One week and counting... the county teams have gone to ground - clubs take priority, challenge games are played at obscure venues up and down the country - so what exactly goes on in the final days leading up to the start of the Ulster Championship? Ciaran Woods spoke to three men with the inside track
By Ciaran Woods
c.woods@gaeliclife.com
The manager's perspective... Brian McIver (Ex-Donegal manager)
"There's no doubt that if you're going in off the back of a fairly successful National League programme, then there's an automatic level of confidence there. To that extent, it's sometimes easier to keep things going.
On the other hand, there's the scenario Monaghan find themselves in. They finished their league campaign with a disappointing performance. That may well work as a motivational thing, the fact that in their eyes they played poorly and will want to give a better account of themselves in the Derry game.
There's no absolute right or wrong. You could have had an outstanding league campaign and then go out three weeks later in the championship and fall flat. But you still want to be heading into this period knowing that you've been playing fairly well at least, with a reasonably settled side or at least an idea of what your best starting 15 will be.
You could have a very short gap, like the three weeks that Down have, or you could have a very long break of six weeks or more. Some counties would prefer to get in a few challenge matches, while Tyrone for example will use only club football and in-house games to get the boys up to speed.
If you've picked up a few injuries at the end of the National League then that bit of a longer break will be welcome, because you might be able to get those boys back and get them match fit.
The week leading into a championship match will be pretty easy, working on a few fine details. The week before that will be all about getting boys sharp and getting them up to speed. But three or more weeks away from the championship you'd still be doing fairly heavy stuff. It's that time that problems can arise, because you're doing hard training sessions then the boys are going away and playing club games. It's there that boys pick up the wee hamstring pulls and things like that, which is what you don't want going into a championship match.
For the two weeks leading up the game the players are only with the county squad, and therefore the risks are much less.
We would have complained years ago that the GAA didn't get enough coverage, so you can't complain now that it has gone the other way. To me it's a plus, but has to be handled.
Every side would like to go into the championship as low-key as they possibly can, with as little distractions as they can. That's why you like to get things like meeting the press done as early as possible.
Most players once they've been in a county squad for two or three years know the score only too well. They know they have to cooperate, but not get carried away. Most lads realise how to work with the media, they know not to be going and putting their foot in it in terms of the opposition, and they want to sometimes express how they're feeling in the lead-up to a big game.
Players are quite rightly playing club football throughout this time means that you can't start six weeks away from the championship with a massive momentum. It's important to allow the players a bit of time away from things with their clubs and their own lives.
It's all about building it up slowly, gathering momentum as you go so that on the day when it matters most they're ready for it. You have to be gearing everything up for that one game, that one challenge, so that when it comes the boys are ready for it.
The coach's perspective... Conal Sheridan (Former Fermanagh and Cavan trainer)
"Four weeks before the game, a lot of teams would go away for a weekend of intense preparation, and more importantly to bring the boys together. That would usually involve someone coming in to talk to the boys on the Friday night, maybe about visualisation or the likes. Saturday morning you'd do a session, have a team meeting and then have someone coming in to take a session in the afternoon. Then you'd have pool sessions, maybe a bit of light weights, and do something with the boys again on the Saturday evening. Sunday would then usually be a challenge match before dinner and heading back up the road.
Up to three weeks before the match you're still getting a lot of fitness work done, using plyometrics to build up the sharpness and a lot of what I would call High Intensity Training (HIT). Sometimes you might have a wee miniature plyometrics circuit before going out onto the pitch.
Two weeks before it you'd be working on game plans, more of the technical side of things. Those training sessions would be a lot more stop-start, walking through things and discussing the roles of individual players for the game ahead.
On the last week, on the Sunday or Tuesday you'll have an in-house game just to finalise a few things. You'll also have basically a dress rehearsal that previous weekend, going to the venue and getting a feel for the place. You'll have the time, the location... everything exactly as it will be the following Sunday.
As the game gets closer, you'll bring people in and introduce something different for the players to think about, like a sports psychologist or the likes. It's a different face, different voice. You'll often talk to boys a lot more, talk through specific problems they might be having and generally just being a listening ear for them. Often one of the biggest problems you come across is that players are too keen, so when rest is really the best option.
When players go back to their clubs, for me it's a positive because they're getting competitive football and you just can't buy that sort of preparation. You can't recreate that intensity in in-house games or challenge matches.
Players would be supposed to be working on their weights training continually, throughout the whole course of the season. By the time the championship phase comes around, they should be down to 35 or 40 minute sessions because the players are giving up enough of their time.
You'd find that teams in the lead-up to their championship match will be getting together maybe four times over the course of a week. Two of those will be their normal training sessions, usually Tuesdays and Thursdays, and outside of that you'll have meetings so it's pretty demanding on their time, and you have to make every session and every minute of it as productive as possible towards the goal of getting that championship win.
The player's perspective... Conleith Gilligan (Former Derry)
There are no hard and fast rules. I've seen it a few different ways... sometimes with a big gap between the league and championship and others when you were playing competitive National League games almost right up until the championship. Every team reacts differently. Some teams who have had a brilliant National League run have come unstuck in the championship just a few weeks later, and others who have had a poor league run have managed to spend that time completely turning it around.
All counties tend to try and squeeze a round of club championship games in between the league and the championship, and you tend to find that not only is your time to prepare for the inter-county championship extremely limited, but you usually lose a player or two to injury. It's difficult because you're serving two masters. Everybody wants to be in control of you, and you don't want to let anyone down.
If you pick up a bit of a niggle in a club game, and the county have a game coming up, then you don't want to risk losing your place so you play on through it, and that niggle gets worse and you've all of a sudden ruled yourself out of the game.
It can be a demanding time for players. The club needs you a night, the county needs you a night... and suddenly you find yourself out four or five nights a week. It's very, very difficult. You might still be doing your two nights of training on the field, but then you'll have another night where you're analysing videos, hitting the gym a night, maybe seeing the physio.
Whether you pull on your boots or not, if you're out a night with football then you're out a night with football. It doesn't tend to differ too much, you're still away from the house for the same length of time.
The pressure of the media is definitely there. Some counties put on a media ban, others will have a press night and others just let it go. It's difficult when you have to be constantly screening your phone, when everybody seems to be looking a few lines from you. It affects people differently. Some players can give an interview and it won't cost them a thought, others will maybe say the wrong things or be misquoted. A championship match is hard enough to get your head around without appearing on a back page the day before a game.
In some ways though it's easier for the young boys. A training weekend away is all well and good when you're 19 or 20, but when in the last three or four years I was away from home from the wife and children, so you look at things very differently.
The pressure ahead of the first round game is always that bit more. I think the back door has relieved a bit of that pressure, but the expectations of the fans is still there regardless what the match is.
I'd have watched the other Ulster championship matches on the TV in the weeks before our game, read about the other teams. But you wouldn't get too wrapped up in it and you'd just watch them as a football follower. In the week or two coming up to our game I'd have steered clear of the papers and stuff completely, because it's all subjective and it's easier to stay away from the hype.
It's probably more difficult for a young player. If you're some fella in his first year and you're playing well, then everybody wants to know a bit more about you. The weight of expectation can get boys down. I think as you get older you learn to cope with it that bit better. Over time, I think you develop your own ways of dealing with things, your own coping mechanisms, and hopefully that's enough to see you through.
