“I DON’T TAKE ANYTHING from the Down county board. I don’t take anything for the job. It’s my honour and privilege to do the job.”
Somehow, the subject of manager payments has come up in a conversation with Down hurling manager, Ronan Sheehan.
He works for Lloyds Bank. He is father to his daughter Tiarna, his ever-present hurling and Celtic-mad son Oisín, and Erin, who passed away in childbirth.
His wife is Kate. She’s not from a GAA background. Some people in her position might see him heading away out the gap to training, disappearing for weekends to matches in all sorts of exotic locations and wonder, y’know, why the odd brown envelope doesn’t land. Or a voucher at the least.
But she doesn’t.
“I don’t take any renumuration. I don’t claim for travel expenses,” Sheehan says.
“I do this, but I want to do the best for Down hurling. The reality is on a Saturday or Sunday morning I will be out with the club nursery, or U8s, whatever it might be. I was lucky enough that it was passed onto me. This love of the game.
I am doing this for the love of the game. It’s an honour. I accept that other people will need remuneration in terms of travel and all that and that is part of our set-up as well; we have people travelling significant distances and they get their travelling expenses.
“But we are not paying 40 or fifty grand out to anybody for the Down hurling squad. That’s just not the way we operate.”
The way they operate has brought them far. This weekend, Sheehan packs his bags for Kerry. Oisín will be coming too. Should they beat Kerry in their Division 2 game in Tralee, then they are up to 1B hurling.
Think about it. Down is seen as a traditional footballing power. But if their footballers don’t pull something out of the bag in the last two rounds against Westmeath and Monaghan, then they will be off to Division Three in 2026 for the third year out of four.
Meanwhile, the Down hurlers are popularly known as the ‘Ardsmen’ on account of the vast bulk of their players coming from the three clubs on the Ards peninsula: Ballygalget, Ballycran and Portaferry.
If Down hurlers get up – and again, this is highly likely stuff although nobody wants to put the scud on it – then there is a chance that they could be hurling against Clare, Wexford and Dublin in 2026.
None of this is to forget Kildare, though. In the first round, they lost to Down in Ballycran. Since then, they haven’t put a foot wrong.
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They walloped Kerry by 17 points, went up to Derry and came away with a 14 point win. Donegal came to Kildare full of the joys of a landmark victory over Kerry but were sent back up the road with a 12-point beating.
Last year, Down and Kildare finished third and fourth respectively in Division 2A. The year before, Down achieved a measly single point with a draw against Derry and stayed up ahead of the Oak Leafers on score difference.
If there was a beginning for these two, it was when they met in the Christy Ring final of 2020. Kildare won that game, and there was a poignancy around those finals in November and December, the crowds silenced by Covid and the Centenary of Bloody Sunday hanging heavy in the air.
Kildare hurlers after winning the Christy Ring in 2020. Lorraine O’Sullivan / INPHO
Lorraine O’Sullivan / INPHO / INPHO
The good work that was started by David Herity in Kildare has been continued by Brian Dowling. If they can beat Tyrone – and Stephen McGarry’s side have found themselves out of their depth in Division 2, then they look good to go up.
But back to Down. Sheehan has been in charge since the tail end of 2018. Only two intercounty hurling managers have been in this gig longer than him: Mickey McCann of Donegal, and John Kiely.
Not to get all Davy Fitz about it, but Down hurling was ‘on the floor’ when Sheehan succeeded Marty Mallon.
That’s nothing against Mallon. A butcher in Portaferry, he is an immensely popular figure in Down hurling.
Upon his appointment, he made some remarks that he wanted hurling to become a central part of the lives of Down hurlers. He knew part of the remit was enticing players back into the fold, and those hanging around the fringes to pull tight into the circle.
And then you think of that day in early April, 2017. Down travelled to Inniskeen on a beautiful sunny day to meet Armagh in the Ulster semi-final.
Only 19 players togged out for Down. Caolan Bailie was sent off in the first half. Armagh won and deserved every last bit of it as their manager Sylvester McConnell clapped and thumped the backs of his players with his hacked and tough roofer’s hands.
But even on that day, Mallon wasn’t there himself. His selector and famous servant of Down hurling, Gary Savage, took charge as Mallon couldn’t get anyone to mind his butcher’s shop.
