Dublin Ladies football manager Mick Bohan is preparing for another All Ireland final.
By Cian O'Connell
Learning and improving is critical for every coach so Mick Bohan talks with passion about those who influenced him throughout the years.
Advice can be attained, information gleaned because something new can always be taken on board.
Nine days before the latest All Ireland Ladies Football decider against Cork with an accomplished Dublin outfit, Bohan is asked about those who made an impression on him.
"So obviously Jim was somebody I’d have had a huge amount of respect for in recent years," Bohan remarks.
"I worked with Niall Moyna in DCU and I would have learned an amount of Niall in so many facets of life, not just about football. He’s an intriguing character, as was Tony Diamond from the point of view of defence coaching.
“Tony would have been happy for the game to finish 1-0 which isn’t everyone’s cup of team but from a defence point of view it’s a good attitude."
Bohan recalls one St Vincent's versus Ballymun Kickhams battle. "I actually sat at a match, the match that Vincent's drew with Ballymun when they were losing by five points with about six minutes to go,” Bohan remarks.
“I was between Mickey Whelan and Tony Diamond and bear in mind that Tony had three sons involved with Vincents, either on the bench or on the field that day.
Mick Bohan has enjoyed a hugely successful stint in charge of the Dublin Ladies Football team.
"He turned to me and he said, ‘It’ll be very interesting here if Vincents get a goal’. The game looked dead and buried and sure enough Vincent's got a goal.
“He turned to me and said, ‘Now we’ll see what they’re made of’. Next minute anyway I think Mossie Quinn got a point and Dermo drew with a free into injury-time and he stuck it from about 40 metres out.
"He zipped his jacket up and he turned around and he said, ‘Vincents don’t lose matches, we just run out of time’. I remember thinking, ‘You can either take that to be an incredibly arrogant attitude’ or it’s that inner belief that they have.
“It’s funny, all those things, I learned from those people, great football people. I’ve learned also that that’s not an arrogance, that’s a belief you can hold, that the game is never done until it’s done."
Ultimately, imparting the knowledge and belief is key according to Bohan.
"That’s part of what I see as really important in coaching, that you pass those nuggets on to players," Bohan adds. "Because if you believe it, they’ll believe it. All those people, like, I worked in my early days with Gerry McCaul.
"When I started off with the development squads Gerry was the first manager I worked with. Again, another terrific servant of Dublin teams.
"Then obviously in the club, Noel McCaffrey, between playing and management, and John O’Connor back in the day.
Mick Bohan addresses the Dublin players ahead of the 2019 All Ireland semi-final against Cork.
"I was in England and I played rugby for Strawberry Hill and I would have worked there with a guy who was involved in the English academies so all those people have an influence on you and they educate you."
In this deeply uncertain year, Bohan stresses the value of assisting people, not simply focusing on football.
"Honestly, for a large part of the season, football took a complete back seat and I mean that," Bohan says.
"It was about minding a group. There’s 54 involved in our group, between backroom staff and players and obviously this year, because the way the year unfolded, normally you bring in a big squad and then you trim it a little coming into the summer months with a view to bringing players back maybe on the following season.
"This year we never did that because we didn’t know there was going to be a season and then, because they were loyal, it meant we had to stay loyal to them.
"So for a large part of the season it was about minding people. It wasn’t even about football or coaching or anything like that.
"That was a challenge because ultimately you have a management team who came together to coach people, to try to make them successful on a football field, not necessarily to be psychologists or carers, and we certainly have people in those professions who were particularly good during that period of time. That was the biggest challenge."
When sport returned Dublin were ready, willing, and able. Now another showpiece fixture against Cork at Croke Park looms.
