Sideline duel may prove the key

One of the most interesting aspects of next Sunday's All-Ireland football final is the sideline duel between Sean Boylan and John O'Mahony. Over the best part of 20 years, both men have been familiar figures at the pinnacle of inter-county football management. There is as much dissimilarity between them as similarities, but each has a portfolio of major achievement and this year fits snugly into both.

Boylan's stature has long been recognised. In historical terms, he is nearly on the same plateau inhabited by Dr Eamon Fitzgerald, Mick O'Dwyer and Kevin Heffernan. And he has achieved this in a county that hadn't the same towering traditions as Kerry and Dublin enjoyed. During his tenure in the county, Meath have become the leading football county - a claim Kerry could dispute, but after the events of earlier this month presumably want to say as little as possible on the subject.

In a way, that devastating victory over Kerry symbolised his greatness as a manager. On paper there was no comparison between the players at the counties' respective disposal. The Munster champions had a team all but entirely composed of the three All-Ireland winning under-21 sides of the mid-1990s. Of the Meath team, only Graham Geraghty started with the 1993 success at the same grade.

Kerry's attack this year had been in flying form, whereas Meath's defence had been at times unconvincing. Yet on the day it was the Leinster team which won all the major battles. Their previously suspect half back line was a revelation.

For Boylan, it was another instance of having a team in the perfect frame of mind on a big day. If he has a signature trait, it is the ability to turn ordinary-looking footballers into players who get the best out of themselves.

Over the years there have been little miracles of improvisation. The catalogue of backs turned into forwards has been much recounted recently, but it's worked the other way. Nigel Nestor had been a centrefielder before being handed his first championship start as a wing back - and giving a man-of-the-match performance there. Barry Callaghan, a tough, perceptive forward whose career was subsequently ruined by injury, gave an immense display at centre back the day Offaly, then Leinster champions and league title holders, were annihilated in the first defence of their provincial title.

Sifting through Boylan's career, how many of his teams have lost to complacency championship matches they should have won? The only possible examples would be the 1989 Leinster final and the All-Ireland final two years later. But in each case, fatigue surely had an impact. Before losing to Dublin 12 years ago, the team had been on the go for over 18 months while collecting two All-Irelands and a National League. The 1991 season may have ended in defeat by Down, but it was the 10th match of the season for Meath. Of the preceding nine, four had been draws and two one-point wins.

O'Mahony has worked on a broader canvas, but his major achievements have been landmarks for Connacht football. Mayo's 1989 All-Ireland final appearance was the county's first in 38 years; Leitrim's Connacht title in 1994 the first for 67 years; Galway's 1998 All-Ireland the first to cross the Shannon in 32 years. The message from those counties is unvarying: his organisation and planning are meticulous, the attention to detail covers everything.

He and Boylan share the necessity of having worked with different selectors: O'Mahony because of his picaresque career and Boylan because of his longevity. Neither has any specific, close associates who keep them eternal company on selection panels. Boylan started off with two medallists from the previous Meath team to win an All-Ireland, Tony Brennan and Pat Reynolds. Thereafter he has been supplied with medallists of his own creation. O'Mahony picks his and sticks with them. In hindsight, it is no surprise that he resigned in Mayo rather than forfeit the right to appoint his own selectors.

Reporters will testify that the two men are among the most media co-operative managers around. They do, however, come at this from different perspectives. Boylan sees media coverage as a positive phenomenon, building the mood in a county and giving players opportunities to promote themselves - which can end in enhanced employment opportunities. It is noticeable that Meath, a county that has had many scrapes with controversy, nonetheless conduct an open door policy. All of their training sessions are public and most of the players are courteous and engaging.

O'Mahony once admitted that early in his management career his instinct was to protect the players and pull down the shutters on coverage, but that he realised this wasn't really possible. It was better to "go with the flow" of media activity. He is still liable to place players off-limits if they are particularly reluctant - in a way Boylan wouldn't - but any press nights organised by O'Mahony still deliver the vast majority of his players, something that is becoming increasingly rare.

Neither is visibly affected by the difference between winning and losing. O'Mahony probably exhibits more disappointment in defeat, but, even in victory, he'll tend to search a silver cloud for its dark lining. Boylan can be almost chirpier in defeat, contextualising everything cheerfully and wishing his opponents well. In 1995, his team suffered their heaviest championship defeat - 10 points by Dublin - but a year later were All-Ireland champions with a new team. You couldn't tell the difference in their manager's demeanour.

Next weekend is the latest test. They only met once before in championship, in the 1988 semi-final when hot favourites Meath were given a bit of a fright by Mayo, then under O'Mahony's management for the first year. A strong Mayo comeback foundered on a decision to disallow a goal by Liam McHale and Meath won by five. Things have changed since then and it's hard to know who'll be giving whom a fright this weekend.

e-mail: smoran@irish-times.ie