Back for more and and still smiling

Regrets? He says he has none, but it"s easy not to believe him. Looking back eight years later, Val Andrews laughs about his time in Cavan - and how it ended. 'Cavan was good craic,' he states in his trademark laconic drawl. 'These things happen. The day it happened [he resigned from the position after unease among club delegates] was 9/11! The exact same day...' Andrews" voice trails off into a chuckle. The Ballymun clubman is speaking ahead of his return to management here next month when he dons the bainisteoir bib with the intriguing Senior Championship amalgamation Drumbride, a combination of Knockbride and Drumgoon. Having been talked into taking on the job by his Blanchardstown IT colleague (and Knockbride goalkeeper) Ronan Keaskin, Andrews, who currently divides his coaching time between the Leinster Inter Provincial side and the Dublin development squads, admits that he is looking forward to getting his teeth into the role. 'They are two good intermediate clubs,' he says. 'It wasn"t going to be a year-long commitment so there wouldn"t be the same workload as taking on a club, so I said I"d do it. It"s a small initiative to inject a bit of energy and life into the championship and it"s certainly great to be involved in the experiment.' Andrews is well aware of the challenge he faces in blending a winning unit, despite the obvious quality on both teams. 'It"s exceptionally hard to get two clubs together. Let"s be straight, they have their own club championship first and they"ll have to play two games in three days but that"s the way it is, we know what the deal is, that"s what they entered into. There are some good players and we"re going to give it a crack. 'Both clubs are enthusiastic about it. I have done Leinster for the Interpro"s and it"s the same sort of thing, it"s difficult to make a team out of it but when we get up and running and play a game or two, if we get the right results it"ll build itself.' Back in 2001, the last time Andrews manned the sideline around these parts, Cavan appeared to have got those 'right results' in reaching an Ulster final, where they went down narrowly to a Tyrone side which were All Ireland champions two seasons later. However, unrest at the county convention that winter saw Andrews step down. In typically good-humoured fashion (Any memories from Cavan, Val? 'No good ones!') he bears no ill-will from his time here. 'It was going well, after I left they got to a league final and we had been in an Ulster final. They were good lads, they did well. What happened, happened. 'One fond memory is Jason"s goal in the Ulster final against Tyrone, a fabulous move. He got the ball from a great pass, turned Chris Lawn and good luck! 'The best passage of football in my time there was the six minutes before half-time in the Ulster final. From a point of view of passes going together, fabulous scores... We were underdogs and gave it a lash. In the 63rd minute we were one point behind. 'Even ten years on or whatever, I"d still say "did I do half-time right, did I say the right things". And then you keep going back, at 63 minutes gone the game was still there. But that"s the way it is. I could have put Dermot McCabe to full-forward for 15 minutes. Should I have left Forde at centre-back and forgot the man-marking system I"d gone with? 'You know, you can always say ifs or buts or maybes. It just didn"t happen on the day. 'I don"t have regrets. But an Ulster final that you don"t win... You know, they"re a great occasion, an occasion to be cherished because you don"t get to them that often.' So why have Cavan not made the breakthrough since? 'Once you leave a county, you don"t really know what has gone on. You would obviously have to look at the juvenile system and ultimately the success at minor. 'Are you producing a few top quality players every year, and can you fit them into a senior team? That doesn"t seem to be happening, despite the fact that the county is mad about football.' One thing Andrews preaches is patience. 'I"ll tell you a story,' he says. "We played Galway in a challenge in the winter of the year we got promoted and they beat us 6-21 to 0-3 in, I think, Ballingore. Huge score. I had most of my team on the pitch, John O"Mahony had about six of his All Ireland team. 'I remember walking off, it was October or November and lashing rain, and we were completely outclassed and O"Mahoney just said to me "patience and perseverance". Less than 18 months later we were in an Ulster final.' Commitment, he says, is everything. 'Tommy Carr won"t want for commitment, he"s an honest, honourable man with huge integrity. He"ll give it 100 per cent without question. Once the players match that, that"s all you can do and if you come up short, you come up short.' As for Drumbride, Andrews is quietly hopeful. 'We"ve had two challenge games and it"s hard to judge but definitely, they have potential and talent. And if you put talent with hard work and commitment and desire, it"s hard to stop. But the question is, can you do that?' Time will tell.