ON THE FACE of it, Eamon Devlin was living a nice life.
He was a managing partner in a legal firm in Zurich specialising in investment funds. Very nice and comfortable.
And then, as can happen a man brought up in Culloville, close to Crossmaglen, some stuff from the past swam up to the surface.
โI stopped being a lawyer. I got very ill,โ he says.
โLong story short; I got some quite serious therapy to get better. It was all linked to the Troubles, you wonโt be surprised to hear.
โI was born in 1978. So I lived through a lot and I saw stuff as a child that no person should ever see. So I had a big black box for everyone to have a look into it, about two years ago.
โSo I ended up getting a load of therapy to try to get better and thatโs how I fell into psychology. I thought, โOh, this is very interesting, how the brain operates!โโ
He done an about turn. Took on a Master of Science degree in psychology at Brunel University, London. His dissertation, and this might have stretched a few charged with reading it, was on half-time team talks, mainly in Gaelic football.
From then he has continued to a Doctorate in Leeds Beckett University, while living in Oxford.
His dissertation found that there was something significant lacking. Across several sports, players werenโt in any way satisfied with how half-time breaks were run and felt they got little from them.
It didnโt surprise Devlin. He had spent deeply frustrating evenings in Zurich watching his daughter Zoe playing U10 soccer. He team were beaten by double figures every week.
โThe higher the beating, the more the coaches spoke and shouted at the players. And it got worse and worse as the beatings got worse,โ Devlin says.
โIn one game, it was 24-0 by the end. And I recorded how long the lecture from the coaches to the players would go on for. It was nine minutes long.โ
On the way home, Zoe told her father she had enough. She couldnโt take any more. Not of the football or the beatings. But the coaches.
โSo I remember thinking, โThatโs a crazy outcome for those coaches and for a little girl. There must be a better way of communicating in sport.โโ
Roll on to January 2024. Eamon Devlin is living in Oxford and formed a company, โMinute 9โ. They offer their services to coaches, clubs and teams about how best to maximise their half time.
Any clients we might have heard of?
They are not permitted to disclose some names of clients, bound as they are by confidentiality, but they work with Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti, the five-time Champions League winner, for one.
Then, thereโs the Welsh menโs and womenโs national teams. Racing 92 and Stuart Lancaster, Aussie Rules reigning champions Brisbane Lions, and Inter Miami. Among others!
So letโs get down to it. What does a proper half-time team talk look like?
โYou try to make sure they are ready to listen. So we have various techniques that we use with teams. We get them into a place where they are better to be โstillโ, patient and ready to engage with information,โ says Devlin.
โColours and music are part of those techniques. We work on the coaches too, to make it a bit more impactful. Itโs a mixture of getting them to regulate, to get their own emotions under control.
โIt could be as simple as just eating something. We recommend that to all coaches.
โWhy would you eat? Well, a coach at any level would suffer from ego depletions. It basically makes you feel very tired and your glucose levels collapse.
โIf you are working at a top level, trying to disseminate information and there are umpteen distractions, you have to block stuff out. So just eat something. A Jaffa cake, whatever. The outcome is a glucose collapse, so something sugary.โ
Then, itโs about the information. And it has to be packaged well.
โWe are always trying to find new ways of getting information to players, particularly if there are many languages in the dressing room.
โWe look at the stress and cortisol levels of coaches and players at the break. Itโs frighteningly high sometimes, the pressure people are under. So we find that we try to make half-time less serious.
โWe would say, โif you want your players to listen, they need some downtime.โโ
This is where the old world meets the new. Earlier this month, Ancelotti told some reporters of his deep frustration around mobile phones, saying, โThe new generation are addicted to phones. I said; โIโm tired of seeing your phones in the locker room. From now on; no more.โ
โThe players asked: โAre you joking?โ โNo, Iโm very serious.โ After training, the captain said: โYou canโt do this. This canโt happen!โ. Imagine! (laughs)โ
Itโs fair to say the majority might agree with Ancelotti, believing too much to be at stake in professional sport for players to spend critical time on their phones around an important game.
But this is where Devlin explains a different logic at work.
โWhen we look at things in football we examine levels of cortisol, eye movement, other ways of measuring stress. And it is extremely, phenomenally high,โ he says.
โWe realise that some players didnโt have their phones when half time came. And they hadnโt phones for three hours by now as they had left them on the bus, this particular team in England.
