McHale urges Brigid's players to leave 'baggage' aside

By Kieran Galvin As St Brigid's prepare to face Crossmaglen Rangers in an eagerly awaited semi-final at Cusack Park tomorrow (Saturday, 2pm), there is a 'now or never' sense to their mission to win the All-Ireland title this year. However, Brigid's coach/selector Liam McHale is wary of such talk and hopes it doesn't creep into the players' minds. "If that sense was there, you're talking about a nervous edginess. That might come closer to the game and I hope it doesn't," McHale told the 'Westmeath Independent'. "Club football is different than county football. God forbid, if things don't work out this year, there would be no need for anyone to retire. You can play club football if you look after yourself till you are 37 or 38 years of age. Top class players aren't going to be pushed out by their club. "It's different at county level, you get to 32 or 33 and if you drop back a bit, you can find yourself on the scrap heap. I hope that doesn't come into it. "The big thing when you are playing big games like this is to prepare as best you can, get all the work done, mind your body, get yourself mentally focused and get out and play. Don't bring any baggage into the game and when it's over, it's over. That's what I always tried to do when I was playing. If I was in good shape, I always felt I had nothing to worry about. I felt I'd be better than anyone else on the pitch; that was my mindset. We're trying to instill that into the lads - try and beat your man and, if it doesn't work out, it's over with. Have a cut at it again next year if they want, they are amateurs. "Hopefully they won't have that edginess that it's 'now or never' because there will always be other opportunities. The future is very bright for this club. I can see them getting better and stronger, and I suppose that's a scary thought for clubs in their own county," continued McHale. The former Mayo star describes being involved in a coaching capacity as "the next best thing" to playing. "I'd love to be still playing, I'd still play basketball. All my life since I was nine or ten, I've been involved in sport. I enjoy coaching. There's great satisfaction in standing on the sideline, watching what you've practised during the week happen on the pitch," said the former midfield ace. "I've worked with Kevin (McStay) before and played with him before. When Kevin rings me and says he might have a job for me, I find it very difficult to say no. "We got involved in a very good Brigid's team. Obviously they lost All-Ireland semi-finals and a final and that can be difficult. Possibly a little bit of baggage there, so you have to address that, and the best way to address that is by good practice and working on the skills all the time. "The more positive work you do and the more games you win, the more confident these guys will be. I think it has showed all year; they are playing with a little bit of a swagger that they may not have had in previous years. Even though they have been very successful, I think there might have been little, lingering doubts in their game. We'd like to think that we have improved on that and that they will be mentally tougher going into Saturday's game," he continued. As one would expect, McHale has the height of respect for Crossmaglen Rangers, who defeated his home club Ballina Stephenites in the 1999 All-Ireland final. "Crossmaglen are the standard-bearers without a doubt, a remarkable club. I don't know how they keep doing it. It's a very, very difficult competition to compete in. It goes on so long and you're playing an awful lot of your big games in cold, wet weather on damp pitches. "I only went through it once as a player - we lost to Crossmaglen, in fact, in 1999. We didn't have great facilities; the fact that Crossmaglen and Brigid's have great facilities makes it a bit easier, but it's still a tough campaign. It's a kind of crazy competition when you think you start in January and can go until March of the following year." The former Ireland basketball international believes Saturday's much-anticipated showdown will come down to the last quarter. "I think it will be there to be won by either team in the last ten or fifteen minutes. Unfortunately for St Brigid's, that's when Crossmaglen normally turn the screw - they are very good in the fourth quarter. "The biggest thing that Crossmaglen have right now is massive belief. I imagine it will be close with ten or 15 minutes to go - we have to be strong both mentally and physically at that stage, and our decision making will have to be good. All the training and talking we've done throughout the year will come to fruition at that particularly time. Physically both teams match up quite well and talent-wise, they are kind of similar. Crossmaglen are at their best in the last ten minutes, so we'll have to try to counteract that," said the Ballina native. The St Brigid's management team has acknowledged a number of times over the campaign that they have tailored their training with a view to peaking at this stage. "We trained hard (earlier in the campaign) but we didn't do any conditioning work. Most Gaelic (football) teams train but when I grew up playing basketball, we practised. We brought this practice ethos into the club. We did an awful lot of game-specific stuff but we demanded 100 per cent effort. There was an awful lot of stopping and pointing out mistakes that we made. We decided to do that because of the mileage they had up. "You might say Crossmaglen have mileage as well but the mileage is different when you win. When you don't win, it's hard. It's a psychological thing. We were very aware that they were going year-in year-out for the last three years without the major success they wanted, i.e., the All-Ireland medal. We tailored it that way," added McHale.