What a crazy game this is...

It started in the obligatory post-match huddle, on a rain-sodden Breffni Park. The Cavan players weren't happy - how could they be? They had just delivered their worst performance of the season when they most required their best one, shipping four goals - and it could have been six or seven - against an Antrim team who were, to paraphrase the old Second World War mantra, down the table, down on personnel, down on motivation and down here. Things, as they say around these parts, just weren't good. Arms linked, together in the drizzle, someone suggested a meeting to address the problems, a place to clear the air and allow a fresh start. A good idea, to be sure. So a player approached Val Andrews and informed him of this and the reason for it. A room was arranged by a county board officer - the Ramor United clubrooms in Virginia - and, by Tuesday afternoon, the meeting was organised (or should that be mobilised?) for that night with the blessing of the manager. By then, the die was cast... ***************** Chairman Tom Reilly was against the meeting taking place, as was Terry Hyland. Logically, it was only going to go in one direction but Andrews erred in effectively sanctioning it. Then again, in the midst of all the recriminations since, and the implied logic that the board set the players up - and let's be honest, that is the whisper - it's important to realise that Andrews had, more or less, offered to step down before the meeting. He told The Celt yesterday morning (Tuesday) that when he got wind of the meeting, he had immediately told the team captain Padraic O'Reilly that if he "was an obstacle or a problem, just say the word and I'll be gone". The chairman has stated that, when it became clear that the meeting was going ahead, he wanted to address the room - there were player welfare issues to be ironed out, CVs were required for summer work - but that wasn't possible because a meeting of the county board's executive had been brought forward to that evening to deal with the Sean Johnston saga. Reilly rang the captain and, in the course of a conversation, asked him to discuss the subject of the management that night, to gauge the mood and report back to him. So, the meeting went ahead and players had their say. Various topics were discussed, including attendance at training and a new system whereby players would text the captain if they couldn't make it. Time passed and, as far as we can gather, the subject of the management came up. Was there a vote or show of hands taken? No - that much appears certain. Padraic O'Reilly had repeatedly stressed that the players weren't there to shaft the manager and had no power to do so. There was plenty of discussion about various aspects of the set-up, the general opinion was ascertained and, we're told, someone made the point that it appeared that the majority in the room were unhappy with the status quo. That much is not crystal clear because the captain, as is his right, pledged not to reveal what was said. Meanwhile, in Breffni Park, the executive meeting had broken up and most of the members had left when Tom got word from Virginia. Things hadn't gone all that smoothly at the players' meeting, he discovered. We'll never know exactly how that conversation went but the word from the board is that Tom misinterpreted Padraic's words and believed that there had been a vote. Reilly then conveyed the message to Andrews that the players had voted against him. From there, there was no turning back. ***************** It's eight days on from the meeting as you read this and recriminations, in private at least, are ongoing. Tom Reilly was accused quite vigorously last Thursday at the county executive meeting of orchestrating the whole thing and the county has been humming with talk that the players are angry, feeling that they did the board's dirty work. What happened at the meeting depends on who you're speaking to, and when. It was believed last Thursday morning that there had been a show of hands on Tuesday but by that afternoon, players were confirming off the record that no vote had taken place. The board wanted Andrews gone, or so the logic goes, but couldn't be seen to sack him. Through some wily manoeuvring, the players ended up firing a gun which the board had loaded for them. So what's the true story? Well, the crux of it centres on two aspects - how the message from the meeting was conveyed to Andrews and how it got leaked to the media on Wednesday. Because, be in no doubt, had the first issue been handled differently and had the second not occurred, Andrews would still be manager. It's worth noting that while the players may have lost faith in the manager, they never refused to tog out under his watch. This was confirmed by PRO Declan Woods when he stated on Thursday that the players were still willing to play for Andrews as late as Wednesday night. There is still some dispute over what exactly was said on the phone between Tom and Padraic and the whole thing has echoes of another Cavanman, Sean Gallagher's, "tweetgate" saga. As