โSo we went to the manager and made the point that, โYou do realise that most of your players are addicted to their phone?โ And he agreed.
โSo we asked, โWhat happens when people havenโt got their hit with their addiction?โ
โItโs no different to coming off alcohol. It alters your mood. And if you do it too often, it becomes an addiction. So we asked, maybe just give them their phones for a bit. But making it very clear that if you have your phone, then the objective is to relax. If you think that helps you.
โWe encourage managers to give players more control for the start of half-time. But once you are back in as a team, the player should be ready to listen.โ
So much of this is really trying to uncoil managers who feel that the best preparation involves layering tactical instruction on thick, thereby leaving nothing to chance. But that frequently has a negative effect.
One manager recently was in touch and flustered with the belief that his players werenโt following his instructions.
โWe then tracked how often this manager was speaking to the players on game day. We wondered what he was giving to players. How much and how often he was doing it,โ Devlin explains.
โWe realised on away days that this manager was speaking to the players too often. At the breakfast in the hotel. Invariably before they got onto the bus. Sometimes he would speak to the players on the bus if they were half way to the game.
โPregame, which was a lecture from him. Half time, which was another lecture from him and his management circus. And then a few bits and pieces post-game.
โSo we said to him, โLook, youโre speaking to your players seven times.โ
โSpeaking to them for around 27 minutes, about 4,500 words. Itโs a lot.
โSometimes you have to realise that โthis is the volumeโ, and wonder what is happening with all those words. And the answer is that they are forgotten.โ
In Irish sport, there is no more famous example of the impact a half-time talk could have, than the one that inspired Devlinโs dissertation; that of Armagh manager Joe Kernan shattering a commemorative plaque from his lost final in 1977 in the Croke Park dressing room. Straight after, the Armagh team overturned a half time deficit against Kerry and delivered their first All-Ireland title.
โI spoke to three of the players in the changing room that day. And all three said, โThat performance by Joe gave me the fuel to believe I could win the game,โโ he recalls.
โNow the performance itself doesnโt win you the game because the players themselves do the stuff on the pitch.
โBut it is an example of story telling. We would rank Joeโs, as we have come across many half time team talks now on our travels from different sports. Joeโs is one of the best in the world we have ever come across.
โYou have so many things. The five senses; seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, touching.
โJoe standing up with the loserโs plaque, firing it into the shower, breaking it into loads of pieces. Bits of wood flying around and hitting players. The sense of hearing is triggered; he is saying what the medal means to him is nothing. I have felt like a loser for the last two and a half decades of my life.
โSo the sense of hearing is triggered. Sense of seeing is delivered because it is a very visual performance.
โAnd then sense of touch, with little things flying around the dressing room are flying around, they are hitting your skin. So itโs very hard to escape that experience.โ
Watch out Vinรญcius Jรบnior and Luka Modriฤ. Carloโs on the lookout for a plaque.
Ah thereโs too much analysis and finger pointing going on. What we had was a classic EC final. The game was lost by a single point โ the kick of a ball. You could also say that Leinster were denied by the crossbar, thatโs how close it was, it could have gone either way. Leinster are a great team, just like La Rochelle. ROG knows that it could so very easily have gone Leinsterโs way too. And the point that Leinster donโt get enough high pressure matches in the URC, that is negated by the fact that they make up most of the Irish team. Iโm sure ROG knows he probably wonโt win all these games against Leinster. Leo and Leinster will be back next year hungrier than ever nowโฆand I hope they win it too, unless they are playing us in the finalโฆfrom a Munster fan :)
@Rob OโConnor: you have summed it up so well sir , now of you go and win in South Africa.
@Rob OโConnor: I wish I could like this post twice. On the money. Some of the commentary on here is way too dramatic.
@Rob OโConnor: except LaRochelle do keep winning against us in Europe, itโs frustrating. Leinster are starting to look a bit like Clermont, I donโt know how weโll faire next year with the new coach coming in, there could be a stuttering transistion period or a delightful bounce. Hopefully we can stay in the semi-final/final standard and if we keep getting to finalsโฆ. Hopefully.
Funny thing was last year they were too conservative and kept kicking penalties, this year when they had that penalty and a chance at the drop goal they didnโt take it. I donโt think La Rochelle are that far ahead of Leinster, just more clever in their decision making.
