CURRAN COLUMN: Gaelic football now needs a visionary like Kevin Heffernan

Shane Curran looks at the impact on Gaelic football made by the iconic figures of Kevin Heffernan and Mick O'Dwyer, and contends that many counties are now in need of a visionary figure like 'Heffo'.

Gaelic football has changed considerably, some would say immeasurably, over the last number of decades.

For good or bad is a debatable point but recent comments by none other than Kerry great Mikey Sheehy should ensure that those who look at the games through rose tinted glasses may be disappointed with his worthwhile views on the quality of the game vis-a-vis other eras.

What’s not for debating is the current game is defined by defensive tactical ploys designed to compete but not necessarily optimising a team’s potential.

There are however some things that stay constant, such as the ability of the coach or manager, as he is known, to develop and set aside tactics suitable to the qualities of the players available for selection. To trust the instincts of the best players to do the right things.

Tactics have altered, the investment in semi professional and professional practices has ensured the game has not stood still.

It has in many ways metamorphosed like rugby and to a lesser extent soccer in challenging managers to think differently about how a game-plan can be tailored to suit certain profiles and the athletic abilities of players within a team set up.

Of course in the early 1970s the cult of the manager was just in its infancy. The emergence of Dublin and Kerry led to a decade of unprecedented popularity for Gaelic games and, in particular, Gaelic football.

Both counties were lead by iconic figures within the GAA community - Kevin Heffernan leading the “Jacks” while the Kingdom was led by Mick O’Dwyer. Both were legends on the field and, unknown to themselves, they were about to define a change in direction for the association and the cult of the manager was born.

Both were exceptional by any means, but Heffernan was a visionary.
In his book on American football, 'The Games That Changed The Game’, esteemed sports journalist Ron Jaworkski charted the rise in popularity of the modern coach.

One such coach was Sid Gillman whose ability to devise tactical forward play led to a game-plan known as the vertical stretch which is the template for every forwards coach in NFL today. It has stood the test of time - innovative, creative and above all relative to how space is created to optimise scoring opportunity. He engaged a mathematical student to devise a game-plan using the dimensions of the pitch to optimise scoring opportunities for his players and team.

Heffo had his idea of the “vertical stretch” and it became the template for nearly every successful county team thereafter. At least until Mickey Harte and later Jim McGuinness, both excellent coaches in their own right, came along with a different alternative based on defensive formations.

Most importantly, Heffernan also had one player who had the intelligence to implement his vision. Tony Hanohoe was the player and the tactic was the withdrawing of the traditional centre-forward to open channels through the space created by his creative movement. Nowadays the more common description would be a dummy number 11.

We marvelled at Hanohoe’s balletic ability to control a game, watching back even now brings back memories to the innocence of that time. The way he would float like a butterfly over the mangled Croke Park turf - his marker left unsure and dizzy by the majesty of his movement.

Hanahoe and Heffernan unknowingly were creating a monster. One that would grow beside them, fight them and then ultimately discard them like the proverbial rag doll.

Heffo did not know when introducing his tactical masterplan that O’Dwyer and his team had exactly the same kind of player - Denis 'Ogie’ Moran. Moran would go onto win numerous All-Irelands but most importantly they never lost a final when he played in the number 11 role. The role designed by his manager’s greatest rival.

The history of Gaelic football to that point had mostly centred on players and their respective abilities. Heffo and O’Dwyer changed that.

Nowadays, managers/coaches define the game, the way it is played, the style it is played in and the abilities of players some how are curtailed to suit a certain coaches thoughts. In some cases they subdue the player or the ability of that player to play at his instinctive best.

Many modern players are stripped bare, re-modelled to suit a certain game-plan. Examples abound but one that clearly stands out is Donegal’s use of Michael Murphy’s talent.

Gaelic football is not dead. In many ways the game has changed immeasurably for the better. Those recent comments by none other than Mikey Sheehy tell of the many things that are good in the modern game and I agree.

The shortfall is not with the game but with those who coach it. The lack of invention and flair is an indictment on poor investment in coaching structures throughout the country, save for a notable few who are way ahead of the curve. It is not by accident that Dublin stampede all in Leinster.

Gaelic football longs now for a coach with the vision of a Kevin Heffernan; I look in the distance and await a messiah.