“Farmer, farmer, put away that DDT, I don’t care about spots on my apples, leave me the birds and the bees”. One of the verses from Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi there.
Which I have always interpreted as ‘stick to what you know, even with whatever faults or flaws may be present. Because, as Mitchell’s smash hit says “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone”.
In rebuttle to that romanticism though stands the old adage about one never being a prophet among your own people. Even allowing for it though, looking from the outside in – albeit with very strong Kildare heritage – I cannot help feeling that the way Glenn Ryan is currently being hounded by his own people along with those assisting him is as misguided as it is unwarranted.
To my mind, the Round Towers clubman is not only the joint best centre half back the one seeing eye here has ever come across – the other, ironically, being a certain former Kildare manager – I would go so far as to say the former captain must be regarded as the greatest Kildare footballer of all time.
Mind you, the lieutenants who have worked with during his time in charge of his native county – Anthony Rainbow, Johnny Doyle and Dermot Earley (though the latter is currently overseas with the Defence Forces) would each wholly merit inclusion in the same conversation. As would Davy Dalton and Niall Buckley and Martin Lynch.
Indeed, it should of course be pointed out that Glenn had already served a successful apprenticeship in inter county management with Longford (assisted by Graham Geraghty) before, belatedly in my view, getting the white reins thrown on his neck close to home. The one thing he can’t do however is go out and play for them.
That is not to suggest for a second that Ryan’s players have been anything other than wholehearted in their commitment, dedication and effort. Rather, an illustration that – as is always my view in these situations – the manager’s abdication, whether voluntary or otherwise, would not only not achieve anything, it would be wholly counterproductive.
And here’s another thing, footballers like Mark Donnellan, Mick O’Grady, Eoin Doyle, Kevin Feely, Ben McCormack and Dan Flynn haven’t suddenly become bad players overnight. In fact, for two separate spells against Meath on Sunday last, Kildare bossed the exchanges and looked the most likely winners. Only for an affliction which has dogged teams from the county since God was a gasun – profligacy – to come back and bite them in the arse once again.
In this instance, however, I firmly believe that to be down to a complete dearth of confidence. Certainly on behalf the players, maybe the manager too. Mind you, one scuttery goal or one dodgy looking point leading to one win could tip the scales the other way.
That, in turn, could put the Shortgrass County back on a footing that could spell danger for the rest of Leinster at the very least. With the profile and cailbre of player they have currently and oncoming at their disposal, they would have to be regarded as one of the main underachieving teams in football.
Without doubt, it’s not all down to the management, or indeed the players, most likely there’s a disparate concoction of circumstances at the root of their current travails.
The following is just a neutral, outside view, but, they won’t get anybody better to lead them out of their current malaise than those who Colm O’Rourke rightly lauded as “Three of their greatest warriors”.
Leave a Reply