I think Byrne hid in the second half, whether it by not going for the penalty, going for the corner (not just inside the 22) and not going for what wd have been, outside the pressure of the match, an east drop goal.
Quinlan made some good points this morning that the penalty was almost a free shot, as Leinster wd have gotten the ball back anyway. To not take it on and put VDF, who didnโt shirk, in the position of throwing into a line out again, isnโt great, no matter what way you look at it.
Itโs not to scapegoat him, itโs far from the only reason Leinster lost (poor exits and stopping playing / passing), but itโs very worrying. I donโt think for example Crowley is a great player, but he has balls and steps up to the occasion the bigger it is.
Would you want Ross Byrne in a WC QF ?
@Andrew Hurley: Nope. Crowley every day
@Andrew Hurley: Again an example of how fickle fans are, not so long ago Ross was being praised for having huge balls and ice in his veins for coming on cold and kicking the difficult winning penalty against Australia. Last time I checked it wasnโt Byrneโs call on whether to go for the penalty or corner, itโs the captainโs. I just find it so strange all the focus is on him and not the player who gave the ball away on the 1m line when we were threatening to score the match winning try.
@Andrew Hurley: itโs about leaders and decision makers on the pitch. Leinster lacked that on Saturday or at the very least what leadership they had in the first half evaporated for the second. Ross Byrne is a number 2 kicker who has been wrapped in cotton wool for the past few months and not had enough game time. Any team arrogant enough to assume that you can change 12 of the starting line up from a semi final one week to a final the next week needs their heads checked.
@PJ Smith: Very well said. Sport has gone completely cut throat these days. A hero in November becomes a villain in May. Disgusted by the comments left by some โfansโ on the Leinster Instagram post defeat. While I agree, a shot at goal even from that range was a free chance and likely wouldโve returned possession, its captains decision as you say. They went for the corner and a fatigued clear out cost them. Small margins. I personally feel very proud of my province, and having met them last year in the Bridge Bar after their defeat of Connacht, theyโre all gentlemen. Down to earth, honest, and do their best every time. Iโd rather that than any silverware. The chance will come again.
@PJ Smith: a November international is nowhere close to the pressure of 3 minutes from the end of a Heineken cup final. And if Byrne can be praised for that, can he not be criticized, in a reasonable way, for this ? Ringrose couldnโt ask him to take the kick โ either Byrne wants it or Ringrose is obliged to go down the line. The fact he didnโt offer himself up for a drop goal is very, very hard to understandโฆ.
@Tom: what about a team that rests 14 of their 15 the week before a final? Are u having LR examined too or is it different for the winners
@Andrew Hurley: Thatโs the point, itโs one extreme or the other with people these days. Youโre a hero or a villain, nothing in-between and there is certainly no accounting for the fact these players are humans, not robots that can hit the same peaks over and over. Were you involved in the discussion as to what to do at that moment? Because I wasnโt but Byrne has demonstrated heโs willing to have a go at high pressure kicks. Itโs the captainโs call one way or the other, James Ryan was hung for it in the past and he sure donโt take the kicks. And youโre underestimating the pressure of the Australia kick, it wouldnโt be unfair to say his international career was on the line and that moment sparked an incredible comeback for him. We were camped in their line about to score, thatโs why.
@Ultรกn Corcoran: Agreed, criticism is fine. Weโre all subject to it but the way people are going after the likes of Ross Byrne when there are far more obvious issues to point at astounds me. Thereโs been a continual presence of people that want to tear him down for some unknown reason. But the reality is Leinster lost as a team and while it hurts, Iโm also proud of them for putting their bodies on the line for what is ultimately a game to entertain us. This will hurt them far more than any of us and no comments on message boards or comment sections will make them see any clearernwhat they already know. So as far as Iโm concerned itโs about supporting them to get back up and do it again.
@Ultรกn Corcoran: Agreed, criticism is fine. Weโre all subject to it but the way people are going after the likes of Ross Byrne when there are far more obvious issues to point at astounds me. Thereโs been a continual presence of people that want to tear him down for some unknown reason. But the reality is Leinster lost as a team and while it hurts, Iโm also proud of them for putting their bodies on the line for what is ultimately a game to entertain us. This will hurt them far more than any of us and no comments on message boards or comment sections will make them see any clearer what they already know. So as far as Iโm concerned itโs about supporting them to get back up and do it again.
