Sheedy: I don’t see coming back as high risk
Second term holds no fears for manager who believes Tipp will be ‘competitive’ this year
‘WE’RE NOT far off needing a second bus at this stage, that’s one thing anyway,” Liam Sheedy laughs when asked if much has changed in terms of personnel since his last taste of management at the end of the 2010 season.
You get the impression he’s only half joking. Eight seasons have spun by since then and the world has changed. Backroom teams are bigger and the requirements are ever growing. The hurling landscape has changed too. Kilkenny no longer cast the shadow they once did. In fact, there are more genuine claimants to the throne than ever before. More threats. More hurdles to jump.
So why come back? Sheedy’s legacy was assured the moment he helped Tipp stop the ‘Drive for Five’. Halting history is always well received. In Tipperary, stopping Kilkenny means freedom of the place.
“To be honest with you, I am in a privileged position of having been an All-Ireland-winning manager so that’s certainly... that box is ticked.
“I mean sometimes there’s the risk of not doing it. All through my life if I felt that it was the right thing to do in my gut, that I could do this job, then I’d do it. I don’t see it as being highrisk. I certainly haven’t felt under pressure or siege mentality in the last 10 weeks. I’ve just felt absolutely free and absolutely loving it. That’s the way I approach, not just inter-county management and management in general but life. So you know because I’m happy in my own skin, I’ll give it 100pc. Look if it doesn’t work out, there’s load of people have gone in to management.
“I suppose everyone has a vision of winning the All-Ireland but if you go in and really enjoy it and you come up a bit short, all you can do is give it your best. I just feel there’s a good bunch here that I’m going to work with. And I believe we can play to a level and that level should get us competitive.”
One thing that has changed since he left Tipperary is the financial demands of running a team. In 2017, counties spent a record €25m preparing their sides and Tipp have moved to meet that challenge.
Teneo has come on board as a main sponsor while the county have also set up a commercial board to fund their activities, which includes heav- yweights from the world of business and sport such as Teneo CEO Declan Kelly, bars and hotels owner Louis Fitzgerald as well as Niall Quinn.
“I think if you look at the volume of support that the supporters’ club has given the county team since its inception, it’s been fantastic. It’s been
‘My biggest concern is that out of my 40, I’ve 26 available for selection and 14 injured’
a fantastic resource. But the supporters’ club, there’s only so far they can support and we just want to ensure we leave no stone unturned in terms of team preparation.
“It is a big animal now, a big wheel, and there’s a huge financial aspect to it.”
Off the field things seem to be coming together but on the field has proved a little more challenging. Tipp beat Clare on their opening league weekend but lost to Limerick last time out. There’s a queue for the treatment table too.
None of Billy McCarthy, Conor Hammersley and Michael Cahill will see action this year while Dan McCormack, Seán Curran and Barry Heffernan are at various stages of recovery while Brendan Maher should be available again by the end of the month.
“The biggest concern for me now is that out of my 40 I’ve 26 available for selection and 14 on the injury list. It’s impacting preparation, it’s impacting my ability to try some of those U-21 players I’m willing to try so my immediate need is to try and get those players back in and I’d like to think by the end of February we’ll be in a better position.
“The (end of ) the league is the end of March so there’s going to be some players who I would have liked to use in the league to assess where they’re at and I’m not going to get a chance to do that. I’ve never witnessed a situation where 14 of my 40 are unavailable.”
Had things worked out differently, Sheedy might have been appointed as the GAA’s new director-general late last year.
“I was more than happy to put myself forward. I felt I had loads to offer. I got to the final furlong and came up short and that’s OK. I have no regrets in that regard.”
Tom Ryan got the nod. That’s life. And it’s a twist in the road that led him back to Tipp. Sheedy is about to write his difficult second album. Whether it’s a hit or not remains to be seen.
“Again there’s no guarantees, there’s no nothing. But what I will and absolutely certainly am going to do is give it 100pc. Whenever this job packs up for me, I’ll have no regrets because I’m absolutely committed to giving it 100pc and everything I have. After that I can’t do no more. If that means we come first, brilliant; if that means we come tenth, so be it. But my job is to try and get the team to play to its potential. That’s the challenge.”