raymond Dempsey managed those players. In many cases, thoughts of mother’s cooked dinners and Leaving Certificates have been replaced with the freedom that university, college or work can offer. And instead of the school bus home, the midweek residence might now be a house full of lads in Dublin, Galway or Limerick. It offers a new challenge to player and management alike.
“I think that’s part and parcel of competitive inter-county football now, that players have to manage their time and invest in their own preparation. If they don’t do that and if they’re not willing to do that, they’re not going to make it at inter-county because there is a lot of time needed to develop and to become a quality player.
“There’ll be lads playing this week who are playing at the highest level. Some of the Leitrim players have played senior championship and it’s the same with us. U-21 football is next door to senior inter-county football and the standards are reflected in that,” adds the manager, who notes a big difference in preparing the under 21 team compared to any other, be it inter-county or club. A different mindset is required.
“When everyone else around you is building towards a crescendo late on in the summer, the under 21s is the opposite,” suggests Raymond.
“Club football is only getting up and running and fellas are getting their fitness levels up and getting back into a competitive frame of mind. And at county, the National League is the secondary competition for the seniors and minors are only getting their league campaign underway. But for U-21s, it’s here and it’s now and we have to be ready for it.”
You sense Dempsey’s players will take heed.
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