Ladies Gaelic Football

FEATURE 44 | AUTUMN 2019 | www.ladiesgaelic.ie making it too negative, look at where they're at and what could have been done better. "Was there anything that could have let them down, anything in preparation that could have been missing? "It might mean a slight adjustment to personnel on the panel, on the backroom team, even management. "I wouldn't be suggesting a complete overhaul by any stretch but sometimes some hard questions need to be asked and some things need to be dealt with up front. "What was of huge benefit to us was that we had a crop of players that had just come through an underage structure, and coming to the time where they're ready to step up. "We wouldn't have the Murrays, Megan Dunford, Caoimhe McGrath, if we didn't have that structure in Waterford." Meath are quite similar in that regard. They won both the Leinster U16 and Minor A titles this year, and contested an All-Ireland U16 A Final against Galway. So, there's plenty of talent coming through, including gifted forward Emma Duggan, and the key now is to merge that with the more established players. When the pain soothes, Meath will feel that they're more than capable of getting back to Croke Park again next September, but as Ryan points out: "Westmeath are coming down to Intermediate and they could get more players playing if they feel they can win a title. "You have to set yourselves up as professional as a senior team, with senior structures, and a senior attitude. Financially, that's not easy but it genuinely has to be done." Ryan recalls: "We had four different management periods from 2010-2015, four different set-ups, including one guy that came in twice. "But what we kind of got right coming into 2015 was that we had our core panel of 15, 18, 20 very committed players by the time we were playing Championship. "It was a bigger panel, a stronger panel. You felt like everyone was there and the bench was going to have as much of an impact as the starting 15." Tipp, on the other hand, can march forward into 2020 with plenty of optimism. They know what it's like to play Senior Championship football, having done so as recently as 2018. And they're well-equipped to avoid the road-mines that saw them drop straight back down to the Intermediate grade. Ryan nods: "They are, and look, they're probably more experienced. They'll know the mistakes they might have made, the key moments in their year at senior that could have made a difference. "They'll have their own personal motivation and key areas and key points they'll want to focus in on to avoid this happening again. "Just going by personal experience, when we won the Intermediate, that wasn't just our plan as a management team and a group of players. "It wasn't just win the Intermediate – there has to be a plan beyond that. "It's about the group staying together, achieving the next goal, because Intermediate wasn't THE goal, it was the first goal for us. It was to be competing in Munster Finals." That's what Waterford have done for two of the last three seasons, while also staving comfortably staving off the threat of relegation last year. "You have to have that group stay together," Ryan adds. "One or two might drop off but, as a whole, and considering they (Tipp) have a lot more younger players this year, it's going to be realistic and achievable (to stay together). "The management team comes into that as well, as a unit moving forward. "Disruption to the unit can disrupt momentum but the system working at Intermediate is clearly working at Senior too because they stayed in Division 1." And what Tipp's promotion does is ensure an incredibly competitive Munster Senior Championship in 2020, with the Premier County, Waterford, Kerry and holders Cork are battling for the Provincial crown. "It's going to be important to set realistic targets," Ryan adds. "The teams in Munster, we'd all fancy having a crack off each other to be honest, on any given day. "Ok, the game between ourselves and Cork the first day was a write-off but you wouldn't fear the other teams in Munster and they (Tipp) would feel the same." And so next year will bring fresh challenges for Tipperary and Meath, who have moved in different directions, but still on an upward trajectory when you strip away All-Ireland Final success and failure. "It wasn't just win the Intermediate – there has to be a plan beyond that. "

• Cover