@PJ Smith: to be fair, I tried to be constructive in my criticism of Byrne โ which should be allowed. Leinster had chances to win, even if they were far from the only reasons for the loss, but these werenโt even attempted, which is really frustrating and canโt just be glossed over.
@Andrew Hurley: Itโs a bit myopic though. Byrne didnโt cost us the game and yet people are calling him out based on a decision that wasnโt his and ignoring all the other factors of the game that had far more of an impact. Drop goals are like hail Maryโs in rugby, they go wrong far more often than they go right yet with the benefit of hindsight people act like it was a no brainer guarantee while conveniently ignoring where we were when the stupid incident that lost us the ball occured.
@PJ Smith: have you not read each of my posts where I says it was not the main factor ?
The fact is he had two opportunities and didnโt step up. Youโre right about drop goals on general but this wd have been more or less dead centre, 15-20m out, and putting the pressure aside, they donโt get easier. The chances of getting it were 60-70%+, much higher than a try.
The main issue is not even the exit kicks, nor Byrne, but Leinster stopped playing. The reason for that I donโt know, but I do know from what we saw their ten had a chance to rescue it but unlike Crowley didnโt step up. Iโm not a Munster fan, far from it, but I like 10s who get better the more intense the pressure.
@PJ Smith: he didnโt claim the kick, no captian would ask a kicker to take a penalty if he didnโt say he wanted it. Drop goals are not hail Marys, they are a skill that most out halfs are expected to be reasonable good at. You just have to have the guts to take it on. Byrne at no stage in the second half took responsibility and demanded the ball. A leader and playmaker needs to stand up and be counted. Not for the first time he didnโt
@chris mcdonnell: Ah lad, youโre inventing parts of the story to suit your narrative. Were you in the discussion? Do you know who said what? Because otherwise youโre just speculating that he didnโt say he could kick it but the call was strategically made differently. Drop goals fail more than they succeed regardless of guts, stop acting like it wouldnโt have been a risky decision and again youโre ignoring the rest of the context that we had a real high probability of scoring until something stupid happened that Byrne had nothing to do with.
@Andrew Hurley: Fair enough Iโm generalising too much and responding to the more general criticism going around. That said, you still seem to ignore where we were when big Mike went momentarily mental. Camped on their line and, based on history, a high probability to score. Hindsight makes it easy but at that time we were in a fantastic position we regularly score from and Ross was not the one to make that tackle. Thatโs being glossed over because we know how it played out. One opportunity was not his decision as heโs not captain and people saying otherwise are speculating to suit their view. Drop goals are never easy, thatโs why they donโt work so often and are very rare, itโs high risk stuff. Weโve seen enough Irish 10s crucified for missing them in the heat of the moment.
@Andrew Hurley: maybe Leinster should have made better use of RB for exits, given how badly JL and JGP kicked in the second half, but that was the game plan. the pack couldnโt get the ball back for RB to do anything until the last few mins.
The pen was hard, and into a breeze. If missed , theyโd get the ball back on the halfway, maybe with a back row throwing to a lineout, good chance of losing the ball there or turning it over in their own half. if any of that happened after going for the corner, it was in the LR 22.
The drop goal, they looked like they might get a try/pen, so they went for it. If they were back a bit, they probably would have worked for a drop. I missed the last 5 mins of Munster last week, but maybe they knew they hadnโt a hope of a try so set up for the drop.
@Daniel Lehane: penalty by my calculation is about 52m from the posts and Iโve never seen Byrne really kick anything over 45m. Heโs a good kicker but he doesnโt have a big boot on him which if it was slightly into the wind makes not going for the kick a very obvious decision. Whatโs the point in it when it would almost definitely just land short and La Rochelle would then bang the ball about 60m down the pitch again? Regarding the drop goal I think he shouldโve taken it but again you canโt tell whatโs going on within the game. Maybe Leinster thought they could close out the game with a try or maybe it was just poor game management
@PJ Smith: sorry but if he told ringrose I have this thereโs no way he was told no we are going to the corner because our 7 forwards without a hooker is a much better option than taking the kick. Even his kick to touch only hit the 22.
Guys, the game is over the result is in. The rugby was good and the better team on the day won. Letโs look forward to next weekโs rugby instead. Provide some analysis on how Munster can beat Stormers in SA!
Shoulda ,coulda , woulda โฆ.
