In the aftermath of the 2005 campaign, Uíbhfhailí.com spoke to Offaly hurling manager John McIntyre following his re-appointment as manager for 2006.

Uíbhfhailí.com: John, Thanks for taking the time out to talk to us. You’ve just been confirmed as the man in charge for another year – are you genuinely looking forward to it, or facing into it with the grim determination of a man who doesn’t like to give up?

John McIntyre: Well, you have to look forward to it, and you have to be positive, because there has to be a bit of enjoyment out of it as well. Grim determination all the same would sum it up perfectly. We all learned a lot from our league and championship campaign in 2005, some of it very unpalatable, but we are determined to heed those lessons and carry the rebuilding of Offaly hurling on.

Uíbhfhailí.com: Would a day like that infamous Sunday last June not scare you off the prospect?

John McIntyre: We’re all hoping that was a one off – Kilkenny were on fire that day, I don’t think any team would have coped with them, and indeed from their perspective they were too good too soon last summer. We were first up for the guillotine, and the pace and intensity of Kilkenny’s hurling that day rocked us. It was a very bad day for Offaly hurling, I have my fair share from responsibility for what happened and I’ll never walk away from that, but we did stabilise the ship from there on, albeit it took us until the second half of the Waterford game to get up to the pitch of championship hurling. We did get promoted to division one, we avoided relegation, and I know in the overall scheme of things they don’t mean a lot, but things came close to collapsing last summer in the wake of the Kilkenny and Waterford beatings, and I think it’s a credit to the players that we stabilised the situation somewhat. We’re back playing division one hurling next spring and hopefully that level of competition will help us in terms of improving our fortunes in next year’s championship.

Uíbhfhailí.com: Seems reasonable, we’re all hoping along those lines! To go back in time a little bit, before John McIntyre the manager there was John McIntyre the hurler, but although you were very well regarded within the game, you were unlucky in that a lot of the games major prizes eluded you. 1984 in particular was a tough year for you – the club vs county debate is a huge issue within GAA – and that year saw you lose the Tipperary county final, as well as losing probably one of the best Munster Finals ever seen. If you were allowed one more shot at winning just one of those two matches, which would you most like to have another go at?

John McIntyre: Well I suppose in a global sense the Munster Final was much bigger than Lorrha losing the county final that year, and it was a heartbreaking defeat. Tipperary hurling was in a bad state - had been for the previous decade - and we had a great chance to beat Cork being four points up with a few minutes to go. To lose by four took some doing, but I suppose we had given so much in the previous 65 minutes that we were out on our feet and didn’t have any more to give at the end. My club loyalty was emphasised by the fact that I went out to play a challenge match for Lorrha against Holycross later that evening. We had a good team in Lorrha at that time, and the biggest regret of my hurling career was that I didn’t win a county championship medal, but that’s the way it worked out, and it’s consigned to history now over twenty years ago. The Offaly job is now my absolute number one priority, and we (the management) feel that we had our cards marked in 2005, and we’ve two choices – to continue operating the way we were, and hope that things will take a turn for the better, or to put in place what we feel we need to do and move the whole thing forward. There has to be a new degree of professionalism in our preparations, and we’re completely open minded about how to bring that situation about. There’s a lot of support there from the Offaly county board, and as I’ve said to the players before, there’s only one team going to be All Ireland champions after all the hurling is done this year, and we’re no worse off or better off than any of the rest of them, other than with regard to public perception.

Uíbhfhailí.com: That’s really the next obvious question – while all twelve teams in the race for Liam McCarthy in 2006 will be in theory at least aiming to win the Liam McCarthy cup, realistically Cork or Kilkenny will not be satisfied with any less, Limerick would consider a Munster title a good year, and consolidating in tier 1 and escaping relegation will constitute a good season for Westmeath. At what level of achievement will you consider 2006 to have been a reasonably successful year for Offaly?

