Tattan looking forward
Camogie boss has positive outlook for 2021
WEXFORD CAMOGIE boss Kevin Tattan was in good spirits a week out from his side returning to the training field, excited about the season ahead while reflecting with muted satisfaction about his first year at the helm.
The National League Division 2 fixtures were announced at Congress over the weekend and Wexford have been placed into Group 3 with local rivals Kilkenny ‘B’ and Laois in the second tier of the early season tournament.
The groups have been decided to minimise travelling, giving Wexford nice fixtures to find their feet before the Senior championship begins. They will face Kilkenny on May 15 and meet Laois two weeks later. The top two will qualify for the quarter-finals, to be played on June 5/6.
‘I haven’t spent too much time looking at the fixtures yet,’ Tattan said. ‘Our main focus when we are back is on April 19 and our first session and getting used to each other again, getting used to playing with each other, getting used to the standards of training at inter-county level, all that stuff.
‘That’s our first focus, I haven’t spent a whole lot of time looking into the league yet.’
Reflecting on the 2020 season, several months removed from action, the Cork native admitted he was disappointed not to get through the All-Ireland Senior group but conceded that plenty of progress had been made over a short space of time.
‘It was an interesting year,’ he said. ‘The initial point for us was we had to go through that whole forming stage of a team.
‘We had to see who was available to play in Wexford, what were the players like, we had to get familiar with them as a management group, they had to get familiar with us.
‘We needed to see the full scope of everyone that plays camogie in Wexford and getting used to the personalities and social aspect was important early to build trust with each other.
‘I suppose when that was beginning to take place, we were going through that development, the whole Covid situation hit,’ he added.
‘We wouldn’t have been in a mature enough place as a group I suppose, from not being together long enough, for us to have a really strong system in place around our own personal development as players.
‘That lockdown period was very much trying to navigate it and cause as little detriment to the development that we have made as possible, and trying to keep that communication up.
‘Obviously it was so long and there was so much uncertainty, then they were back into their clubs.
‘It was very disruptive but I think we had quite a positive experience when we were back in as a group after that, a very short timeline, again, getting used to players, playing in different positions, getting used to playing with each other as a group.
‘It wasn’t going to be perfect, obviously we didn’t progress through the group stages. With the expectation that comes with being with Wexford camogie we were all disappointed with that outcome.
‘We did make developments as a team, we got used to a standard of what high performance sport is about. That’s just taken off really since then and the girls have been brilliant over the last few months since the 2020 season and have taken a lot of positives from it.
‘They got that awareness of where they currently stand and what needs to be done. I suppose there was a lot of positives to take away from it. That realisation that they are good players and they can play at the highest level of the game,
‘I suppose what they have learned from that 2020 season has given that enthusiasm and motivation and discipline to be consistent with their training, where [we are] obviously in a difficult situation where you can’t have direct contact with the players.’
When Tattan, his management and squad do meet up next week there will be a few changes from last year. While some new additions will add freshness to the squad, he will have to deal with the loss of some significant experience too.
‘There’s a couple of rotations, squads at inter-county level are quite fluid, there’s a few girls [that] have joined the group and are coming up from the Junior team.
‘Again we are trying to keep on building on that and the development of some of those younger players, who have performed really well in Junior challenge matches last year and training sessions.
‘Obviously you lose one or two players. Shelley Kehoe won’t be involved this year but again, it’s a good opportunity to recognise her contribution to Wexford camogie over the last number of years, along with Ciara Storey and Shauna Sinnott, who haven’t been involved since the end of last year.
‘People who have given a lot, even in tough times, for the team and for the county and it’s important to recognise their contribution too.
‘Look, it’s a fluid situation and there could be more changes as we go so we’ll see once we are back, we’ll see what we have and see what we need to do. We are really optimistic about some of those players coming in, really looking forward to getting them into the environment.’
Meanwhile, there was further good news for Wexford in last week’s announcements.
The second team have been allowed back into the league after missing 2020 and are placed in Division 3.
They will meet Offaly ‘B’ on May 15 before facing two Ulster sides, Down ‘B’ and Armagh, over the following two weekends.