Feature
Mike Finnerty
mikefinnerty@mayonews.ie
OPINIONS. Everyone is entitled to one and most are not afraid to express them. When it comes to football they are in plentiful supply in this particular corner of the world.
Everyone seemed to have an opinion on Ray Dempsey (pictured) during his playing career with Knockmore and Mayo. Now that the 37 year old Mortgage and Pensions Broker has taken over the county minor football team, it turns out he has a few opinions of his own. Unfortunately, most of them are not for public consumption. Dempsey is fascinating company when talking about Mayo football but he chooses his words carefully when pressed on certain subjects.
He always did his talking on the pitch and doesn’t intend to start doing otherwise now. But what he does say is most certainly worth listening to.
“Honesty,” he replies when asked what he looks for in a footballer. “Can a manager trust his players when they go on the field? I look for self-motivation and mental toughness. I believe that a good player will come through for his team when he’s needed. They will dig deep. Some players go missing.
“I’m looking for players with character. The reality is that they’re young lads and they have to be educated. When they become a senior they need to know what is required.
“Someone has to get lads ready for senior football and it just happens that I’m the minor manager at the moment,” he adds.
“I’m big into percentages and the outside of the boot shot, for example, is low in percentages. You very seldom see top-class footballers shooting those low percentage shots.
“Players have to think correctly under pressure. They have to do the right thing. I would never hold a fella back once it’s for the good of the team but it has to be within a team framework.”
Time flies when Ray Dempsey distills your questions, assembles his answers, and shares them. He has been working with Kevin Beirne, Tomás O’Grady, Stephen Healy and Michael Kelly since last December on building a Mayo minor team capable of winning a title.
The time has come for them to test their mettle and if they don’t come through you wonder, will he consider the project a failure? “It probably would be,” he says. “I’m not saying we are or aren’t good enough to win a Connacht title but you wouldn’t have achieved your objectives if we don’t win one.
“Failure might be the wrong word though. I have my goals and my objectives and I want to achieve them. I’m going to be judged on results. I’m no fool and I know you can’t hold these positions if you don’t get results.”
The former Lahardane and Knockmore manager was given the minor job late last year for a number of reasons. The primary one seemed to be the backroom team he had assembled with him but Dempsey also had a plan. He and his selectors have spent hours watching trials, club games and colleges matches in an effort to find the minor footballers they want. But why?
“I enjoy coaching and I like working with players,” he says honestly. “I want to try and be successful. It’s like in life, you get up in the morning and you hope to come back a better person. It’s the same with management. I like working hard too and that helps.
“We’d like to think that we’ve been very fair to all the lads that have been in with us at some stage this year.”
“Anyone who has gone through the minor system has got a minimum of five training sessions and some have got up to ten weeks with us. It’s important that fellas are given time to find their feet and they can’t do that in only two or three sessions. Lads have to be given a bit of time to settle, to be happy, and to express themselves.
“Success in any sport, at any level, is developed from an underage structure,” he adds. “That applies to the Manchester Utd youths or the Mayo underage system. You won’t educate a fella when he’s 19 or 20, that’s too late.
“Weights are hugely important. There seems to be a word on the street that Mayo are too weak and I know when I played football with Mayo I played with a lot of big men. You need those type of players in any team but it takes time to bring them through.
“They might not look the part at 16 or 17 years of age but you need to develop them. Darren Fay, for example, didn’t make it as a county minor but look at him now. We’ve held on to a lot of big guys because we knew they were worth developing and that it would take time. You’re not going to get them up to speed overnight the same way as you a corner-forward.”
The conversation turns to opinions. Some people feel that that Ray Dempsey now is much different from the young footballer that emerged from Shraheens in Foxford many years ago. Older, wiser and more mature is how the story goes. The man himself chuckles at the thought.
“I’m no different to be honest but some people make decisions without knowing the beast. You do learn over time and you probably realise that instructing players is better than roaring and shouting. But there is a time for passion though. All the successful managers are very passionate people. They might dress it up for the cameras or for the media but there’s a winning instinct in all the good managers.”
Fixture Connacht MFC
Roscommon v
Mayo
Saturday, June 23, 6.30pm
Dr Hyde Park,
Roscommon
