‘People on the outside don’t realise how much effort it takes’ – Sheedy
JIM GAVIN’S decision to resign as Dublin manager may have stunned the GAA world but Liam Sheedy can understand why he walked away from the most successful team of all time.
The Tipperary hurling boss quit after presiding over the All-Ireland success in 2010 and remained away from inter-county management until this year when he returned for what turned out to be another glory season.
“People on the outside don’t realise how much effort and energy it takes to be involved at inter-county,” said Sheedy, who is currently in Abu Dhabi with the PwC hurling All-Stars.
Circumstances
Changed work circumstances allowed him to return this year, but he still finds the Tipperary job very time-consuming.
“Trying to keep all of the balls in the air is not easy. When I look at Jim (Gavin), having done seven years, it’s a phenomenal investment of his time in a county like Dublin which is a massive operation. It’s always in the spotlight and there is the expectation there all the time.
“To have done what he’s done is just immense,” added Sheedy.
Times have changed for him on a number of fronts. Two years ago on an All-Stars trip to Singapore, he found himself carrying out high office duties on behalf of the GAA.
The then-president Aogán Ó Fearghail had to withdraw late on for personal reasons so it fell to Sheedy, who was a member of the GAA’s Management Committee, to deputise at official functions.
He was comfortable in the role, even if it had been thrust on him at short notice. His name was circulating on another front too at a time when the GAA were seeking a replacement for Páraic Duffy as director-general.
The job went to Tom Ryan, with the grapevine revealing that Sheedy had made the final three. Two years on, as he relaxes by the hotel pool under the blazing Abu Dhabi sun, thoughts of a life behind a desk in Croke Park are far from his mind.
Instead, it’s all about the 2020 hurling action, specifically Tipperary’s attempt to retain the All-Ireland title for the first time since 1965. Sheedy is oozing enthusiasm as he talks of the rich 2019 harvest and the promise of another bountiful season.
Returning as manager after an eight-year absence was a big decision, but he’s glad he made it, not simply because of how the season unfolded, but from a personal perspective too. Win or lose, he felt that being back in a tracksuit was good for him.
“Even for my own personal health, to be out on a pitch three times a week getting fresh air and getting the buzz off the lads training on the pitch, I certainly felt my own energy levels rise on the back of being involved again.”
It was hugely progressive for Tipperary too as they plotted their way to All-Ireland success, having failed to even make it out of Munster last year. They survived the provincial cull this year, although their chances of taking their case much further appeared limited when Limerick demolished them in the Munster final. Seven weeks later, they were All-Ireland champions.
So what triggered the turnaround? Sheedy believes that there was an over-reaction to the defeat by Limerick and that their wins in the four previous Munster games more accurately reflected their true status.
“One poor day at the office doesn’t define you. We had to reset the bar after the Munster final. Some people said that our year was over, but we didn’t feel that. We felt that we were moving into a new championship and we played that on its merits.”