JAMIE McGRATH WAS seen as the test case.
Or, as he puts it himself. “Maybe I was the guinea pig, part of the pilot programme,” the Republic of Ireland international laughs.
He was 23 when he joined St Mirren from Dundalk in January 2020. A few months later, Covid-19 turned the world upside down.
It also proved to be the catalyst for two football-obsessed coaches emerging on their own pathway in the game to stumble upon a venture that has gone from strength to strength, yet remains in its infancy.
Kevin O’Grady is the doctor who specialises in oral surgery, but football is his passion. Even if hurling is really the family business.
His father, Donal, is steeped in the lore of Cork, a decorated player for club and county who also guided the Rebels to an All-Ireland SHC title as bainisteoir in 2004.
That is when the prospect of helping to shape players’ understanding began to seep into his own consciousness.
He just wanted to channel those ambitions in a different code.
So, O’Grady moved to England, earning a Masters degree in sports coaching from Liverpool John Moores University, where he also took charge of the men and women’s teams.
It was while progressing through his Uefa licences – studying alongside current Dundalk boss Stephen O’Donnell – that a relationship was formed with Gerard Moran, a coach who has worked at underage level in Ireland.
Covid forced a lot of their interactions and exchange of ideas online.
“We were posing each other challenges, how to deal with certain formations, breaking down defences, examining different structures,” O’Grady recalls of those early pandemic days.
“We had access to all of these videos and clips and as we kept going through different challenges, effectively coaching each other over Zoom, we both thought the same thing, ‘could this work with players?’”
In late 2020 they began concentrating on developing relationships with professionals with a singular focus: to help their in-game decision making through tailored sessions online.
Contact was made with McGrath during the 2020/21 campaign.
They had their guinea pig.
“Any chance to get better. There was no harm and I’ve found it brilliant, how they do it. It’s simple stuff, it’s not about complicating things. It’s about understanding things clearly to have a big effect on your game,” McGrath reasons.
The sessions can be 45 minutes to an hour-long, sometimes once a week or however often they feel is necessary.
Over a cup of coffee the morning after a game, or in midweek should the team schedule allow, players can dial in. WhatsApp messages will often be exchanged to set the agenda ahead.
McGrath and Shamrock Rovers’ Neil Farrugia were two of the earliest proponents of the sessions. Andy Lyons, now of Blackpool, was another. His former Ireland U21 teammates Lee O’Connor, Conor Coventry and Liam Kerrigan also got involved, while Celtic’s Johnny Kenny, on loan with Rovers, is another advocate of a very simple coaching premise.
“It’s independent from the clubs but always led by the players,” O’Grady continues. “The focus is on decision making in games.
“At the top level they are under intense pressure, it’s where they are challenged the most to make the right decision at key times, so how can you help that?
The best players and the best moments come from making the best decision with limited amount of time, space and information.
“So you need players’ perspective to understand why they do what they do in a situation, we don’t know what they perceive on the pitch in that moment, the rationale for a decision.
“There might be a shout from a teammate, a specific instruction from the manager within the system they are playing. Working within the parameters of how their manager wants them to play is the priority.”
What O’Grady and Moran are attempting to do is bringing an added sense of clarity to the player’s game.
“What we work on has got to match the principles of the team they are in,” O’Grady states.
For McGrath, currently on loan from Wigan Athletic to Dundee United and attempting to help them avoid relegation from the Scottish top flight, the need to get the points on the board by any means necessary takes precedence over personal growth.
That’s just the brutal nature of what is required – and expected – by his employers. But developing that understanding, and to be able to make that right choice in a moment of supreme pressure, remains critical.
“Something for me, it’s a big thing because you see the best in the world do it, is getting into the right areas at the right time to score or assist.
“Not standing on the periphery of the game,” McGrath adds. “Not just waiting and reacting but recognising the space and timing to make the burst, judging it right.
“A lot of the time I would stand on the periphery and wait, that’s what I’m trying to change because you have to be able to understand when to make that move.
“Looking at someone like Thomas Muller, he always gets into the areas because he can weigh up what’s happening around him, he can recognise how a certain move would play out and that inform his decision-making on the pitch.
“Sometimes it’s about breaking your own habits to reap the rewards.”
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