Search begins for new boss
Niall Rennick steps down
THE hunt for a successor for retiring Wicklow Senior football manager Niall Rennick was one of the main stories in the Wicklow and Bray People newspapers this week in 1994, with Hugh Kenny being tipped as a likely successor.
Rennick had been at the helm for four and a half years according to the reports in the paper of that time and his resignation came in the wake of the 3-11 to 0-14 defeat to Offaly in the Leinster Senior football championship replay in Tullamore the previous week.
The late Peter Keogh’s article on the search for a successor to the Meath native described a somewhat strange and reticent relationship between the outgoing Wicklow boss and the media.
Peter explained that the Wicklow manager had announced his decision ‘briefly, but dramatically, after the game in Tullamore.
‘It is a sad ending to his four and a half years association with the county,’ wrote Peter who added that Rennick had just watched his dream of lifting Wicklow football disintegrate before his eyes on the well-manicured sward of O’Connor Park.
‘He will be remembered as an honest Meath man who tried to bring the spirit of his native county to Wicklow football.
‘ That he failed cannot be held against him.’ wrote the late Wicklow GAA President.
It was from here, under the heading ‘Too reticent’ that Peter began to explain the relationship between Rennick and the media, including the Wicklow People reporters.
‘Rennick has never been a darling of the media. He was too reticent. Information from his camp was always hard to come by.
‘His practice of announcing one team and then fielding quite a different one reached a new level in Tullamore. We suspect the practice was designed to confuse the opposition.
‘Holding your cards close to your chest is one thing – feeding misinformation to the press is another.
‘Minutes before the off in O’Connor Park, Tullamore, the Wicklow People reporter, among others, was given a line-out which bore little resemblance to the actual starting 15. In fact, it was correct in only six positions.
‘Can the local, and hopefully friendly media not be trusted with the correct facts even minutes before the start of a game? What the Meath man hoped to achieve by such tactics is beyond me,’ added Peter Keogh.
It’s very interesting that this kind of behaviour was happening in 1994. It has been a common tactic among many managers in the years that have followed.
So many county and club managers believe that this manner of dealing with the media, both local and national, actually works, when the vast majority of examples tend to prove that it doesn’t.
‘Not a darling of the media,’ is usually code for ‘had absolutely no time for the media’, and that’s fine.
It’s not a prerequisite for a county or club manager to like the media or like dealing with the media.
Appoint a person to deal with the media, then. Play the game. Show some respect to the supporters who read the paper or listen to podcasts or whatever, and then pay the €12 or €15 at the gate to watch your team. Trust your players to be able to stand in front of a local reporter and have a conversation and not divulge all your ‘amazing’ tactics. Grow up.
Peter Keogh went on to suggest that the ‘outside manager’ idea had been tested and had proven very unsuccessful. He said that, ‘when all the veneer is stripped down the Rennick record will read: one championship win in four years.’
Peter even suggested that the gloss of the All-Ireland ‘B’ win in 1992 had been lost when the team slipped back to Division 4.
Names such as Tommy Murphy, Mosey Coffey, Gerry Farrell and present players Kevin O’Brien or Pat O’Byrne were listed by Peter Keogh before he made a strong argument for Hugh Kenny to get the job.
‘But are we overlooking the most obvious choice of all, Co. Coach, Hugh Kenny. In the short time since he took over the job Hugh has proved himself a great organiser, and after all that’s what management is all about.’
Peter went on to say that Derry had proven that a home-grown manager could get the job done.
‘Hugh is just the type of young man who could be prepared to give it a shot. He has the right background and is certainly not a quitter.
‘He is not accustomed to failure and could be the man for the job in this difficult moment in time,’ he wrote.
THE 1994 Wicklow Senior football championship got underway this week in 1994 with East District getting the better of Inbhear Mór in decisive fashion in front of a small crowd in Aughrim, 1-14 to 1-3.
East District, who made history the previous year by becoming the first group team to reach a Senior county final, were said to be depending heavily on the likes of Pat Baker and Owen Doyle.
Inbhear Mór were never really in contention in this game, only managing to be on level terms once during the hour when Mick Healy scored a good point after 15 minutes.
However, when East District, managed by Pat O’Connor, forged ahead by 1-5 to 1-2 against the