absurd as it sounds, much of the problem appears to centre on the definition of what constitutes a vote. The captain won't say what went on at the meeting but it can reasonably be assumed that the general mood was that the majority of players were unhappy with the management. Padraic O'Reilly says his words to the chairman on Tuesday night - the last conversation between the pair, remember, before Tom called Val and told him the players had voted against him - couldn't have been misinterpreted and he is adamant about it. "We both went through on Saturday what we both thought we said to each other [on Tuesday] and I don't believe there's anything in that that can be construed as a vote. For me to tell you what I said would mean divulging what was said at the meeting but we both agreed, and so did Val, a third party in all this, that what I said didn't constitute a vote. There never was a vote," he said. Tom Reilly, for his part, admitted he made a mistake in using the word "vote" but wondered aloud as to what the effective difference is between the result of a vote and the result of a discussion. "I might have made a slip-up with a word I shouldn't have used but the views of the majority, or a vote, there's not much difference..." he said. The difference, of course, is that a discussion isn't necessarily binding - a vote generally is. While Val expressed his annoyance yesterday (Tuesday) that he had been led to believe there was a vote - and told that to the nation on RTE Radio - being informed otherwise, he did admit that regardless of whether a ballot was taken, if the majority of the players weren't supporting him (as opposed to refusing to play for him, which never happened), he "wasn't hanging around". What really threw a spanner in the works was the fact that the "vote" (including a bogus 30-3 result, which was impossible given that only 26 attended) was leaked to the press by parties unknown. It was originally thought that the beans were spilled in person at the U21 final in Brewster Park on Wednesday evening. There were BBC reporters present at the game and a report quickly surfaced on their website that night stating that the players voted "in favour of the proposal that the current management should step down". However, it has subsequently emerged that Woods had received a call from Declan McBennett, RTE TV Sports Editor, as early as 2pm that afternoon. His information had it that the players had voted Val out and the board was sitting on the news until Friday. Someone had blabbed. With the media on the scent, the situation escalated. Before the U21 match, members of the board met representatives of the senior panel - O'Reilly, Ronan Flanagan, David Givney and Mark McKeever - in Belturbet and the chairman later drove to the capital to meet the soon-to-be-former manager. After that, Val, believing that he had been voted out, agreed to fall on his sword. The following afternoon, Woods issued a press release thanking Andrews for his contribution and stating that he had made a brave decision with the interests of Cavan football in mind. By that stage, however, the deposed manager still believed the players had voted against him, which was effectively what Tom had told him and what prompted him to quit. By Thursday afternoon - having met the players the previous evening - Tom was aware that there hadn't been a vote and stated as much to this newspaper, but nobody had yet told Val. That evening he was interviewed on RTE radio, stating that he had bowed to the decision of the players. "The fact is the lads had a vote. I'm an educationalist. I'm not going to walk into a room and stay on where I'm not wanted," said Andrews."I quit for the good of Cavan football. The position was untenable. I'm saddened, amazed and disappointed at what has happened. But it's football. Lads are entitled to their opinion. But I don't agree with their opinion." It became glaringly obvious that whatever way Tuesday night's conversation between the team captain and the county board chairman had meandered, Tom Reilly took the impression that the players had voted against Val's regime and informed him of exactly that. Depending on who you believe, this was either a genuine error or a devious stroke on Tom's part. Regardless, the result was the right one - Val stepped down and the team were able to move on. The players, caught in a storm that they never intended to create, subsequently circled the wagons and distanced themselves from the notion that a vote was taken. Whatever happened, the U21s won their final, Val resigned the next morning, a new manager was approached and as good as ratified that night, the players got some flak in the media from the likes of Eugene McGee and Martin Breheny and the ship kept on sailing. All good? Well, not quite. Everyone (save for Val) may have gotten what they wanted but the way they got it has been chewed to such an extent in the telling that, for some anyway, it has left a sour taste. ***************** So, to the fall-out. Where does this leave the county board? All