RIGHT NOW, THERE are three managers sinking themselves into club competition, while also fretting that they might be doing enough in the county jobs that await them.
Malachy O’Rourke, Robbie Brennan and Niall Ó Ceallacháin are currently double-jobbing. Not taking away from the efforts they are putting in with both roles, but you’d imagine it is far from ideal.
For O’Rourke and Brennan, the winning managers of the last two All-Ireland club football championships, it’s notable how each have taken a different tack.
Brennan is going for four Dublin titles in a row and won the Andy Merrigan Cup with Kilmacud Crokes in 2023. He has already made it clear that once his duties in the Dublin championship are completed, he’s 100% the property of Meath. They meet Na Fianna in the semi final this weekend.
The team he beat in that decider, Derry’s Glen from Maghera, went on to win it themselves earlier this year. That represented O’Rourke’s first All Ireland title.
Once the Tyrone job became available, he was their only priority. Glen face Lavey this weekend in the Derry quarter-final and O’Rourke has stated that he will remain with Glen until their interest ends.
O’Rourke doesn’t have to go far for a previous example of how this all works.
His Errigal Ciarán clubmate, Mickey Harte, was in charge for his one season over the club senior team when he was named as the new Tyrone manager in the middle of November 2002.
At the time, Errigal went all the way to an Ulster title, beating Enniskillen Gaels in the final on 1 December.
It seems ludicrous now, but there were 83 days between the Ulster final to the All Ireland semi-final against Cork’s Nemo Rangers in Portlaoise.
It would be naïve to think this was entirely accepted. There were some grumblings among the wider panel about the treatment the Errigal players were getting. A tiny bit of resentment.
However, Harte and his young coach Paddy Tally had some fairly progressive views. Once they got going, they only met for training once a week. That ramped up after January, but it kept the panel sweet for the winter months.
Pat O’Shea went one further in 2007, having been named as Jack O’Connor’s successor as Kerry manager late the previous year.
He was in charge of his own Dr Crokes, and they went all the way to St Patrick’s Day 2007 when they faced Crossmaglen Rangers in the All Ireland final.
To O’Shea’s mounting stress, that game finished level, in a time before the finish on the day vibe had caught on. That would mean another fortnight of splitting himself between the black and amber of the Crokes with Colm Cooper, Eoin Brosnan and all, and the green and gold of Kerry with some bound to be wondering just how much they were getting of O’Shea’s attention.
Losing the replay would not have helped. But he duly delivered an All Ireland to Kerry with a heavy defeat of Cork six months later.
Niall Ó Ceallacháin has delivered Na Fianna’s first ever Dublin hurling title last year and they dismantled Ballyboden St Enda’s by 18 points at the weekend. Their next task is the semi final against St Vincent’s, managed by a Dublin hurling manager of old, Pat Gilroy.
That work had put him into the frame and he eventually replaced Micheál Donoghue as Dublin manager. He’s been juggling responsibilities since.
“There’s a lot on week to week, we’re making it work there at the minute,” Ó Ceallacháin told TG4 Sport after coverage of their win on Sunday.
“We put a lot into it, we put a lot into both club and county so we’re making it work at the minute.”
He added, “I’m a proud hurling man from Dublin, along with the group I have with me. I’m very much looking forward to that when we’re finished here. I’m very much looking forward to getting stuck in there.”
There are some men out there to which this is a way of life.
Take Tom Mullally. A native of Glenmore, Co Kilkenny, he has been double-jobbing with the hurlers of Naas in Kildare and Carlow for the past few years.
That commitment brought a novel afternoon in January 2022.
One Sunday, the ball threw in at 1pm and his Naas team beat Wexford side Oylegate-Glenbrien to land the Leinster intermediate club championship.
While all around him were ecstatic and overwhelmed with joy, Mullaly had to set his face to a grim countenance and make his way to Dr Cullen Park when his Carlow side were facing – as coincidence would have it – Kildare in the Kehoe Cup.
He finished the day with two wins from two.
Others have taken this route in recent years. Antrim manager Andy McEntee has been involved with his club Dunboyne, while Offaly manager Johnny Kelly has kept his hand in with Tipperary club, Nenagh Eire Óg.
Dan Shanahan has joined Peter Quelly’s backroom team for Waterford, but for now he is coaching Bennetsbridge who have reached the Kilkenny semi finals, as well as sucking the marrow out of his final days playing for Lismore.
For some, it would be just too much. For others, it gives a chance to reconnect with their own clubs outside of the hothouse of the intercounty job.
Where do you place though, the desire to be busy that comes from intercounty players already embarking on their coaching career while still playing?
The Tyrone championship has been adorned with the sight of Derry’s All-Star full-back Christopher McKaigue helping out as a coach with Ardboe for the last two seasons. Previously, McKaigue had managed Desertmartin in Derry.
What brings it full circle is how when he is training with Slaughtneil, they have had Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan in coaching.
Another layer is the manager, Mark Doran of Down, is expected to be the next Derry manager.
Such arrangements have caused issues in the past.
The greatest example was Sean Stack, the Clare centre back on the Team of the Century from those who hadn’t won All Ireland titles.
He played on into his 40’s with Sixmilebridge, but had already taken his first steps in management with Toomevara of Tipperary.
Once both teams reached the 1993 Munster semi final stage, he walked away after the last training session and left them to it. Toomevara won the final.
There was success later for Stack when he led Limerick’s Na Piarsaigh to the 2013 Munster final. Who would come through the other side of the draw, only Sixmilebridge?
The Clare side lost that day, and Stack said afterwards he would be heading ‘home’ that night ‘to be with his club.’
It would seem that with the nature of the split season, time-management and uncomfortable fixtures could be something we will see a lot more of in the future.
