Back from defeat like a phoenix from the flames

SOME of this may sound familiar. Back in January Limerick hurlers gather in the Kilmurry Lodge Hotel to mark the passing of one year and the imminent preparations for another. This sort of thing happens in many counties and, presumably, many ringing declarations are made most of which ring hollow by July.

Sure enough, at around midnight, up on a table hops Ciaran Carey, this year's captain. He makes a rousing speech.

"Jaysus," silently notes one observer not a panel member "it's downhill from here".

It's easy to see how anyone who wasn't a clairvoyant would have been unimpressed. In the eyes of many, Limerick were fading into the inter county distance. First there was 1994 and then `95 bitter defeats in All Ireland and Munster finals, both dwelt on with ghoulish scrutiny as Limerick's future looked to be going up in smoke.

Even last season's League wasn't entirely comforting they were promoted from Division Two, but didn't make the playoffs. Only slowly and more by reference to Cork's failings, Limerick began to attract favourable notice in the run up to May's Munster first round with Cork.

The explosion that carried the team through Cork's 73 year old unbeaten home record and, miraculously, past All Ireland champions Clare, who dominated last month's semi final meeting, brings Limerick, 14 to 1 for the All Ireland two months ago, into tomorrow's Munster final as hot favourites to beat Tipperary.

How the team progressed from the gloomy dereliction of 12 months ago to the current state of optimistic wellbeing concerns the whole spectrum of relationships between panel and management, but here we are concerned with three separate influences.

Dave Mahedy trained the team over the winter and brought them to the advanced state of preparation that facilitated the late, late overthrow of Clare. Tom Ryan has, as usual, stuck to his guns, but has also been a little more inclusive in his decision making processes.

And Ciaran Carey generally these days "the inspirational Ciaran Carey" has proved himself to be much more than a supremely gifted individual. Mahedy is on the record as being initially unenthusiastic about Carey's appointment, but both he and Ryan now lose no opportunity to recognise the captain's role because on that table in the Kilmurry Lodge in January, more than the drink was talking.

Mahedy and Ryan have been together since 1988 when the trainer was introduced to Ryan's club Ballybrown. Success followed, including an All Ireland club final in 1990.

It's over 20 years since Mahedy made his way from Dublin to the bold Thomond College, now part of the University of Limerick, to study sports science. Over the years, he has exploited the promiscuous sports' scene in Limerick to involve himself in soccer (Limerick United League of Ireland champions and FAI Cup winners, the national junior team), hurling and rugby (Old Crescent, promoted to AIL Division One this year). Next year he will take the UL Sigerson Cup team a first venture into football.

In 1990, he briefly found himself training the Limerick hurlers and managing Limerick soccer club after the abrupt departure of Billy Hamilton. "I got left with both," he says.

Having left Limerick to join his best friend, rugby international Tony Ward, in the sports' shop business during the early 1980s, Mahedy returned to Limerick in 1985 and is administrator of UL's sports' department the most advanced of its kind in the country.

His office is decorated with mementos of all his sporting ventures team pictures, pennants, a snap of himself and Wardy in the early days wearing ties big enough to play handball against.

When Tom Ryan took over the county hurlers in 1993, Mahedy joined him. "We worked well together," he says, "we were on the same wavelength.

"On coming in, we were looking to improve the rating of Limerick hurling. In the first year (1994) we were fortunate to catch Cork on the hop, Waterford and a Clare team that was not experienced. Things ran away from us. We didn't go into that year saying let's win an All Ireland we said, let's beat Cork and take it from there.

"At the end of it, we were all picking up the pieces. I've never experienced anything like the aftermath. We'd come from nowhere to within an inch of an All Ireland. If we'd been walloped by Offaly, we could have gone away and said, well, we won a Munster, let's build on it. The way it happened was worse.

Last year was supposed to be his last, but the heavy defeat by Clare left him feeling cheated by events. So he returned. Guided by Clare's phenomenal work rate, he devised a training programme to emulate that high standard. Furthermore, he wanted to raise the minimum levels of fitness and diminish the gap between first and last in training.