hasn't been harmonious at that level in the past couple of years. There are a couple of defined camps and a couple of wild cards too. The newly-elected Donal Keogan promised to stir it up - it was almost a mandate - and he will be expected to continue to do so. Some onlookers have even hinted at a coup against the chairman over the handling of this situation. Feelings are running high, particularly among the panel themselves. Axing Tom Reilly would be an error. Chairing a county board is like holding political office and Reilly has delivered on most of his election promises so far. Examine the facts. He faced significant opposition when he installed Dermot McCabe and Gary Donohoe as minor managers and they delivered an Ulster title. He chose the right man for the U21 job in Terry Hyland, who has led them to two Ulster titles, and there is already talk of a potentially-exciting senior management team for 2013. In terms of inter-county trophies won under his watch, Reilly is the most successful chairman since TP O'Reilly in the 1960s. Yes, there's fortunate timing involved (give me a lucky general over a good one, as the adage goes) but it's still a fact in his favour. He has brought big games to Breffni Park, including Ulster and All Ireland club finals and big qualifier matches, which helps the local economy and brings money into the board's coffers. Yes, Reilly made an error in bringing back Val Andrews and if he was involved in orchestrating Andrews' removal by the players - and it's up to supporters to draw their own conclusions given the conflicting stories emerging from the board, the manager and some players - it was also a mistake. But put yourself in Tom Reilly's shoes. Tom is a good chairman, with good motives, who knows how to play the game. Like every other supporter, he was clearly exasperated by the senior team's performances. On Tuesday evening at 5pm, he spoke to the Celt and, on the record, described Sunday's performance against Antrim as "totally unacceptable". When the players called their meeting, a meeting Andrews sanctioned, the ball was already rolling and the clock was ticking. It could only go one way, regardless of who nudged it in that direction. ***************** Whither Andrews? Val is a clever man and must've known what was coming down the tracks. Morale was low, performances were worsening and he had the air of a man resigned to his fate. A couple of players, some of them key men, picked up injuries and never heard much from the manager while they were out of action, which suggested that he had grown disheartened. The tiny crowd which saw his side succumb to Antrim wouldn't have been overly sympathetic. One man ("a clown, outside a public toilet") accosted him to furiously vent his feelings at the U21 semi-final in Enniskillen, as he revealed on Newstalk last Saturday. The pressure was coming to bear; he had to go. It was only a matter of when, and how. Nobody who knows the man would doubt his integrity. He has been doing this job for the most basic expenses, barely covering his fuel costs driving from Dublin. He is the opposite of a mercenary and has genuine affection for Cavan. All of that being said, and hindsight is always prescient, Val was the wrong man for the job this time around. When Tommy Carr stepped aside, Cavan hadn't won a trophy at any level in 13 years. Without a single member of the panel possessing an inter-county medal, we were exactly the type of county who needed an outside manager. An outside manager, that is, with a proven pedigree of delivering. Andrews fitted the first part of the criteria but not the second. The only reason a county should have to go outside for a manager is if there is nobody as good or better inside. Yet Cavan have appointed three successive managers, two of whom were outsiders, who haven't won anything at inter-county level as a manager and nothing (Tom Carr's couple of Leinster titles and an NFL aside) as players either. This isn't to dance on the managerial grave of an honest and decent man, but, as Andrews himself has stated, let's deal in facts. In 1999, a good Cavan team under his management played Derry in Breffni Park in the first round of the championship, a team they had beaten in the Ulster final less then two years previously. Despite the presence of men like Anthony Forde, Dermot McCabe, Larry and Peter Reilly, Mickey Graham, Ronan Carolan and Ciaran Brady, Cavan were beaten by 15 points, 2-14 to 0-5. The following season, Cavan's championship was over on May 14 when we lost to the same opposition at the same stage, by 2-13 to 1-5. In 2001, we found ourselves in the opposite end of the draw from Tyrone, Armagh and Derry. Fermanagh did Cavan a huge favour by knocking out Donegal in the preliminary round and the way was cleared; Andrews' team beat Down by a point, Monaghan by two and reached the Ulster final, which they narrowly lost to Tyrone after a super performance. They were beaten first day out in the qualifiers. While the manager saw this as progress, the expectation level in the post-McHugh years had gone