GAA spygate: looking for that 5% on the opposition to get you over the line

Irish Examiner

2 days ago

Business as usual. When it was put to Jim McGuinness that a spy had been infamously outed at Kerry's training before the 2014 All-Ireland final, his response was matter-of-fact: It happens to everyone. Everywhere.
'Listen, the bottom line with that is that, espionage is a very strong word to use, but it's going on all the time,' he said at the time, while denying that Patrick Roarty was associated with their camp after the Donegal man was spotted in a Killarney tree observing training.
'We put people out of our own training on Wednesday night and maybe three or four times in the lead in.'
Inter-county management has always been steeped in a cloak-and-dagger tradition. The art of preparation is an exercise in sourcing information. In the endless search for an edge, who you know is as important as what you know. A long list of contacts has its currency in this peculiar trade.
'You'd consult a lot of different people depending on who knows a county or the players,' says former Tyrone footballer Ryan McMenamin, who previously managed Fermanagh and coached Cavan.
'How are things going or what are you hearing? I know my time with Cavan and Fermanagh, we had a lot of knowledge on the players with videos and everything. All the video is available in a shared Drive. You'd have that anyway. You are just looking for a sense.
'Ireland is small enough. Everyone has a contact. The phone might buzz after a challenge, any chance we can see that? Who played well?
'You would have a network of former players, friends and coaches you can give a shout.'
Most of this is well within the lines. A former team-mate involved in a rival club championship, a casual chat with a GAA-obsessed cousin, a call, a text and a MP4.
With the challenge game circuit the way that it is, video exchanging is a routine practice. That has only accelerated in recent years.
'There is a general acceptance of it since Covid,' says McMenamin.
'Andy McEntee created a WhatsApp group for managers to get their hands around it all. There is a behind-the-scenes scene that supporters wouldn't see."
'There is a bit of 'don't give out any of your own secrets but if you want to get along…', so we played challenges and both teams requested no video. 'We're not recording that.' It stops anything from getting out.
'There are conversations among managers all the time. Sometimes you have an agreement around a challenge. No video and no information shared.'
In the aftermath of a devastating Ulster final defeat, Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney made it clear they had already started to plan for the group stage.
'Derry are playing well by all accounts in the challenge games,' he said. Did they get access to the footage from those matches? Who knows. Would it have been in their interest? Absolutely.
Earlier this month, McGeeney was less willing to discuss how they utilised a free weekend having secured a quarter-final spot before their final group game. When asked if they elected to travel outside the county for a training camp, he was guarded.
'You try do as much as you can each weekend. Some days you travel, it depends if fellas are working. Any time we have had a chance, it depends if the Athletic Grounds is available, all of those things. You try make the most of every weekend you are off. It wouldn't just be the last one.'
Each leader has a trusted circle. Before the All-Ireland final last year, Pádraic Joyce revealed the two managers he was closest to were former International Rules team-mate McGeeney and former Sigerson Cup team-mate Jim McGuinness.
Kerry boss Jack O'Connor has previously charted his network. Ger Loughnane was a confidant after they struck up a relationship at a coaching course. Fr Gerard McAleer was his coach in Maynooth and a key influence. The Tyrone priest was part of the management team that led the county to an All-Ireland title in 2003.
Writing in his autobiography, O'Connor recalled how he looked to Tyrone for solutions in 2006.
'I go and speak to people about tackling. I phone contacts in Ulster. What do Armagh do? What do Tyrone do? This is almost a betrayal of my Kerry blood, to be asking how they do things up North.
'One day I travel to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dublin and meet with a very prominent northern football man who knows exactly what they do. (He has to remain nameless.) We sit for a few hours as he shows me drills, gives me ideas, opens up a new world of work to me.'
Take word in. Keep the watchers out.
In 2013, Éamonn Fitzmaurice's decision to lock the gates for Kerry training proved unpopular locally. The voice of Kerry football, Weeshie Fogarty, stepped forward to vocalise those frustrations.
What he discovered convinced him the decision was justified. Management told him their 'proof' that scouts had attended and studied their sessions They also showed him how it makes a difference.
Páidí Ó Sé was adamant they had been monitored in the lead-up to the 2003 decider. All-time great Declan O'Sullivan spelled out the difference it made in his mind.
'Training behind closed doors was definitely the reason why we beat Donegal in the final,' he told Fogarty for the Heart and Soul of Kerry Football.
'The game is gone so professional now, people are always looking for that little extra percentage.'
Such is the power of information. Truth is optional; perception alone can tilt the scales. Sides source strength from the belief they know what is going on with the opposition.
'A general chitchat might give you a sense of what is going on,' says McMenamin.
'It depends what you glean from it. A lot of it will come from your analysts. They might have 90% of what you need to know. You are just looking for that extra five or ten percent to get you over the line.'
Half the battle is convincing yourself you're already ahead.