When he discusses the preparations, Mahedy leaps up from time to time to consult his diary "Yeah, Wednesday night, February 7th, I've noted excellent training, no yellow jersey only 20 second gap between first and last."

At the end of training sessions designed to offer players an element of choice "I might ask, do you want to do A or B tonight?" the panel votes for the recipient of a yellow jersey, denoting the evening's least impressive performer. Sometimes, he admits, he himself was elected.

The winter sessions involved the obligatory slog around an area backing onto the playing fields. Again, Mahedy is up to pull down a map of the college and point out the boundary, complete with steep gradients, of Maguire's Field. Like the Hill at Crusheen for Clare, this is Limerick's entry in the manual of discomfort. Before taking the field against Cork, someone shouted leaving the dressing room. "Remember Maguire's Field".

"His whole approach," says Ciaran Carey of Mahedy, "is very professional. He stepped it up this year and I actually think we're fitter by a mile."

Tom Ryan is characteristically emphatic "I would believe that the best decision I made in my management career was appointing Dave Mahedy. I've never seen anyone as professional as him."

Ryan identifies the coaching priorities and Mahedy incorporates them into his routines.

Since the evenings stretched training has been in the Gaelic Grounds and with the ball.

Like many of his decisions, Ryan's appointment of Mahedy sometimes wasn't universally welcomed. The coach's background was a bit too cosmopolitan for some Gaels. But the manager is used to standing over this sort thing.

Why Ryan, the most successful manager the county has had in recent years, should be so embattled is something of a mystery to the outsider. Both he and Mahedy refer to the manager's need to take tough decisions. Isn't that the same for all inter county managers? "No," says Mahedy with conviction.

There is a confluence of incidents and personalities at the heart of it all.

Ryan's club, Ballybrown, is neighbour to Patrickswell, home of the Bennis dynasty. Gary Kirby's a nephew and Ciaran Carey is married into the family. Phil Bennis took Limerick to a NHL title in 1992 but was let go after a disastrous championship defeat by Clare in `93. Some say that Patrickswell people resent Ryan, although both Kirby and now Carey have been loyal captains and Ryan himself has shown no preference for his club mates, none of whom are currently on the panel.

There have indeed been tough decisions. Players have been suspended for playing soccer. Players have been dropped only last Monday, Mike Galligan stormed off the pitch in anger at his omission from tomorrow's team. Other players have been elevated from clubs outside senior ranks frequently to the disapproval of some.

There has been friction with the county board over a number of issues. The appointment of a liaison officer to the team provoked a (temporary) resignation from the county board.

There is strong disagreement with Ryan's policy of playing challenge matches against weaker counties, although Ryan will point out that he quarried such nuggets as Mark Foley's (Man of the Match against Cork) suitability for wing back from challenges against Meath and Westmeath.

That Ryan stands his ground is unsurprising. Back in days gone by, as chairman of the Ballybrown Fianna Fail Cumann, he called for Charles Haughey's resignation at a time when such talk guaranteed you lively telephone conversation at odd hours of the night.

"I know there's pressure but it's that type of job. I'm in it for the enjoyment and get surprised rather than annoyed at some of the criticism from certain people within the county and the organisation some nearly wishing you would fail. We're in our third Munster final in a row. If people aren't satisfied with that, there's nothing I can do.

"I don't agree that there's distance between me and the players. I wouldn't be a great mixer with the players socially but they know my form. People say I'm not popular with the players. I don't want to be popular with the players and end up having to stand over poor performances.

Ciaran Carey is credited with easing the atmosphere within the panel. The seriousness with which he takes the captaincy has had positive consequences. He has used his status among the players to unite everyone in pursuit of the obvious goals. His speech on the table last January was merely the starting point.

In return, he is consulted by Ryan and Mahedy on matters of policy and tactics. "I have a fantastic working relationship with him as captain," says Ryan.

In Limerick's post match dressing room, Carey and the players recover from the latest exertion and Dave Mahedy buzzes around. Tom Ryan stands in the billowing steam from the showers. Blazer and tie in place, he gives interviews straightforwardly and politely. It may not be a comfortable habit but as a metaphor for keeping cool as the temperature rises, it'll do.