DUBLIN BOSS JIM Gavin has revealed some information about the conversation that took place when Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley contacted him.
McGinley outlined in a recent interview with The Sunday Independent about how he had spoken to Gavin after Dublin’s All-Ireland semi-final loss to Donegal last month.
The man who will lead Europe into action in Gleneagles for this weekend’s battle with USA, sought out Gavin as he tried to gain an insight into the mind of a manager whose team had been defeated.
Gavin stressed yesterday that it was ‘a private conversation’ but did speak about what the general subject matter was.
“The essence of it was dealing with the perception of being favourites going into a game or a competition. That’s just an external thing that we couldn’t control and the most important thing was control the internal thing of trying to get a performance.
“The most important thing was what the players thought and what the management thought and the relationship between them. That’s the nature of sport. People have opinions, journalist have opinions and that’s what they are.
“That’s why people are passionate about sport, because people have plenty of opinions about the game. Who’s going to win, who’s favourites?
“I’d be friendly with him (McGinley). Obviously he’s a good Dublin supporter and with his dad he’s a good Donegal supporter. He’s a GAA man first and foremost. I wished him all the best.”
Was Gavin helpful to McGinley?
“Maybe Sunday will tell,” smiled the Dublin manager.
Would love to see him in a Director of Hurling type role. His philosophy on the game and the type of hurling he preaches is exactly where the game needs to be moving.
Nice touch from the Tipp County Board in the way they thanked their man, Cork CB please take note for future statements
Found O’Shea and his players to be very humble in their defeat, the spread was 5 or 6 points. Would be a great for a weaker county if they could snap him up, Laois or Offaly springs to mind.
Laois already have one of the best managers in the game. They might not have the players but that ain’t the manager’s fault.
Laois have the players……but Laois style of play is extremely bad and serious.
Is quite a statement, don’t normally see these things go so ‘passionate’. He did seem to come across in interviews that he was thinking deeper about how he wanted things to be played. In terms of trophies he won’t go down as ‘an all time great’ manager, but if you believe the statement the foundations for success are built, he might get more praise if the trophies start to flow
2 all Ireland’s we won in 14 years! bad tour around for a talented squad
Séamus Callanan’s post-match reaction last Sunday suggesting Tipp’s players would ‘die on the field’ for O’Shea.
Callanan had explained how the NUIG Professor was much more than just a hurling manager to the group.