through the roof and a valiant defeat in an Ulster final wasn't deemed good enough by some delegates. He resigned that September after his tenure was questioned at a county board meeting. Mattie Kerrigan took over and within six months, Cavan were in a Division 1 league final, with, it must be noted, a lot of new players blooded by Andrews on board. His time in Louth didn't deliver huge success either. We're not saying Val Andrews is a bad manager or a bad man - the point is that, as is now clear, he wasn't the right man to bring forward this group of players. Results proved that. Cavan lost to Donegal by nine at home and Division 4 Longford by 12 in last year's championship. That Longford defeat was the biggest home championship loss since the Derry defeat under Val's watch in 2001. Val is cheerful and honest and as likeable a man as a journalist can ever encounter. He has a dark sense of humour. But when he spoke on Newstalk last Saturday telling players to stop making excuses, even if he did add the rider that he was saying it "without any bitterness", it stuck in the craw a little. "They have to look at themselves about the execution of game plans," Andrews told Ger Gilroy. "And let's be straight, they have to stop making excuses. Take ownership of their lives, take ownerships of their sporting lives, take ownership of their performance and man up." Results-wise, his return to Cavan has been a disaster. It's a bottom line business, as he has repeatedly stated, and his balance sheet - five wins from 16 matches in league and championship - makes for ugly reading. And yet, and yet. In every match this year before things collapsed against Antrim, the team had showed patches of fantastic football and the players must take a lot of the blame for not closing out a couple of those games. But it does rest with the manager. Ironically, but for a quirk of fate, things might have worked out well for Val. It was felt that a problem in the set-up last year was the lack of a coach, and the board addressed this by installing John Morrison, who is a master tutor (the highest qualification in the GAA) and whose ideas and approach were initially well-received this season. However, when Morrison suffered a sudden illness, that voice was lost and as time went on, it became clear that the set-up was no different to the previous season. By appointing Morrison, the board had accepted that the previous set-up wasn't up to scratch so without him, that was again the case. The Antrim debacle was the final straw - there was a breakdown somewhere and Andrews was clearly unable to get the best of this bunch of footballers. For the good of all concerned - not least himself, a good man caught in a tough spot - it was right that he stepped aside. ***************** There has been plenty of subterfuge over the past ten days or so but, ironically, incredibly even, the result is that we are better-placed than we have been in a while. Few can doubt that a humiliation against Donegal was inevitable - that disaster can hopefully be avoided now. There will be a kick in this team - there always is when the manager is changed, in any sport - and they will be desperate not to look foolish, even if they hadn't meant to axe the manager in the first place. The team needs to get back to basics and look to tap into the spirit and organisation of the U21s of the past two seasons, which is easier said than done. In recent years, Cavan have appeared to be obsessed with the top 5% that separates the best teams - the hydration, the ability to lift certain weights, body fat ratios and all the rest - yet they have struggled to perform simple skills and implement a game plan. It's like a Leaving Cert Irish student learning flashy phrases and nathanna cainte and yet struggling to construct basic vocabulary. Without the foundation, the house will collapse. The immediate job of the new management set-up of Terry Hyland and Anthony Forde will be to unite the team and restore confidence ahead of what will be a massive challenge. A decent showing and a qualifier win or two will be a success. A victory over the Ulster champions on May 21 would be truly remarkable but stranger things have happened. When the championship curtain falls, the work will really start. Dermot McCabe - championed along with Forde by Keogan in an article in the Irish News last Friday - was mentioned as a man who could join forces with what already looks a winning formation in Forde and Hyland. If not McCabe, expect someone else to come in as part of the management team. Regardless, it's all conjecture at this stage. Somehow, though, Cavan have come out of a tumultuous week looking better than they did when they entered it. Val is gone, and deep down he's probably relieved. The players will have a new manager, something they will be glad about, even if they - wrongly, as they feel - bore the brunt of the blame. And the board and its chairman have an U21 trophy on the dresser, a semi-final to come and hope, at last, for the senior team in the long term. What a crazy game this is...