I suspect Byrne didnโt kick the difficult penalty for 2 reasons: 1 because it was a tough kick, all be it Iโd have backed him to kick it but 2nd more important reason he didnโt was because of the time left on the clock- Leinster were out on their feet and even if Byrne landed the kick to take the lead, there 4+ mins left for LAR to hit back. Going down the line and going for quick try score with conversion to come or winning a penalty near posts would have guaranteed the win! Thatโs the logic I think of the decision . Not going for the drop goal when repelled after several phases and winding the clock down a bit did seem odd though
ROG won Munster fans their first trophy in 15 years on Saturday. I doubt this weekend even matters to them
@Dave Moran: Give it a rest!
@Dave Moran: By your above reasoning. Should you not have said he got us our second trophy in 2 years??? Gob#####
@Dave Moran: have you ever heard the saying โ better to remain silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt โ
@Dave Moran: Really scraping the bottom of the barrel with the insults now Dave, and letโs be honest it was a very small barrel to start with.
Just like your team I think you need the rest of the summer off to figure out where it all went wrong.
@Stanley Marsh: Munster have had 15 years and still not figured anything out so could always be worse!
@Dave Moran: seriously?
@Dave Moran: did rog not do the same last year.
@Dave Moran: Cheap thrills and a chest full of regretsโฆ.
@Dave Moran: I see Munster are still living rent-free in your head Dave.
@Dave Moran: no last year as well up rochelle
Non ho potuto scrivere prima per impegni di lavoro. Voglio dire grazie a tutti i ragazzi!! Sempre e comunque forza leinster una squadra fantastica e una filosofia di vita che ho conosciuto nel 2010 e che mi accompagna.
Un abbraccio e un saluto a sexton il piรน grande di sempre.
Avanti sempre e comunque leinster.
Un saluto da luca , Perugia, Italia
@Luca Benci: Grazieโฆ I think
Everybody will have their own spin on Ross but I believe the two main reasons why we lost were the early injury to Ryan and Furlong coming into the game not fully fit. If Leinster or indeed Ireland wish to succeed then these two world class players must be on the field for most of the matches. Ryanโs in particular was a devastating injury as it removed the enforcer from our pack. Him going off lifted the LRC pack in the same way Skelton going off would lift ours.
It was sad to see Alaalatola walk up to collect his medal holding the hand of his young child. It was a red card. It was all the more frustrating because Leinster typically score when they get within 5 metres of the line. They made their decisions and backed themselves, evidenced in each of the 3 tries scored within the first 12 mins. Decision making as regards a kick to touch or going for goal is different to on field decisions by individual players that you cannot control. All actions have consequences, some more than others. I doubt Alataaloa had bad intentions, but it effected the outcome just like every decision EVERY player made on the day on both sides. If Byrne Byrne believed he could kick it over then he needs to say it. If sโone else decides then itโs not his fault.
@David Gaffney: Iโm a Munster fan. It seems provincial allegianve requires qualification of all comments on rugby articles these days for some reason. I would prefer that isnโt the case, but hereโs hoping that at some stage it doesnโt need to be said and people hopefully realise that objective commentary should prevail without attempts to smugly โscore pointsโ purely based on โnot enough points being scoredโ by their rival team, resulting in a loss. Grow up.
@David Gaffney: he was entitled to collect his medal as bad as his red card was. Doesnโt seem that type of player. Hopefully he never hits anyone like that again.
@chris mcdonnell: I absolutely agree with you. I wasnโt saying that he shouldnโt be able to. I felt sorry for him as he did so. That one action should not and hopefully will not be something that defines him and he shouldnโt ever be attributed with the reason for Leinster not winning. Multiple actions by both sides, good and bad, decided the outcome and not any one particular moment or action. Just like Byrne should be singled out, nobody else should be either.
@Paul Power classic
Itโs quite simple in my opinion. Byrne should have dropped back and demanded the ball or JGP should have told him to do so. Either lack of balls or lack of Rugby intelligence.
I wouldnโt back Ross to do a decent hand shake. Coward.
@JamRag: he had the integrity to go out and give it his best, but sport can be tough. He seems like a decent individual unlike you, a real keyboard coward.
@JamRag: I guess you must be some officianado when it comes to the decency or otherwise of hand shakes! That comment is just ridiculous, but at least you signed it off with your name, โCowardโ.