John McIntyre: Well I feel that first of all we’re not going to look any further than the league campaign. It’s our ambition to get into the second stage of the league campaign, and to give ourselves an opportunity of reaching the league final. There’s no point us going out in the spring just trying to be “competitive”. We want to win, and if we get beaten that’s failure, both for the players and the management, and you can talk day and night about lack of resources, your team being a bit small and lacking experience, but all you’re looking for are crutches. Next year there’s going to be no excuses, and what we achieve we achieve and what we don’t we don’t, but we’re aiming higher, we’re going to be a lot more positive, to try and get the players to realise that every year is different, every game is different, what happened in 2005 happened and is gone, we can’t do anything about that now, but if we all heed the harsh lessons that were learned and put those lessons into practice who knows what Offaly hurling may achieve?

Uíbhfhailí.com: You were speaking of going out to win from the start next year. I think every supporter saw that we developed as the championship progressed, rather than during the league when you’d hope such development would take place. Going on from that basis, you obviously can’t be certain, or would be willing to name names at this time, but of the 15 players that starting Portlaoise against Clare – probably our best performance – how many of those fifteen would you expect to be starting for the first game out in the league, whoever that might be against?

John McIntyre: All things being equal, I would imagine that the nucleus of our team for the opening round of the league will be drawn from those fifteen. We were desperately unlucky that evening, and it’s a memory that I’ve carried through the last couple of months. It’s easy focus on the rout against Kilkenny, and the bad first half against Waterford, or even the embarrassment against Carlow in division two, but if you get too wrapped up in bad times you can end up dropping your shoulders and wondering are we going anywhere. That game showed that Offaly aren’t as far behind as some people think they are. Clare went on from there to give Cork their closest match of the year. I do accept that on that evening we had all the motivational advantages, and Clare possibly took us for granted, but having said that, all their star players were in action, and they really had to dig deep to pull the game out of the fire. And were a bit unlucky too – and I don’t think people realise how disappointed the players and management were afterwards. We had great support that evening from the few thousand supporters that did travel to Portlaoise, the chants of “Uibh Fháile, Uibh Fháile” went up, and they knew that players and management had been to hell and back earlier in the summer, and that there was a genuine effort made by both parties to lift the gloom. We took it so badly that we weren’t good against Dublin subsequently, and we went ten points up despite that. We were careless, and we went a point down in injury time. I admire the players for that – we’ll get no credit for beating Dublin by a point, but on the day it was a great result given the last fifteen minutes we had. It showed that the temperament was there to rescue a situation, albeit one of our own making, but we still had the quality, the little touch of class to go down the field and pull the game out of the fire two late points. I thought we were businesslike against Antrim, after ten minutes I was saying to myself “It’s a pity these lads aren’t in an All Ireland quarter final” because we led by 2-7 to 0-2, and then fifteen minutes later I was wondering would we even win the match because it was 2-10 to 0-10, and I think that’s been symbolic of Offaly’s performances. A little bit erratic, a little bit of inconsistency there, but they can hurl, and there is a future there.

Uíbhfhailí.com: You’ve been watching the club championships as they’ve gone on, and with that in mind, is there any player(s) you’ve been keeping an eye on, or even if you don’t want to name names at this stage, any particular style of player you’d like to find, if Christmas came early as it were?

John McIntyre: Well, we’re still in the process of drawing up a panel to go back into training, so we’re looking at anybody who’s worth looking at. Obviously a panel has to be open ended, you can’t be closing the door on anybody, form is variable and we’ve an open mind about it, but certainly we’re going back on the training ground in the Autumn, and that’ll give us a foundation to carry on then in the spring when we really go back in earnest.

Uíbhfhailí.com: You’ve brought in Joachim Kelly, who’s a particularly high profile addition to the management team, having managed Wexford and Templemore Garda College in addition to a fine playing career. Where do you seem him contributing, or what do you feel he’ll bring that would be over and above what yourself and Daithí provide?