It works as a metaphor, or a simile, a parable. Whatever.
Sheehan took over at the end of the 2018 season.
Outspoken in his Irish Republicanism and a ‘good follow’ on Twitter, he had hurled underage with the county. When they started up a ‘South Down’ initiative to get county hurling for the less influential clubs in the county, he was first a player, then manager.
He progressed to underage manager. They won a Celtic Challenge Cup with him in charge, beating teams from Cork city and east Waterford that gave the likes of Kevin Prenter, Tom Murray and Daithí Sands an idea that they could mix it against the lads with the syrupy accents.
In his first year over the seniors, they were in the same group as Warwickshire and failed to get out of division 2B.
Now, they head to Kerry this weekend with a potential win bringing them to division 1B, the first time the Down side were back in the top flight in over 30 years.
So here it is. The chance for him to take the dance floor and pull some moves, take a lap of honour and indulge a knee-slide for all that he has done and all that is in front of him.
Only, he scolds you for it.
He acknowledges that some of the youth players whom he was familiar with had a bit of success in the Celtic Challenge. Then there was a promising minor team before his time that included the likes of John McManus, Eoghan Sands and Caolan Taggart.
“But everybody should be aware of the reality that players win matches. Managers are just facilitators. All you are doing as a manager is facilitate an environment for the players to be the best possible version of themselves,” he begins.
But actually, it’s the players that make the difference, not the manager. The cult of the manager has destroyed the GAA.
“Who fills the stadiums? The players. Nobody comes to watch the manager.
“If you think about how the GAA is structured, as an intercounty manager, you may be getting an unpolished diamond to finish off. But the diamond has already been made in the club.
“The guy at the U8s, the guy that coaches the U10s, the man who taught them to hit off either side or kick with both sides of the body . . . He’s done all the hard work. All you are doing is honing. You’re polishing. They dug into the mine and they found the diamond for you. You’re polishing it up and putting it in the shop window.
“All the real work has been done at club level. We should never lose that focus and that balance.”
For some, their heart and soul are intertwined in the job. Ego and monetary gain come as an insult to them.
Enjoy the 100% authenticity of men like Ronan Sheehan. They are a dying breed.
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'The cult of the manager has destroyed the GAA' - Ronan Sheehan and the long climb for Down
“I DON’T TAKE ANYTHING from the Down county board. I don’t take anything for the job. It’s my honour and privilege to do the job.”
Somehow, the subject of manager payments has come up in a conversation with Down hurling manager, Ronan Sheehan.
He works for Lloyds Bank. He is father to his daughter Tiarna, his ever-present hurling and Celtic-mad son Oisín, and Erin, who passed away in childbirth.
His wife is Kate. She’s not from a GAA background. Some people in her position might see him heading away out the gap to training, disappearing for weekends to matches in all sorts of exotic locations and wonder, y’know, why the odd brown envelope doesn’t land. Or a voucher at the least.
But she doesn’t.
“I don’t take any renumuration. I don’t claim for travel expenses,” Sheehan says.
“I do this, but I want to do the best for Down hurling. The reality is on a Saturday or Sunday morning I will be out with the club nursery, or U8s, whatever it might be. I was lucky enough that it was passed onto me. This love of the game.
“But we are not paying 40 or fifty grand out to anybody for the Down hurling squad. That’s just not the way we operate.”
The way they operate has brought them far. This weekend, Sheehan packs his bags for Kerry. Oisín will be coming too. Should they beat Kerry in their Division 2 game in Tralee, then they are up to 1B hurling.
Think about it. Down is seen as a traditional footballing power. But if their footballers don’t pull something out of the bag in the last two rounds against Westmeath and Monaghan, then they will be off to Division Three in 2026 for the third year out of four.
Meanwhile, the Down hurlers are popularly known as the ‘Ardsmen’ on account of the vast bulk of their players coming from the three clubs on the Ards peninsula: Ballygalget, Ballycran and Portaferry.
If Down hurlers get up – and again, this is highly likely stuff although nobody wants to put the scud on it – then there is a chance that they could be hurling against Clare, Wexford and Dublin in 2026.
