IN THE WAKE of Cavan’s loss to Westmeath in the inaugural Tailteann Cup, manager Mickey Graham intimated that he might be considering his future at the helm.
“Sometimes change is good,” he said at the time, hinting that perhaps four years in charge of his home county was sufficient for him. And if that was to be the end, he would not be walking away empty-handed. Delivering a Division 4 title and an Ulster SFC crown in 2020 – the county’s first since 1997 – would be a fine way to sign off from his reign.
Graham stressed that the hours after losing a final in Croke Park in July was not the appropriate setting to make any final calls, and so he went on a holiday to decompress.
Within a month, Graham had settled on a decision: he was fit for another two years as the Cavan boss.
“I always said that when the four years were up and I was still in the position that I’d assess the landscape, and where we were at as a group and a county,” he tells The42 about his thought process behind his decision.
“Emotions were running high after the Tailteann Cup, everyone was very disappointed.
“I took time away and went on holiday. And when I came back, I started to make contact with players to get their thoughts on how things went [this year] and where we were at. The feedback was very positive. They felt we had a good season, we got promoted from Division 4, won the National League title, lost narrowly to Donegal. And then we went to the Tailteann Cup final and Westmeath were the better team on the day and thoroughly deserved their victory.
We had made strides and had a few injuries along the way that would have made a huge difference to us. But when we looked at where we were four years ago and where we are now, we feel we’re in a better place as regards facilities, set-up, the backroom team and we’ve come a long way.
“It’s my own county and it’s a great privilege to manage my own county. These opportunities don’t come around very often, and when they do, you have to make the most of it and enjoy it.”
The Tailteann Cup was a divisive topic in GAA prior to its formal introduction. Many feared that a second-tier football competition would create a disconnect between teams and the Sam Maguire championship, thus stunting any hope of progression.
The Covid-19 pandemic delayed its introduction until 2022, but now that the first edition of the competition has been completed, Graham is proud to say that he guided a team to the maiden decider.
“We embraced it,” says Graham, giving the Tailteann Cup a glowing review.
“We said that it was an opportunity to compete for silverware and get back up to compete with the top teams. Winning the Tailteann Cup means reaching the last 16 of next year’s championship which was a huge carrot [for us]. It gave younger people great excitement around Cavan. To get to go to Croke Park twice in the one summer to follow their team really inspired them.
“You’d think it was an Ulster final we were in with all the blue and white out. There was a great atmosphere with the crowd that went up to that final. So you could see that supporters bought into it as well.
Looking back on it now, I firmly believe that there are a lot of teams that probably didn’t commit fully to the Tailteann Cup and they’ll probably look at Cavan and Westmeath, and see what the atmosphere was like, [they'll realise] that this is the way to go and this is a realistic opportunity to win silverware.”
The 2023 season is still months away, but Graham has already assembled a compelling backroom team. Homegrown hero Seanie Johnston, and Tyrone great Ryan McMenamin have both been retained on the ticket having been involved for the 2022 campaign, as has John Denning.
Graham has included an interesting addition to that already impressive unit, as former Mayo coach James Burke has agreed to come on board. Burke is a highly-rated mentor who previously worked under James Horan during his spell with the Mayo footballers.
Graham first encountered Burke’s coaching style in 2019 when Cavan and Mayo were both competing in Division 1. And with Martin Corey stepping aside from the Cavan team after an “excellent” contribution to the set-up, Graham felt a new voice from somewhere outside the Ulster region could bring a new freshness to the squad.
“I would have looked at him closely and any man that’s coached for four years under James Horan and has the respect of the players, must be really good. He’s coached at the top level with some of the best players in the country. They speak very highly of him in Mayo and we met a couple of times at challenge matches.
I just felt a different voice outside of Ulster [would be good]. We have a tendency sometimes to look north for coaches but I felt a different aspect might be needed from someone that’s outside Ulster to bring a new dimension to us, and maybe new ideas.
“James is a young fella as well. He’s modern, he plays with Ballymun and has lots of experience so I’m hoping he brings a new, fresh approach that the players will embrace.”
Before taking the Cavan job, Graham had some inclination about the depth and breadth of backroom teams that are required to run an inter-county team. He previously managed the Mullinalaghta club in north Longford who he famously coached to Leinster glory in 2018, but the number of duties involved in that position increased appreciably when he moved on to the Cavan job.
Delegation is a key cornerstone of the gig, and the main factor working in Graham’s favour to keep all the plates spinning in the air, is that he lives locally.
“The extent of the workload that goes into preparing an inter-county team is huge. People only see what goes on at the training grounds but it’s away from the training ground that it goes on. Watching videos, doing analysis, ringing players, meeting people – a lot of work goes into it. Is there a need for them all? I think you could probably reduce it by one or two.
“There’s so much stuff to take on board and to try and squeeze it all in with a 9-5 job, you’re talking an extra 40-50 hours a week when you’re involved with an inter-county squad. It’s not easy and the more people that can help share the load, it makes it easier for people. People need to have a life and enjoy what they’re doing as well.”
The key question that follows Graham’s insight is whether or not lifestyle of a manager is sustainable given all the demands involved.
“It is tough, it is time-consuming,” says Graham as he prepares for another two seasons on the managerial treadmill.
“The hours you spend away from the training ground… for me, I’m lucky enough because I live in Cavan town so Kingspan Breffni Park is only five minutes away from me. But if I was to travel an hour and a half or two hours to training, would I be able to do this for four years? I don’t know if I would have the energy to sustain that.
“I can understand why the managers who travel two hours over and back to training only stay for two or three years.
“The managers who are in management now can make it work but if you look at the jobs that still haven’t been filled yet, is there a reason for that? Maybe it’s getting harder and harder to get someone to commit to these jobs because of the time it takes to manage a team. Years ago, these jobs would be filled in a couple of weeks but [in] the last couple of years, it’s taken counties longer to fill these positions.
“Maybe people just don’t have the time to do them that they used to have years ago. Jobs now are more demanding, people are busier than ever, and there’s definitely a pattern after starting there over the last two or three years.”
Originally published at 07.30
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