castlebar-supplement

04
AIB ALL-IRELAND SENIOR CLUB FINAL 2014
THE MAYO NEWS
TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2014
Managing
expectations
Success has followed Pat Holmes
throughout his management career
MIKE FINNERTY
INTERVIEW
SOLID. Reliable. Honest. Hardworking.
Successful.
These are just some of the qualities
that we’ve heard attributed to the Castlebar
Mitchels senior squad over and
over again since they regained the Moclair Cup
last October, and began the epic odyssey that has
taken them all the way to Croke Park next Monday.
They are characteristics that seemed to be lacking
from the Mitchels senior set-up for many of
the last 20 years, but they have been restored,
slowly but surely, since Pat Holmes accepted the
club’s offer to take over three years ago.
Solid. Reliable. Honest. Hardworking. Successful.
Remind you of anyone
If ever a team reflected the personality of its
manager, then surely this Castlebar Mitchels outfit
is that group.
During the course of a lengthy conversation
with The Mayo News ahead of the All-Ireland
Club Final, Pat Holmes mentions words like ‘hard
work’, ‘accountability’, ‘honesty’ and ‘maximising
potential’ time and time again.
They are the qualities he displayed during his
playing days with both clubs and county, and
which have stood him in good stead during his
stellar managerial years with the Mayo seniors,
county U-21s and Castlebar Mitchels.
His track record is second to none in this part
of the world.
A National League title, an All-Ireland U-21
championship, and county and provincial wins
at club level the standout moments.
So far, at least.
But to understand where Pat Holmes has brought
Mitchels from as a manager over the last three
years, it’s worth recalling some of the events that
shaped him as a footballer.
He enjoyed a fine playing career with Moygownagh,
St Jarlath’s College, Tuam Stars, Castlebar
Mitchels, Cavan Gaels, Westport and Mayo.
Highlights included a Hogan Cup medal in 1984,
a Mayo SFC medal in 1993, an All Star in 1996,
and seven Connacht Senior Championships.
But it’s his thoughts on the two matches that
arguably defined the careers of a generation of
Mayo footballers — the 1996 and 1997 All-Ireland
Senior Finals — that are most revealing in terms
of his managerial philosophy.
“When you look back on those finals
you look back with regrets,” he admitted.
“We maximized our potential in certain
regards in those years, but in other ways
we didn’t.
“We were naïve. With a bit more cuteness,
and being a bit more streetwise, we
would have won at least one of those.
“Other years Mayo got to All-Ireland
Finals and they just weren’t good enough
to win them. But any year you get to a
Final and you don’t win it, you have to
look back with regrets. 1997, in particular.
“In ’96 we played close to our potential
but in ’97 we didn’t play at all. The biggest
regret I have about that year was
our mental attitude going into the
game.
“Because we were there in ’96 I think
we started to believe that we were going
to win it in ’97. We got caught in the hype
and lost our real focus on our job on the
day.
“We paid a big price for that.”
As an aside, you wonder if winning an
All Star in 1996, after tying down Meath’s
Graham Geraghty in both the drawn and
replayed finals, was any sort of compensation
in hindsight
“It’s a nice honour. I wasn’t blessed with
the most natural talent so I had to work
hard to play for Mayo.
“So, from that point of view, it was nice
recognition, but that’s all it was. You don’t
think back and say, ‘I won an All Star’.
“It was nice but nothing more. My biggest
regret was ’97 because I believed
we were good enough. We should have
learned from 1996.”
BECOMING A MANAGER
ONE month after retiring from intercounty
football in 1999, Pat Holmes was
appointed manager of the Mayo senior
“The biggest
thing you look
for within a group
is honesty”
team. He was 33 years of age.
During his three seasons in the job, he
led Mayo to a National League title for
the first time since 1970, but the Connacht
Championship title eluded him.
On mature reflection, he believes that
those three years were the best of times
and the worst of times.
MF: Do you ever regret taking on the
Mayo job
PH: If I was in that same situation again,
would I take it on I don’t honestly know.
It’s a hard one to answer.
I had absolutely no experience at the
time, I’d never managed anything. The
reason I took it was I was single, I felt it
was a massive challenge, and I felt the
opportunity may not present itself
again.
I just decided after a bit of mulling over
that I’d have a cut at it. When you’re that
age you don’t weight up the consequences
as much. You don’t have as much fear.
Looking back, I was too inexperienced
for the job really.
To add to that I was also managing a
group of players that I had played with
only two months earlier.
MF: How would you sum up your
time as Mayo senior manager
PH: We were coming into a period of
transition. We’d contested All-Ireland
Finals in 1996 and 1997, and got to an All-
Ireland semi-final in ’99, but that team
was coming to a transition stage. These
things go in cycles.
When you lose players of the calibre
of Liam McHale, these guys are irreplaceable
in a lot of ways.
We won a National League title but the
biggest regret is being beaten by a last
minute goal in a Connacht Final [2001],
after having Ray Connelly sent off in the
wrong.
We never recovered from that, it took
the soul out of us.
But you just had to learn from those
experiences.”
THE SECRET OF SUCCESS
AT The Mayo News/O’Neills Club Stars
awards last December, ‘Manager of the
Year’ Pat Holmes went out of his way to
ensure that Shane Conway, Alan Nolan
and Jimmy Killeen were acknowledged
for the parts they have played in Castlebar’s
success story this season.
The quartet seems to complement each
other, and the results speak for themselves.
Players too have bought into Holmes’
masterplan over the last 12
months.
His approach may sound simple, but
it’s extremely effective.
MF: What do you do as a manager to
get the best out of the group you’re
working with
PH: The biggest thing you look for within
a group is honesty. You try and get fellas
to realise their own goals, set group goals,
and get guys to take collective responsibility.
Rather than because somebody has
asked them to take responsibility, they
have to take responsibility because they
want to. This group is very good at
that.
You’re more a co-ordinator than anything.
It’s the lads that do all the work,
and everybody is bringing something to
the group. I’m just one cog and I’m no
more important than what the 31 players
do, or what Shane, Alan or Jimmy
does.
MF: What part of management do
you enjoy most
PH: The greatest sense of enjoyment is
when you see players going out and performing
well.
When they’re performing towards the
maximum of their ability, when they’re
playing at the right tempo, the right
intensity. When they’re playing as a team
as a unit, with no egos.
Every time you go out, you’re looking
to improve on the things you did the
previous day.
MAGIC MOMENT
Mayo joint
managers Pat
Holmes and Noel
Connelly celebrate
after the final
whistle in the 2006
All-Ireland U21
Football Final.
Pic: Sportsfile