Mickey Whelan Handed the biggest job in football history Following his appointment to the biggest job in Gaelic football, Dublin manager Mickey Whelan talks to Tomas Conlon for the Hogan Stand. Tomas: Were you at the Dublin/Leitrim League game? Mickey: I was. T: What'd you think? M: I thought Dublin were lucky to win it in the end. T: What'd you think of the young lads that came in, there was lot of new faces there, any of them catch your eye? M: Well sure they're all existing panellists, you know. I'll see, I'll get a better opportunity to look at them so you have to be looking at these guys in training as well as in games to get a real feel for what they have. T: Would you leave a lot of value on how fellows show up on training as opposed to football games? M: Why not? T: Well, football games are the real - M: How many football games do they play a year? T: Oh..thirty maybe. M: Right. And they're training two, three, four days a week so you get to know people better when they're training. You know character's a lot to do with the game. T: But sure many's a fellow shows up well in training and leaves it behind him on the big day? M: Is that so? T: D'you not think so? M: Well, that's what you think, isn't it? T: It's not what I think, it's an observation I would make. M: Yeah, sure they do. T: I mean I've seen lads who weren't necessarily fit in training but who would put in very big performance on big days. M: Yeah, but who said anything about fitness. You're the one raising that. T: No, Im talking about the whole thing, mental and - M: The point I'm making is that the more you're around them and you get to know them just as well in training as you do in games, but whether they're able for the games or not can only be told in game situation. T: Well, that was the point I was making really, that it is the case sometimes that fellows who do show well in training don't deliver on the day. M: Yeah, suppose so. T: And do you place a lot of importance on their mental toughness? M: As far as I'm concerned, the three basic assets of the game are brains, bravery and skill and if you lack, if you've a real lack in any of these you won't make it. If you have a slight inadequacy in one of them you have to have it extra in the other areas, simple as that. T: You've an FAI Coach's badge and you've worked with a lot of soccer players. Are there any differences between top class soccer lads and top class soccer lads and top class Gaelic lads? M: I wouldn't say, I'd say they're both very professional. T: In terms of physical fitness, would you be able to quantity which of them tend to be fitter. M: I don't think either is fitter than the other, they're both sports-specific, each is fit for his own game. T: Some people maintain that because the soccer lads play over 90 minutes that they have to be working at a higher level of fitness than Gaelic lads who play over 70? M: Do they? Are they well-informed people who say that? T: I don't know whether they are or not, it's just a suggestion. M: Well it's not. You said 'some people say', well I'm an expert in the area, right? T: Right. M: And you're asking me a question and I think that there's sports specificity, I think that there's training for a specific sport and the guy that's an Olympic Sprinter may not last five minutes on a soccer pitch or an a Gaelic pitch for that matter, but he's a zenith of his career when he's competing in the Olympics and he's not as fit as he can possibly be for that particular sport. T: What about in Gaelic games especially where the emphasis seems to be more and more on fitness and lung power rather than actual ball skills and that. Would you agree with that? M: No, no. T: Most teams are extremely fit, county teams, but there does seem to be a deficit in skill levels? M: (Irate): Well what do you want to do? Do you want to be asking me questions and then telling me what I should say? T: No, no. I'm just asking you your opinion on that - M: You asked me a question there. Do I think that fitness is more important than skill, my answer to that was no. T: I didn't ask you did you think it's more important than skill, I asked you did you think the current emphasis in modern Gaelic games is on fitness as opposed to skill? M: Oh, I don't know. But mine won't. T: Well, what will your philosophy be? M: My philosophy is that skill is vital. There's no point in being able to run a hundred metres in nine seconds if you can't use the ball well. T: The Dublin team, for example, is believed to be fitter than any other team possibly that played the game? M: I don't know, I haven't worked with them. T: Well, from your observations? M: From my observation they're a very fit outfit, yeah. T: So you're starting off from a good position in one sense, you're inheriting a team that is already very well conditioned physically? M: Well, what can I tell you? What is conditioning and hoe quickly do they lose it and when did they train last? You know, what's the story? T: Well do players lose quickly? M: Of course they do. If they didn't they wouldn't have to train. T: And how long would it take a player who was at his peak fitness on the third Sunday in September to lose it? M: I'd say within 48 hours he starts to lose fitness. T: 48 hours? M: Yeah. T: The other teams in Leinster, who will you, be keeping an eye on? M: Every team, every team. The first game we have is Westmeath and Westmeath have won a Minor All-Ireland. They've done very well at the underage for the last two to three years, well organised, well planned, they've an excellent Under 21 team and they've been promoted from the fourth to the third and the third to the second division in consecutive years so they're an excellent team, they've a good pedigree and anything less than our best wouldn't be good enough. T: What have you been doing at club level over the last few years, have you been coaching. M: Yes, I won three County Championships in Louth with Clann Gael, They were beaten in one final, they won two and they won the third then. I left telling them that they should win three in a row and they did. T: That was a pretty satisfying part of your coaching career? M: I like working with people and, I mean, winning games isn't necessarily a measure of success, not everybody can win. If you make teams play better or play to their maximum capacity, you've done the best you can. T: Do you enjoy the process of seeing a chap who may lack confidence or fitness and help bringing him to the point where he delivers on his potential. M: Very much so, very much so. I think that's the real satisfaction from working with young people, seeing them develop. T: Do you think too, as a coach, that sport helps develop a young lad's self-esteem in the real world? M: That's well-documented, that's one of the reasons why sports are involved in physical education. Any kind of achievement at all enhances a fellow's self-esteem; it can be physical or mental achievement. T: When did you stop playing football yourself? M: Oh, I suppose I stopped in 1981 and took the team, Vincent's, to win a Championship that year. I think it was Vincent's centenary, the 75th or something, and we won the double, football and hurling, that year. T: You won an All-Ireland in 1963, and you won a County medal in 1968, so you played football well into your.? M: Forties. T: That would have been quite exceptional really? M: Well, I enjoyed it immensely. I think less people are giving up sport early, more and more people are involved at different levels. The Dublin team that won All-Irelands in '74, '76 and '77 had a lot of fellows in their 30s. Tony Hanahoe played well into his 30s, Anton O'Toole, Jimmy Keaveney. T: You must have been pretty lucky with injuries to play so late? M: I was. The first major injury I got was in America, I made a dog's dinner of my knee. I'm paying for it now but, I mean, what the hell, you only live once. T: Arthritis? M: Yeah. T: Is it painful? M: Very. But I wouldn't change my life. I've got so much out of sport and I'm contuning to do so. Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 10th November, 1995 Tweet

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