OVER the years ‘The Ranch’, as St Mary’s University College is known, has always been greater than the sum of its parts.
While both Jordanstown and Queen’s will pay homage to the best of the best at colleges level and throw a nice sports scholarship at a potential new recruit to secure attendance at their preferred college, you either want to be a teacher or you don’t.
To put the achievement into context, to beat UCC and UCD (with all their ‘superstars’) along the way to Sigerson Cup victory could be considered to be on a par with Leicester City winning the Premier League title in 2016.
Paddy Tally has always been a special type of coach. A player’s type of manager, I was lucky to have played under him from 2009 to 2011 – three seasons – which invariably coincided with a more successful period in recent years for Down football.
Ross Carr, Down manager from 2007 to 2009, showed courage and considered foresight when introducing Tally into our set-up in 2009.
You could see early that he had a different approach to training.
He was not bogged down in over-complicated drills and preferred playing football, whether this was small-sided games or a full-sized match.
In fact, had we had a player such as Marty Clarke available to us in 2009, I believe an Ulster title and improved run in the Qualifiers would have been a firm possibility.
Tally communicated with the players honestly and directly, which is all you can ask of any coach or manager.
He always asked you what you thought. Positive or negative, he wanted feedback.
Now, you may say that none of this was rocket science, but when you are in that high performance environment, you tend to take it for granted that the people running things know what they are doing and their word is without question.
That humility of understanding that things are not going well or perhaps the ability to consider that things need changed can be lacking in a great deal of coaches and managers.
However, Tally took on board what you said to him and, while I am sure he never always agreed, he showed that respect to appreciate where you were coming from.
His partnership with Brian McIver at county level started in 2010 with Down and, with more patience, we could have really delivered over the next few years. Unfortunately, this was not to be.
When they both moved onto Derry, this was always going to be a tough place to start. I have the feeling that this job was always going to be an uphill struggle, as Damian Barton has quickly learned.
They seem to have as many issues with player unavailability as Down have at the minute and the general apathy toward playing inter-county football seems to be like a contagious disease spreading from one county to the other.
As these young men from
St Mary’s celebrate a truly historic and wonderful achievement, they will eventually leave college and undergo training under various coaches and managers.
They will in time appreciate that Paddy Tally was a unique coach and mentor and someone who demanded the best from you with a confidence that he has helped instil in his teams and players.
Tally has helped teams dream big and deliver on big occasions. He can now add a Sigerson Cup to a rich CV.
This week the players will be the toast of the college and Belfast. They will remember an achievement which is unique in that this is only the second time in the college’s history they have won the competition.
I read that Tally has been with St Mary’s since 1999, plugging away for 18 years with various teams, so close on so many occasions.
As a former Jordanstown graduate, I can only admire their achievements with such limited resources.
St Mary’s has always been greater than the sum of its parts, which is something that will never be lost in Paddy’s philosophy.
IT'S make-or-break games for many Ulster teams when the National League resumes this weekend.
With five games to play, the next game could well dictate a season’s fortunes.
For the life of me, I don’t understand why there is a break of one weekend at this point in the season.
When most counties are planning to start their club fixtures in late March, early April with county players, it makes no sense to delay the formalities of the League.
Most players hate the fact that the League doesn’t play off week after week.
For players, coaches and managers the most disappointing aspect of a fixtures pile-up and confusion is the lack of a master template of fixtures for the year which is set in stone.
Starting the Ulster Championship earlier, playing games week in, week out with perhaps two or three games per weekend is viable.
While replays are a strong money-spinner for the Association, I believe that all Championship games should be played until a winner emerges – something proposed but not yet passed.
I have always been a strong advocate of retaining the Championship so that the lesser teams can enter the ‘race for Sam’.
The structure of most counties mean that there are senior, intermediate and junior championships where like for like teams compete against
each other.
I am coming around to the idea that the Championship now could be split into very similar grading, perhaps merging the intermediate and junior
levels.
Based on previous season’s results or perhaps assigning a points system to final League positions/ provincial Championship, a ‘wild card’ system could be introduced to allow those teams performing well at lower grades to enter the senior Championship (‘Race for Sam Maguire’).
The provincial Championships could replace the National League and retain their appeal to supporters and players.
The results here could also provide a bearing on ‘wild card’ entry to a new Championship format.
While I await a phone call from Padraig Duffy on my proposed finer details, I will avoid speculating where each Ulster county sits in my newly-proposed Championship structure’.
I value my life...
