Rivalries reborn as Jim Gavin, James Horan, Liam Sheedy and Brian Cody do battle
Horan and Sheedy return to face the managers they were measured against during first spells in charge of Mayo and Tipp
WHEN LIAM SHEEDY resigned as manager after Tipperary had ended Kilkenny’s five-in-a-row ambitions nine years ago, he would never have thought that in 2019 he would be back plotting against the man who was already in his 12th season in 2010.
Sheedy renews rivalry with Brian Cody in Thurles tomorrow while in Croke Park tonight, James Horan takes his comeback campaign into its biggest test so far as he tries to outwit Jim Gavin and preside over Mayo’s first win over Dublin since he managed it twice in 2012.
It’s a case of two old managerial rivalries renewed in what are probably the two more interesting games of the Allianz League so far.
THREE significant things happened on the last weekend of August 2014.
Mayo lost to Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final replay in Limerick; James Horan announced his resignation as manager a few hours later and on the following day, Donegal hit reigning All-Ireland champions Dublin for 3-14 en route to a six-point win in the second semi-final.
Kerry went on to beat Donegal in the final, leaving Dublin and Mayo, who had contested the 2013 decider, vying for third place in the rankings. That’s where the comparison ended.
Since then, Dublin have won four successive All-Ireland and Leinster titles and three of four Allianz Leagues, while a Connacht title win in 2015 under Horan’s managerial replacements Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly has been Mayo’s sole success.
Yes, there were close calls against Dublin in 2015-16-17 but no wins. So, if results are the only historical records that matter, Mayo remain more or less where they were more than five years ago.
That’s the scenario Horan faces as he eases himself into his second term. Three league wins so far have lifted Mayo spirits but now comes a test which is more important than it might first appear.
If Mayo win tonight, it’s highly probable that Dublin, who lost two of the opening three games, will not reach the league final for the first time since Jim Gavin took over. That might not be hugely significant in the longer term but it would certainly add to the intrigue over the next three months.
Horan was the last manager to preside over a league and championship double against Dublin in the same year, completing it in 2012 when Pat Gilroy was in charge of the-then All-Ireland champions.
Mayo came close in 2013 too, losing the final by a point.
Horan endured more disappointment in the 2014 league when Mayo surrendered a six-point lead in the closing 15 minutes, enabling Dublin, who had Stephen Cluxton sent off in the first half, to snatch a draw.
If tonight’s game is crucial for Dublin in terms of staying in contention to retain the league title, it’s important for Mayo for another reason.
They have lost 10 and drawn three of 13 league and championship games to Dublin since Gavin took over.
Despite the close games and all the drama, it’s Mayo’s worst run against Dublin, and it needs to end.
Achieving it so early in Horan’s comeback season would further boost optimism at a time when it’s already high after wins over Roscommon, Tyrone and Cavan.
Horan believes that four seasons away from the inter-county scene has given him a new perspective, stating in a recent inter- view that he benefited from involvement in others areas.
“While I was away, I learned a bit working in the media and working with other teams in different sports and I went back to college. Hopefully that will stand to me second time around.
You might be more relaxed about some things and focus more on other things with a higher priority,” he said. Ultimately though, there can be only one priority for Mayo – winning the All-Ireland title for the first time since 1951. The rest in incidental.
THE last time Brian Cody encountered Liam Sheedy on a sideline was when he congratulated him after Tipperary’s big win in the 2010 All-Ireland final.
This was no ordinary final, but rather one that went down in history as the day Kilkenny’s five-in-a-row ambitions were wrecked. It seemed the gods had decided it wasn’t to be and weren’t taking any chances.
So in addition to visiting a serious knee injury on Henry Shefflin, who lasted only 13 minutes in the final, they had also removed a massive defensive pillar by sending a hand problem Brian Hogan’s way.
Inevitably, attempts were made to classify the result as a dramatic shift in hurling’s power structures.
“Is it a watershed moment, a possible turning point?” Cody was asked in the post-match interviews.
“I don’t know what either means to be honest,” he replied.
The questions continued, many carrying the same misguided implication that after winning 21 consecutive championship games, Kilkenny were headed for the valleys.
Just as Cody was irrationally quizzed about whether Kilkenny’s golden days were over, Sheedy faced questions about how many riches Tipperary would harvest.
“If there’s anything we can learn from the Kilkennys or Corks of this world, it’s to get back here again next year,” he said.
Tipperary managed that, but so did Kilkenny, who beat them. By then, Declan Ryan was in charge of Tipp, having taken over when Sheedy departed shortly after the 2010 success.
Nine years on, Sheedy is back and lining up opposite the man for all decades. Other than retiring from his school principal’s position, nothing much has changed for Cody in the intervening years.
Kilkenny hurling has always been his passion and is enough to be going on with.
There were titles to be won (four All-Irelands, four leagues, five Leinsters) over the past eight seasons, whereas Tipperary, who were flagged as serious empire builders in 2010, have won only one All-Ireland.
Sheedy headed in many directions after exiting. Punditry on ‘The Sunday Game’, chairing the Hurling 2020 committee, helping to choose the Offaly manager some years ago, giving a coaching dig-out in Antrim, sitting on the Board of Sport Ireland and the GAA’s Management Committee.
And then there was Sheedy’s reported candidacy for the GAA director-general’s job following the departure of Paraic Duffy. He hasn’t commented on it but the word was that he made it to the last three along with former president Liam O’Neill and Tom Ryan, who got the job.
Returning
Despite all that, the pull of the sideline never waned, as he explained after returning to Tipperary last autumn.
“When the chance came I thought long and hard about and said ‘here goes.’ I loved my time on ‘The Sunday Game’. But no different to the GAA slogan, nothing beats being involved with a team.”
He talked too about the changes that have occurred since he left, singling out the size of backroom teams and the narrowing window on playing careers.
Kilkenny’s main rivals (Tipperary, Cork, Galway, Wexford, Clare, Limerick, Waterford and Dublin) have had 29 managers between them since Sheedy enjoyed a glory year in 2010.
Yet, when he walks out the tunnel in Semple Stadium tomorrow the first man he will see is Cody. The more things change elsewhere, the more they remain the same in Kilkenny.