The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Man is the latest hurling hot-seat
Phelan in W.I.T. He is involved in the Under-21 Shinty team, and he was singing the praises of the fellows from Kerry who were on that. I have seen Kilmoyley in a couple of their games, they played Lismore recently. We (Waterford) played Kerry last year actually, we played them in the Munster League on a Saturday, and then we played them on the following day as well. I wouldn’t be overly familiar, having said that there’s been a lot of games covered.
“I would be friendly with Brendan (Cummins) obviously, and I would have heard Brendan talking about them since his time down here with Eamonn Kelly so I would have some familiarity, but not a huge amount of knowledge about them. That’s why I am looking forward to doing it over the next months and years, to build on what success they have had over the last number of years.”
WHAT about the demands on inter-county players today?
“Look, they’re huge, and I suppose they’re huge for everyone, at every level, and once you are talking about inter-county level it’s elite level. It’s no different for a fellow in Kerry than it is for a fellow in Cork. They still have to get in their cars and drive to training on a Tuesday night, on a Thursday night, and they’re doing two gym sessions a week, they’re trying to eat right, not drink, and a lot of them are young fellows. It’s coming up to Christmas so there’s a huge demand on them.
“And I suppose there’s a huge level of professionalism demanded of them to compete at that level. Like, we are in Division 1B of the (League) Galway, Limerick, Wexford, Laois and Offaly are at that level and have been. And for us to compete at that, our demands are the same as everyone else. We want the same level of effort and the same level of professionalism, and we are going to try and make sure that the players are provided with the support that will allow them to do that.”
WHAT style, strategies and setups can we expect to see?
“LOOK, sometimes there’s a huge amount made about a style of play. Some of the style of play is very free, there’s not much instruction to it, because, maybe, like with Waterford over the past number of years you are branded as being negative, or branded this or that. And sometimes the instruction maybe wasn’t there at times, and it’s just because the perception was there, that we were doing this or doing that, and sometimes people read into it. And sometimes the instruction was as simple as go out and chase the ball, and work as hard as you can, and sometimes instructions are that simple.
“But to answer your question, yeah, you have to design and play to your players strengths, whatever they are, whatever sport you are in, and that’s what I have to do over the next couple of weeks and months, to learn their strengths and weaknesses, try to work on the weaknesses, and try and play to the strengths, I suppose.”
WHAT’S the biggest challenge to bridge the widening gulf in standards at senior inter-county level?
“THERE are some teams, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Waterford, they are right up there, and you would be saying, maybe, it’s a bridge too far. But I think that’s the aim, to work towards that, to try and improve and get to that level. I think if we can be committed in the round robin stage in the Leinster Championship, and get out of the round robin and have a result or two, as we say we are playing Galway in Division 1B (National League), playing Limerick, Wexford, they will all feel that they can compete at a very high level, and we will be expected to play against them, and compete against them. So if we can compete against them consistently in a League format, then I don’t see why we can’t ultimately try to compete with them going forward.”
IS he and the squad already playing catch-up in terms of the team’s preparation?
“IN fairness to our strength and conditioning Damien (Ryall) they have a nice base built up. They’ve been in the gym, they’ve done a certain amount of strength and conditioning work. I suppose they are a little behind with regard to challenge matches, maybe (in relation) to where other teams are at. A lot of other teams would have played challenge matches on the last couple of weekends so, look, I think if we train and don’t complain too much, get on with it, get up to speed, hopefully we can do that in the next couple of weeks.”
WHAT about the availability of players, and the make up of the squad for the coming season?
“TONIGHT was my first time meeting the lads, some aren’t available with exams and different commitments, so I suppose until I speak to them all individually I won’t know what their plans are. And sometimes at this level when you are dealing with the age profile you are talking about, sometimes you can have them and then in May or June America comes along, and friends are all going, or whatever. They make decisions and you’re not fully aware of it until they make the decisions themselves, so I will talk to them all and hopefully we will have as many as possible.
“You are always looking for new blood and new talent, even for training sometimes you need young fellows to give a little bit of a lift, a bit of craic, to bring a little bit of spirit, naivety or innocence, and it lifts training, makes it more enjoyable. We will definitely be looking to widen the base and try and get new blood, new talent, (bring) a freshness to it.
“I would be hoping to work closely with the Under-21s, and with the Minors, with development squads for the betterment of all hurling. That said, we won’t be abandoning anyone either. We want everybody kind of starting on the same footing. We are going to look at them all. We have loads of games coming up over the next five, six weeks, and ultimately it is to be ready for Laois on the 11th of February.”