Westside: Liam Sheedy's appointment as Tipperary senior hurling manager ticks all the boxes

Westside Column – 

Wherever hurling folk gathered in recent days there was only one topic of conversation -  Liam Sheedy’s second coming as Tipperary hurling manager. 

It was around midweek when word began to leak out that Sheedy was onboard for another stint in charge. It came as a major surprise to most people. 

All the talk up to that point revolved around the Ballingarry pair, Liam Cahill and William Maher, and their respective prospects.  Once Sheedy resurfaced, however, all bets were off and there was only going to be one outcome.

Journalists can be prone to exaggeration at times but it’s hardly excessive to describe this turn of events as a stunning development. Since completing his three years in charge, culminating in the spectacular 2010 All-Ireland, Liam Sheedy has built an impressive public profile. 

As a TV pundit he’s popular, regarded as articulate and insightful without every veering into controversy like Loughnane or Brolly, for instance. 

That regard saw him drafted onto the GAA’s management committee, which led to him being shortlisted in the contest to replace Pauric Duffy as Director General before eventually losing out to Tom Ryan.

In other areas too his career path has been onward and upward. He was appointed Chair of Sport Ireland’s High Performance Committee, while in his banking career he has risen to the position of provincial director  with Bank of Ireland. 

He has been regularly called in by other counties to oversee the appointment of managers and has acted as consultant in a number of situations. Despite all that he found time to assist Antrim’s hurlers this year.

Given all the above involvement most people thought it highly unlikely that the Portroe man would return to the rough and tumble of team management, where past achievements can often be forgotten if your latest adventure misfires. 

Besides, the haste with which he retired after the 2010 All-Ireland created a sense of ‘been there, done that and won’t be back’. 

I suspect the county committee tasked with appointing a successor to Michael Ryan must have thought Christmas came early when they got word of Sheedy’s availability. 

If you’re head-hunting an ideal candidate he ticks all the boxes, given his proven past record and his vast range of experience.

Early on in this process he appeared to rule himself out because of work commitments, but once that snag was resolved with his bosses in Bank of Ireland the door was open for a return. 

There were suggestions about too that some senior players may have urged him in this direction but I have no verification of that.

There is a well-used argument that suggests one should never go back. You can never relive the past and there are plenty of examples of managers who unwisely opted for a second coming. 

‘Babs’ Keating’s return to Tipperary management certainly ended in tears in 2007 but he’s not alone in that regard. Jimmy Barry Murphy, for instance, failed to rediscover a winning formula with Cork when losing out to Clare in 2013.

In fact very few managers have managed to repeat past glories at the second attempt. Jack O’Connor in Kerry is one of the exceptions but even there he was missing for only one year before returning to again sample All Ireland success. 

Liam Sheedy has been away from the Tipperary dressing room for eight years, and while a lot of the same players are still around the landscape has certainly changed quite a lot.

He returns to the Tipperary scene at a difficult juncture. Many of the heroes of 2010 are nearing thirty and the successful U-21s have still to prove their mettle at this level. 

Besides, issues of discip line have been ever-present over the last few years, so overall it’s quite a challenging environment.

However, I suspect there will be widespread delight in Tipperary at Sheedy’s return. He’s seen as a strong personality with highly-rated management skills. He’s also viewed as a safe pair of hands at this crossroads juncture for Tipperary hurling, whereas Liam Cahill and William Maher were seen as more of a gamble given their limited experience. Once Sheedy became available the decision was a no-brainer.

I’ve no doubt both Liam Cahill and William Maher will be very disappointed, the latter, perhaps, more so than the former. Liam Cahill had expressed a willingness to stay with the U-20s, whereas William Maher seemed more focused on this job, putting in place an experienced backroom team. 

Cahill’s backroom set-up was thought to be weaker, though it’s ironic now that Sheedy is about to be ratified with no backroom personnel at all in place.

And that’s the next item of interest: Sheedy’s backroom team. Given his extensive network of connections throughout the nation I suspect he’s well placed to put together a formidable line-up. 

Whether or not he goes back to some of his 2010 colleagues will be interesting to see, though I’ve heard suggestions that he’s more likely to opt for an entirely new-look team. Time will tell. 

In the meantime I certainly hope that neither Liam Cahill nor William Maher have been soured by this experience. 

This process can be quite bruising when you put yourself in the firing line and people can sometimes feel unfairly treated. In management terms they’re both young with a lot to offer so there’s sure to be another day.