There are few things which can be taken for granted in life. Death and taxes being most of them according to Mark Twain. One thing that is by no means guaranteed is good players becoming good managers.
Yes a plethora have, like Kevin Heffernan, Mick O’Dwyer, Brian McEniff, ‘Babs’ Keating, Brian Cody, JBM and Billy Morgan. But there are other angles to that story.
For one, the fact that some blue chip managers never set the world alight as players. See Sean Boylan, Jack O’Connor and, though it might seem a strange inclusion here, Jim McGuinness. None of them set the world alight as players in football – nor did John Kiely of Limerick in hurling – yet the aforementioned are some of the finest architects of awesomeness our games have seen.
And secondly, there were many who, while beyond compare as players, for whatever reason, could never cut the mustard once donning the Bainisteoir bib. Jack O’Shea being the most high profile occupant of that cohort. A berth wholly ill fitting of a man I consider to be the joint best midfielder to have played the old game.
However, of all those to have come up short in attempting to end Mayo’s All Ireland famine, the Leixlip plumber’s efforts were among the most paltry. That is not, in any way, mind you, to detract from Leitrim’s astounding achievement in lifting the Nestor Cup in 1994.
Lest anyone think I have something in for Jacko, the Caherciveen clubman was far from the only galactico not to transfer their transformative traits to the tracksuit role. Peter Canavan didn’t exactly turn Fermanagh into Sam Maguire superpowers, did he?
Reason for mentioning all of the above is that, very shortly after Trevor Giles was announced as the Meath Minor football manager for 2026, a former member of several county team entourages beeped into my inbox “I hope it works out better than his previous attempts with county teams”. Reason being that in two different spells with the county senior side and a stint with an U-21 team alongside Colm O’Rourke and Liam Harnan, things turned out nowhere near as well as would have been expected. Or at least hoped.
However, yet another wholly admirable quality now obvious in the Skryne legend is his endurance. In that, despite that previous ventures mentioned above not going to plan, Trevor is definitely never giving up on Meath football.
Now, I’d known he had been involved with U-15/’16 teams in recent years due to Trim’s Oisin Hughes being part of our extended family circle. Still, for players or managers, the step up to Minor county level represents a major career milestone.
And, at a juncture such as this, much interest tends to dwell on who the incoming boss will have with him as lieutenants. On that score, he of the chopped off sleeves has certainly attempted to surround himself with quality.
With Owen Creevey (Trim, and formerly Blackhall Gaels) as well as Ben Hoey (Simonstown Gaels), his former county team mate Cormac Sullivan and Ronan Kearns (both St Patrick’s) included therein.
There was a time, which thankfully is, slowly but surely, fading from memory, when the mere likelihood of county underage teams being competitive was all too often open to question. In recent years, structures have improved beyond recognition, with continuity being a central tenet to all that.
Which in itself probably explains why there has also been a bit of a shake up in Cathal O’Bric’s U-20 football management team. With David ‘Lar’ Callaghan and Barry Dunphy dropping out and Shane Barrett (Na Fianna), former Offaly forward Vinny Mooney (St Peter’s, Dunboyne) and Trevor Bannon (Ballinabrackey) stepping up to the plate. Dunsany’s Niall Flynn will continue as goalkeeping coach.
So, the foundations are in place, we look forward to the rising walls of further success going up around us.
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