Seánie Boyle enjoying Warwickshire role

By Cian O’Connell

It is a busy schedule. Still, Seánie Boyle wouldn’t want it any other way. The Kilcar native has quickly embraced the role of Community Development Administrator with Warwickshire GAA.

Eager to assist clubs improve homegrown players, Boyle is thoroughly enjoying the job. Clubs are ready, willing, and able to develop players. “It is the way forward,” Boyle explains.

“Warwickshire's most successful club is Seán McDermotts, their main model is homegrown coaches and homegrown players. It is an ongoing cycle.

"Every club has copped on to that now, Roger Casements, the club I play for, we won it in 2022, I don't know what the exact ratio was, but the majority of the squad was homegrown with a few from Donegal and Mayo.

“If you look at every senior team, you'd have 10 or 11 homegrown with maybe four or five Irish. That is probably the same at county level.

“So, every club is catching on to it, thankfully from a Warwickshire perspective our U13s in the ABCs you had two Warwickshire clubs in the final at provincial level. So, we are kicking on the heels of London now.”

Boyle is enthusiastic about working with Academy teams in Warwickshire with emerging footballers craving involvement. “Our well established clubs - the six Division One clubs - their underage structures would have bigger numbers than my home club in Kilcar,” Boyle says.

“Roger Casements would have bigger underage numbers than Kilcar. In the Academy at the minute we have 45 players still involved at minor level, our lowest panel is 24 with the U15s.

“We have more than 30 with the U14s, so the numbers are high because that is all lads in their last year at the age group. We could dip into a bigger pool again, if we wanted to.”

The past, present, and future of Warwickshire combine at the Academy sessions on Saturday mornings. That adds another layer of hope. “At the minute the U17s are the first team out, then the U15s and U14s train at the same time,” Boyle says.

“I'm overseeing it, I'll put in session plans with the U17s management team, we'd sit down to talk about it, and we might adjust a few things. The same thing goes on with the U15s and U14s.

"The senior Warwickshire goalkeeper is the Academy goalkeeping coach, one of the senior forwards is on the U17s coaching staff and a former Warwickshire captain is on the U17s management team.

“The current Warwickshire captain is on the U15s management team. So, we have good, stacked management teams with good supports around them.

“The minors, because we are travelling to Ireland with them and because they are at a key age, we have a weekly Strava running with them, just monitoring their fitness as the season goes on. We are trying to just bring on standards on and off the field.”

Boyle initially went over to Warwickshire in 2021 for a four week holiday, but embraced the GAA community in the region. “I knew a lot of the players,” he says about getting others involved in training teams.

“They were keen to jump on board with the Academy. I knew a lot of the top coaches, I had worked under them or came up against them.

“A few of them there was even harsh words said because we were competing against each other, but we all come together for Warwickshire. Knowing the county, the players, and knowing the potential was massive.

“I went over there in 2021 for four weeks and stayed because I loved it. I gave a season to Warwickshire at county level, we won the All-Britain against London. I played for Casements, we fell short in the final against Seán MacDermotts.

“They won eight in a row in 2021. Then in 2022 just the hurt of losing in 2021, I came back and we won.

“I thought my time was up, I went back home to play for Kilcar seniors last year. Then this job became available in October, I applied, and I was granted the job towards the end of November.”

Boyle was always interested in Gaelic Football. It is part and parcel of daily life in Kilcar. “My degree is social care, I did a lot of coaching for Casements underage and I managed Kilcar minors last year,” Boyle responds.

“We were a team that probably resembled some of the teams in England. We really struggled with numbers, we only had 12 players at the start of the year. We managed to recruit three, we made the county semi-final with them.

“That team, I think had only won one game at the age group before, but we had good fun. We were a bit defensive, I'm trying to stay away from that over here, but we had good fun,” he laughs.

The CDA position with Warwickshire is multi faceted. Coaching is a central part, but connecting with the community matters deeply. “It is a big change, I'd always have watched games, had my own idea and philosophy on it, probably doing a bit too much preaching for a young age than actually applying it,” Boyle says.

“So, when I got the Kilcar minor job I was 21. That was my first year of actually being the manager, I had done coaching things for the college. Now, it is a bigger step up again, you're overseeing it all, passing on your philosophy.

“I try to be like a sponge for everything. Even in the job now, I try to get as much support from people as possible and apply all the experiences I've had to date.

“I've been lucky, to play with a club like Kilcar, they have given me experience to pass on to the county here now. You've different aspects to coaching, completely, but you're trying to manage the coaching teams and structures as best you can.”

The passion that exists for Gaelic Games in Warwickshire is something Boyle noticed straightaway. The hurlers recently won an Allianz Hurling League Division 3B title. People are optimistic about the GAA. “It is unbelievable, you don't quite realise it until you come over here,” he says.

“I had planned to come for four weeks, when the four weeks was up, I didn't want to go home, you were that committed and felt that welcome by the club and county. The rivalries’ are intense, once you're here the bubble at home goes out of the way.

“You put full focus on the rivalries here, and trying to get over the line for your team. From my aspect now, it is a working capacity, trying to develop things. It is a home away from home really. We're kicking on, we've the facilities to do it, and it is just about maximising it all, seeing where it takes us.”