None of this is to forget Kildare, though. In the first round, they lost to Down in Ballycran. Since then, they haven’t put a foot wrong.
They walloped Kerry by 17 points, went up to Derry and came away with a 14 point win. Donegal came to Kildare full of the joys of a landmark victory over Kerry but were sent back up the road with a 12-point beating.
Last year, Down and Kildare finished third and fourth respectively in Division 2A. The year before, Down achieved a measly single point with a draw against Derry and stayed up ahead of the Oak Leafers on score difference.
If there was a beginning for these two, it was when they met in the Christy Ring final of 2020. Kildare won that game, and there was a poignancy around those finals in November and December, the crowds silenced by Covid and the Centenary of Bloody Sunday hanging heavy in the air.
The good work that was started by David Herity in Kildare has been continued by Brian Dowling. If they can beat Tyrone – and Stephen McGarry’s side have found themselves out of their depth in Division 2, then they look good to go up.
But back to Down. Sheehan has been in charge since the tail end of 2018. Only two intercounty hurling managers have been in this gig longer than him: Mickey McCann of Donegal, and John Kiely.
Not to get all Davy Fitz about it, but Down hurling was ‘on the floor’ when Sheehan succeeded Marty Mallon.
That’s nothing against Mallon. A butcher in Portaferry, he is an immensely popular figure in Down hurling.
Upon his appointment, he made some remarks that he wanted hurling to become a central part of the lives of Down hurlers. He knew part of the remit was enticing players back into the fold, and those hanging around the fringes to pull tight into the circle.
And then you think of that day in early April, 2017. Down travelled to Inniskeen on a beautiful sunny day to meet Armagh in the Ulster semi-final.
Only 19 players togged out for Down. Caolan Bailie was sent off in the first half. Armagh won and deserved every last bit of it as their manager Sylvester McConnell clapped and thumped the backs of his players with his hacked and tough roofer’s hands.
But even on that day, Mallon wasn’t there himself. His selector and famous servant of Down hurling, Gary Savage, took charge as Mallon couldn’t get anyone to mind his butcher’s shop.
It works as a metaphor, or a simile, a parable. Whatever.
Sheehan took over at the end of the 2018 season.
Outspoken in his Irish Republicanism and a ‘good follow’ on Twitter, he had hurled underage with the county. When they started up a ‘South Down’ initiative to get county hurling for the less influential clubs in the county, he was first a player, then manager.
He progressed to underage manager. They won a Celtic Challenge Cup with him in charge, beating teams from Cork city and east Waterford that gave the likes of Kevin Prenter, Tom Murray and Daithí Sands an idea that they could mix it against the lads with the syrupy accents.
In his first year over the seniors, they were in the same group as Warwickshire and failed to get out of division 2B.
Now, they head to Kerry this weekend with a potential win bringing them to division 1B, the first time the Down side were back in the top flight in over 30 years.
So here it is. The chance for him to take the dance floor and pull some moves, take a lap of honour and indulge a knee-slide for all that he has done and all that is in front of him.
Only, he scolds you for it.
He acknowledges that some of the youth players whom he was familiar with had a bit of success in the Celtic Challenge. Then there was a promising minor team before his time that included the likes of John McManus, Eoghan Sands and Caolan Taggart.
“But everybody should be aware of the reality that players win matches. Managers are just facilitators. All you are doing as a manager is facilitate an environment for the players to be the best possible version of themselves,” he begins.
“Who fills the stadiums? The players. Nobody comes to watch the manager.
“If you think about how the GAA is structured, as an intercounty manager, you may be getting an unpolished diamond to finish off. But the diamond has already been made in the club.
“The guy at the U8s, the guy that coaches the U10s, the man who taught them to hit off either side or kick with both sides of the body . . . He’s done all the hard work. All you are doing is honing. You’re polishing. They dug into the mine and they found the diamond for you. You’re polishing it up and putting it in the shop window.
“All the real work has been done at club level. We should never lose that focus and that balance.”
For some, their heart and soul are intertwined in the job. Ego and monetary gain come as an insult to them.
Enjoy the 100% authenticity of men like Ronan Sheehan. They are a dying breed.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
ardsmen Down GAA Hurling Ronan Sheehan