John McIntyre: Joachim is very experienced. He was a top class player himself, and he has a great passion for Offaly hurling. His enthusiasm is going to give us all a little push in the right direction. He has a physical training pedigree as well and I think he’ll bring a new dimension to the set up, and he’ll be a new voice with fresh insight for the players as well. We’re carrying out a root and branch review of everything that happened in 2005, looking to keep the good things and eliminate the bad. Everything has to be a lot more professional – when you read about the things the Cork players are doing off the field, in terms of looking after themselves, clearly we’ve to move with the times. Unfortunately being an intercounty hurler or footballer these days involves so much more than just going training and playing the matches, you have to be totally professional about your lifestyle, and maybe in Offaly there’s a mindset that, if not burning the candle at both ends, that maybe in the past some of that kind of behaviour could still co-exist with winning all Irelands. That day is gone, and by and large, most of the players know now the level they aspire to and that they have to get to. However aspiring to it and getting there are two different things, and we’re going to be asking some very tough questions of our squad before a ball is ever pucked in anger in the National League. We have to steel them mentally and physically, and find out which players won’t buckle when the hard questions are asked in the heat of championship.

Uíbhfhailí.com: On that note, last year saw the exit of five players from the county panel that, for want of a better phrase, weren’t willing to make the necessary sacrifices or give the necessary commitment. Will the bar be raised so high that we’re likely to see a repeat of that kind of thing in the coming months?

John McIntyre: I wouldn’t question the commitment of any of the five players that left during the summer on the training ground or in matches. They were all disappointed that they weren’t featuring more regularly on the team, and I’d say that would have coloured their thinking. Not everyone can make the first fifteen, we’ve no agenda, we just pick the team on merit, and it was unfortunate it happened, but that’s in the past.

Uíbhfhailí.com: Have any of those players expressed an interest in coming back?

John McIntyre: We’re not ruling out anybody – we’ll make our decisions based on what we feel is in the best interests of Offaly hurling, and as I said, we’re in the process of reviewing the panel, and primarily seeing what men have the best interests of Offaly hurling at heart, and secondly what players have the ability, temperament and physical capacity to cope with the level of hurling that will be coming their way again next year.

Uíbhfhailí.com: Fair enough – but none of those players have sought contact with you at any time?

John McIntyre: No, there has been no contact, but then there wouldn’t have been any contact with any players, by and large, since the Antrim match.

Uíbhfhailí.com: One of the regular topics for discussion is the current structure of our championship. Our current system sees fifteen teams playing senior hurling, but you’ve seen yourself the gulf between the likes of Birr and Coolderry and the teams that are struggling to survive. Do you think the current system, keeping as many players hurling at senior level as possible, is in our best interests, or would you prefer a more streamlined championship?

John McIntyre: This is a debate that’s ongoing in most counties. I see it in Tipperary, and I see it in Galway, there are clubs participating in the senior championship in both counties that are only senior in name. Offaly is a small county with a very small playing base; geographically alone, Tipperary and Galway would have more scope for bigger county championships, but there’s mismatches in every county, or uneven standards. Ultimately that’s really not a debate for John McIntyre, that’s really something the county board have to look at. But Offaly hurling over the last twenty five years have been very competitive, there’s a high regard for Offaly hurling out there, and while things have taken a downward turn over the last three or four seasons in terms of performances on the field and competitiveness, and there is a lot of gloom out there and it’s easy to buy into that. But we, the team management, have got to preach a positive gospel from here on in. I got hammered myself for being a bit down in the mouth in advance of the Kilkenny match, but I would have been preaching a completely different mantra behind closed doors, however perception is perception, and it might feed into supporters as well…..

