By Cian O’Connell

Regardless of the team or level, Johnny Magee simply remains captivated by Gaelic Football.

The promise and potential that exists. When his playing days terminated with Dublin and Kilmacud Crokes, Magee found other sporting ways to occupy himself.

Going down the coaching and managerial route meant that the game stayed part of his everyday life. It was important, but considering Magee’s passion, somewhat inevitable too.

For the past year and a half Magee’s day job has been as a Games Development Officer with the Geraldines P Moran club in south Dublin.

“I work for Geraldine P Morans, the second oldest club in Dublin sandwiched in between Kilmacud and Cuala,” laughs Magee about how Gaelic Football now constitutes work and hobby time.

The former Wicklow boss is also joint manager of Kilmacud Crokes as that thirst for enjoyment and adventure endures.

“Absolutely, I always felt when I finished up playing with Dublin and Crokes then that I was addicted to the game itself,” Magee admits.

“I was always going to get involved as a coach or a manager. Being addicted to it I went in to get experience coaching a few club teams and then obviously Wicklow, finishing with Wicklow and going back to my own club Crokes.

“I was lucky enough to be apart of a team that won the Championship two years ago and I'm still involved there now. It is something I love and the whole package that comes with it, being involved, the social end of it, friends.”

Getting a team ready for battle is a challenge Magee relishes. “It is the next best thing to playing,” Magee adds.

“That is the big thing for me. I was lucky enough to be involved with Dublin and Crokes, being relatively successful I was always going to look for something to fill that void. The next best thing to playing is when you are preparing lads for Championship matches.

“You are in the dressing room, you give that bit of a team talk and you are going through the emotions of the game, how they will deal with the pressure. Then seeing how they are getting on and playing. It is a sense of being alive, that adrenaline and nervousness you associate with the game.

“That is what I'm addicted to, being in that environment, it is a healthy environment. There is a routine in training the lads and the camaraderie of the whole lot of it.”

Magee’s own inter-county playing career spanned an interesting time in the capital. During his decade of service between 1997 and 2007 Dublin only won two Leinster titles.

Reaching the summit of the province was difficult, but Magee still relished the journey. Gaelic Football has altered in the intervening decades, but that is one of the area which intrigues Magee now as a coach.

“In terms of players instincts, reading the game, that is where I feel there is a drop off in that kind of stuff,” Magee reflects. “One on one defending where teams are prepared to defend one on one. That is where the drop off is in specialised one on one defending.

“You have forwards being rewarded for a mark for catching the ball. Your job as a coach or a manager is to teach your players the fundamental skills of the game.

“The emphasis should be on how to catch, kick, solo under pressure, to retain possession, how to get the ball back when you don't have it. All the stuff required to play football. How do you set up and go about playing, in my opinion it is a game about taking chances.

“You should kick the ball 30 or 40 yards, put it 60-40 in your favour. If it is 50-50 okay retain it and then look for a better option, but this thing about backwards and sidewards, I call it crab football. You are coaching the initiative out of players that way. It is about how your own philosophy is.”

Ultimately it means Magee has sought to evolve constantly as a coach without deviating too far from the underlying principles guiding his work.

Growing up delivering crisp kick passes inside was fundamental to the approach and it is still high on Magee’s agenda. Striking a balance, though, between old and new ways of thinking is what Magee wants to achieve.

“I have my own philosophy, that is to go to play football,” Magee remarks. “It is about how intelligent you are when you have the ball and how intelligent you are when you don't have the ball.

“When you don't have the ball it is about stopping them from scoring and getting the ball back. So it is about how you go about doing it. Whether you want to do it at the top end of the field.

“I don't want my half forwards to run back and lose energy after losing the ball. I want them for the next five or 10 seconds of work to try to get the ball back higher up the field, that allows them to join the attack initially and your own defence to get better organised if it is done properly.

“You also have different situations, if you are three points up and want to close the game out, you might drop one or two more players - one into midfield and one in front of your half back line.

“Absolutely you develop, but you try to teach lads how to manage games and play in the moment when the time is right to get a score.”

Being able to adapt to different circumstances is critical, so throughout his time on the sideline Magee has learned valuable lessons. “Obviously if you are playing a team that is really defensive then you aren't going to just kick the ball in,” Magee states.

“You will try to use the width, try to stretch them, and use different and delayed runners to create that pocket of space to get a score. While I have a philosophy of how I want the teams I'm involved in to play, but not be ignorant about how to evolve the lads either.

“There are different ways to manage the game and how you play. If you want to win the game you take chances to go kicking and play the ball fast, move the ball quickly from your backline into the forward line.

“You try to take chances to kick scores and to kick that ball 40 metres 60-40 in your favour. Yes there is a 40% chance you will lose it, but that is what the game is about. It is about taking chances and giving the lads the freedom to go to play that. They know themselves if the kick isn't on they don't give that ball.

“You are trying to empower them to make the right calls at the right moment. If I think the pass is on, but the player doesn't think it is on I trust him to work it out. If there is another way, being patient to find a gap, then do that.

“Definitely I have my philosophy, but in co-ordinance with how the game has evolved in terms of game play, slowing the game down too when you need to manage games. You have to evolve. Being involved as a coach or a manager, though, you still try to stick to the same principles.”

Content working alongside pal Robbie Brennan with Kilmacud, Magee isn’t ruling out the possibility of working on the inter-county beat again. “I'd never say never,” Magee replies. “I enjoyed my time with Wicklow, it was great coming back into my own club. The top end of Dublin club football is as close to inter-county as you are going to get.

“It is a big job, so it is something I wouldn't take lightly. I was four years with Wicklow, three years as manager and the first year as a coach. It is a full time position in relation to your time, making sure all 30 lads were okay. You are organising strength and conditioning, your coaches, making sure the lads get food after training, the logistics. It is one big thing.

“At the top level maybe the manager's can delegate a bit more, whereas there I had a management team of seven. I'm totally indebted to those six other lads in the three years I was involved, they put their shoulder to the wheel.”

So too did Magee. Such willingness to work has benefited the Kilmacud Crokes stalwart throughout his playing and coaching days.