Power at the coalface in changing times in GAA world
Annual congress usually sees a pretty robust weekend of housekeeping for the GAA with a key list of priorities voted upon.
This year's gathering is no different.
Aside from the votes and the presidential election much debate – inside and outside the room – is set to centre around the fixtures calendar, the load placed on players, an examination of where integration is really at, and indeed further warnings of the player drain that some counties are enduring with their brightest young talents in both Gaelic football and LGFA heading down under for professional careers.
Delegates will discuss issues in earnest, many will have been well briefed by county committee members on what to vote for, and a new set of policies, rules and guidelines will be honed for the 2027 season and beyond.
At ground level, however, David Power is well placed to offer as much insight as any coach, manager or administrator in the land.
Power is just fresh from guiding UL to a historic first Sigerson Cup title. This groundbreaking win came just weeks after they landed the Division One league title.
Doubling as manager of the Tipperary Ladies senior football team, Power will bring his side to play Westmeath tomorrow as they bid to make progress in the second tier of league football.
Just a few weeks ago, he coached High School Clonmel to Munster’s Corn Uí Mhuirí post-primary schools final where they were beaten by Marc Ó Sé’s Tralee CBS.
But perhaps he is best known for guiding Tipperary to a historic Munster senior football title in 2020 — the county’s first in 85 years.
For others, the 2011 All-Ireland minor final triumph that he engineered at Croke Park against a Dublin outfit that included several players who progressed to have pretty decent senior careers, including Jack McCaffrey, Ciarán Kilkenny, Paul Mannion, John Small, Niall Scully and Cormac Costello stands out.
That was only the second time in history Tipp had won an All-Ireland minor football title – adding to the Premier’s maiden triumph in 1934. Before that at underage level, Power also secured Munster U17 titles in 2010 and 2011, and a Munster U16 title in 2010.
His first taste of senior management came with Wexford where he led the senior, junior and Under-21 football teams, with the juniors winning back-to-back Leinster titles and many progressing to senior team.
In addition to that, he previously guided Waterford IT and Comeragh Rangers LGFA outfits.
The point here being that whether it’s club, colleges, schools, underage, senior football or indeed ladies’ football, Power is well-placed to offer his views on the weekend when most of the important targets within the association are mapped out.
David Power expects integration to bring more problems for the duel player as well as benefits
And despite the timelines and landmarks outlined last week, integration, he feels, is going to take quite a while.
"You're dealing with four codes and several units within those codes," he says.
"There's a lot of people involved in that, a lot of talking to be done and it's going to take great leadership from people to make it happen.
"I just see the battles between ladies’ football and camogie, even at a local level.
You've girls playing camogie and ladies football on the same weekend, that's not sustainable. Are we going to have a case where you're going to have players choosing between the two codes even at club level?
"Like, is that where we want to go? So, there's a lot of questions out there.The dual player has gone at inter-county level. Is it going to totally go in clubs too? That's a big concern."
At the time of writing the motion to extend the inter-county season by two weeks looks to be under severe pressure.
Regardless of what way that goes, Power feels it could be time to look at the number of rounds being played in the national leagues.
"You will never have a perfect structure in the GAA because there'll always be one side giving out.
"Cork and Galway, in particular, came out strongly that they didn't want the two weeks and they received lots of support.
"It’s taken a couple of years to get used to the fact that we're no longer playing All-Ireland finals on the first Sunday in September and the third Sunday in September, and that was the right call from a club point of view.
"I would see the benefits of the two weeks, but then you have to look at January and February. Could we maybe reduce the amount of rounds in the league? Maybe start the league a bit later?
"Because what I'm seeing is guys and girls of a certain age being absolutely flogged. They have no break. And like you take, I'm just going to use an example now, Brian McNamara, (UL’s Sigerson Cup captain).
"He basically finished the club, came in with us at UL, and now he's back with Clare. There are so many players like Brian. Where is the break there? If Clare go to the back end of the championship, he'll nearly be playing 12 months and that’s not sustainable either."
Power says balance is needed.
The timing of Sigerson matches has been criticised
He feels January should be for colleges and third-level with a double bill of Fitzgibbon and Sigerson finals at Croke Park every year.
The league could be compacted with a little space found before the start of the championship and a break afterwards before club action resumes.
"Just little tweaks," he says. "That’s all that is needed."
Upon taking the role as Tipp ladies football manager, the Kilsheelan-Kilcash man understood he would be without three huge talents.
For the past number of seasons three of Tipp’s top players – among others - have been in Australia playing in the AFLW – Aisling McCarthy, Orla O’Dwyer and Aisling Moloney.
Last weekend saw Mayo youngster Kobe McDonald burst on the scene with 1-04 in 20 minutes off the bench for Mayo against Monaghan. Mayo supporters feel bittersweet, however, as McDonald will also depart for the AFL at the season’s end.
The drain of top talent is especially prominent in LGFA circles. Power says it’s having a huge effect.
"There are a lot of counties that are really hit. Tipperary has been really hit, like we have five girls in Australia. And like, and who's to say there could be more? This is a huge problem and I don't know what the answer is.
"If a girl gets an opportunity to go out and play professional sports in Australia, where I suppose the lifestyle is nice, the weather is good compared to here in Ireland, you're going to take it because we all only live once. But it’s a massive issue."
With the new rules coming into the LGFA, the Tipp boss says the tap and go has worked best for the sport, as has holding three players up top. The next challenge is to ensure consistency in the tackle. Overall, Power feels, the new rules have helped cede the trend of defensive football that some teams liked to embrace.
As for the milestone Sigerson title, he says the Queen's semi-final, where UL were five points down to bring the game to extra time, will live long in the memory.
"We were up by six, down by six, up by six again and down by six again, but the quality and the high level of football was just astounding. It was incredible. Fergal Logan (Queen's manager) said the same afterwards.
"The new rules have really transformed the colleges’ game. You don't have much time with your players. So, you take the pressure off in terms of their other commitments and once they were playing football, I was happy."
He lists out his management team individually, detailing the importance of each one to the set-up. And with that it was back out onto the training pitch.
Work to be done. As always.
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