Uíbhfhailí.com: …… for what it’s worth, I’d say most supporters read it in the tongue in cheek spirit in which it was intended…

John McIntyre: …..well I would hope so. At the end of the day we have to be much more positive and much more up for it in 2006. Those Offaly players are good guys, everything that was asked of them in 2005, they did it. Obviously we have to ask a lot more in 2006 – they know why, and I know why, and in conjunction with Daithí and Joachim, I feel that there is scope for progress there, and hopefully Offaly hurling will be in a bit better shape next year than it is now.

Uíbhfhailí.com: You hurled yourself in the era of the first really great Offaly team, the early 1980’s. Was there any Offaly player from that vintage you found a particularly tough opponent?

John McIntyre: I didn’t come up against Offaly that much, because Offaly were so much more successful in the early eighties than Tipperary were. I remember marking the late Pat Carroll in a league match in Tullamore, Tipperary had just won the All Ireland under 21 title in 1981, and I was one of the young lads promoted. Offaly have always had a great economy about their hurling, and it was driven home to us that day. We might have come out the right side of the result by a couple of points, but you could see that Offaly were so much more advanced in terms of their quality, belief and maturity. Marking Pat Carroll he was liable to pop up anywhere on the field. I had always great regard for them, they had some great players down the years, and their emergence as a hurling force was fantastic for the game, and there is a perception out there that nobody will touch the likes of Cork next year again, but who knows?

Uíbhfhailí.com: Your first stint in charge of the county is a tale well known to most, but it could have been very close to being a whole lot different. We came up against the current All Ireland Champions, conceded two poor goals, and but for a great save by Damien Fitzhenry at the end we would still have been involved. Was that “unfinished business” a part of your motivation for coming back?

John McIntyre: Ah, just a very small aspect of it. The way I looked at it was that Offaly gave me my first break in intercounty management, and I suppose it’s a vindication of sorts that they came back to me eight years later. There’s no baggage from that, it’s done and dusted. The county board made a decision, I was naturally disappointed, but I was never bitter. That’s the way it goes, and you just move on.

Uíbhfhailí.com: There is one tale from that year, and I’m going to ask about it and you can flesh out the details for me. The story goes that a dressing room smoking ban had to be enforced that year, and even then the ban had to be relaxed after one particular game. How much of this is true?

John McIntyre: Ah, that happened all right. I said to the lads that year that one thing I won’t tolerate is smoking in the dressing rooms. That was adhered to, but we played Tipperary in the opening round of the league in Nenagh, and we had a great victory that day, John Troy got two late points to win it for us, and we had trained hard for the league that season. We were all a bit euphoric after that game, to go to Nenagh and beat Tipperary on their doorstep, and after the game John asked if he could light up. I said we’d make an exception this once, it was himself and I think Johnny Pilkington who took advantage of it, and if you like the manner in which he asked kind of disarmed me. We had ground rules, but when you win the mood is good, it was a good day for Offaly hurling and a good start to my management, and I suppose I was flexible.

Uíbhfhailí.com: Finally, in terms of your management career, you were probably most successful with Clarinbridge in Galway. They hadn’t won much before you came along, and they’ve gone a good bit back since. I suppose the question has to be what did you do to them, and how likely are we to see a repeat?

John McIntyre: I don’t know is the short answer, we were desperately unlucky in my second year with them. We were flying it in challenge matches as champions, and got off to a dreadful start against Portumna – we were down 1-5 to 0-1 after about eight minutes, could have been down more, and we came back to lose by a point, and at that had a great chance to equalise. That was one we really let go, because we were good enough to retain our championship. The following year we conceded a bad goal against the wind very early on, Portumna just got up momentum, and ironically Joachim was over Portumna that year, and I suppose we were a bit unlucky not to have won more. However they’re back in the quarter finals with Louis Mulqueen over them, and although Portumna will be strong favourites, I wouldn’t write them off entirely.

Uíbhfhailí.com: John, it’s been a pleasure talking to you, and from all the Uibhfhaili.com readers, good luck next year!

John McIntyre: We’ll do our best!