By John Harrington

When Kerry footballer Killian Young answers the phone and you tell him you want to talk about John Sugrue, he’s immediately enthusiastic about the topic at hand.

Young has known Laois football team manager Sugrue his entire life because they both hail from Renard, a small rural community on the Iveragh Peninsula in South Kerry.

When Young was growing up, Sugrue was a constant and influential presence within the club.

He gave an early hint of his potential as a coach by helping out with the underage teams that Young played on, but back then was better known for his own ability as a player.

“He was an incredible footballer,” Young told GAA.ie. “He would have won county championships with South Kerry and would have been unlucky not to play for Kerry. It was only because they had such a strong panel at the time that he didn't.

“He was a class player. A great kicker of the ball, very strong over his head, and just a very natural and competitive footballer.

“His dedication was just at another level as well. He was studying physiotherapy up in Belfast for a couple of years and didn't miss one game for Renard in all that time. He'd travel from Belfast to Renard - put that into Google Maps and the result will blow you away!

“You're effectively travelling from one extreme end of the country to the next, and that just shows you the level of dedication he had for the club.”

When Sugrue spoke to GAA.ie last year he put his failure to make the grade with Kerry down to the fact that he was a late developer.

“I was probably too late developing myself as a player and that led to a degree of frustration,” said Sugrue.

“I suppose that led to maybe the desire to give fellas a small bit of direction a bit earlier in their career and get into coaching and see if you can get fellas to really maximise themselves.”

Sugrue showed a natural aptitude for coaching teams from the get-go, but it was still something of a shock when Pat O’Shea brought him in as his trainer after being appointed Kerry manager in 2007.

Still just 29, O’Shea would have been younger than many of the players he was coaching. Those who wondered about his credentials were quickly won over as Kerry won the All-Ireland title in 2007.

“It was one where people probably didn't know much about John at the time, but I did,” said Young. “I knew the type of guy he was. So, for me, it was an exciting time.

“And, over time, he developed that trust within the group because of the type of training he did and the way he achieved it and drilled it.

“It was a time when things were changing at county level and things were becoming more professional, and that was probably easier for him because he had the understanding, as a physio, of the sort of punishment the body could take.

“He was getting the balance right. We were a very fit side at the time and winning the All-Ireland backed that up. It was a strong team and there were a lot of big characters in that dressing-room too so it was no easy feat for him.”

Dealing with ‘big characters’ isn’t something that fazes Sugrue.

When you talk to him he comes across as a very personable guy, but there’s no missing the fact either that there’s a steeliness to his character.

“This is it,” said Young. “John has very high standards and he doesn't take any bullshit really, that's the best way to put it. And because of that, he gets high standards from the players too and he maintains that then within the group.

“He's very clear on what style of play he wants to play and he's very good in putting that across in training so that the players can then deliver it on match-day.

“He really delivers very good training sessions so the players are put in the best position going forward to achieve what he wants them to achieve.

“So, as well as being able to articulate very clearly to players how he wants them to play, it's very powerful from his point of view to able to back that up by also delivering great training sessions.”

Sugrue and Young worked together again in 2015 when Sugrue managed South Kerry to the Kerry Senior Football Championship title.

It was very apparent to Young that Sugrue’s coaching education had continued apace since his stint as Kerry trainer in 2007 and 2008.

“That's when I really saw what he could produce because as a manager he had full control and it was a matter of how could he handle that. There's no better way of learning the trade than in the county championship in Kerry which has such a high standard.

“It's not an easy competition to win so it was a great achievement for him. The way he could deliver a message within the group was really impressive. He was always very clear in what he was trying to get across to us and what he actually wanted from the team.

“Because he articulated that so well you knew we were going to have a good year. He was able to develop us over time which is a very hard thing to do when you're bringing lads from different clubs together to play for South Kerry.

“When you're not playing too much together it can be a difficult one, so to do that as a manager is a good reflection of his ability.”

Laois native Brendan Delaney was Sugrue’s right-hand man when he managed South Kerry to that 2015 Kerry Championship.

The two had struck up a friendship when Sugrue settled in Laois after marrying a local woman whose family were heavily involved in Delaney’s club Park-Ratheniska.

Sugrue played with Park-Ratheniska for a few years and then coached them when Delaney was team manager.

Since then they’ve been something of a double-act, and when Sugrue was made Laois manager he brought in Delaney as a team selector.

“I just found him to be a very genuine man, without even going into football at all,” Delaney told GAA.ie. “I just liked his way of doing things. And obviously he must have thought the same about me.

“His thinking is pure football. That's not to say he thinks it should be played one way, it's just that his thinking is very clear. His clarity on how to play and what way you can play the game and how to approach it is very clear.

“Sometimes it takes a while to get the message across but when you know where you're coming from with your ideas, then people will see that.”

Sugrue might be a proud Kerry-man, but it would be wrong to consider him as an ‘outsider’ manager with Laois.

More than once in interviews he’s made a point of saying that one of his motivations to do well with Laois is because he’s happily settled in the county and his wife and son are Laois natives.

Players will figure out pretty quickly if a manager is not as dedicated to the cause as they are, and the fact that Sugrue is clearly passionate about putting Laois football in a better place has resonated with them.

“That means a lot, it's huge,” said Delaney. “That's where he said he was coming from - that he was a Laois man now. From that day on he was a Laois man, and he's very much proud of where he has come to.

“He knows there's a tradition in Laois that we probably don't fulfil often enough. But he knows we have a passion for it and that we try to play good football if we can.

“He’s genuine and honest and people see that in him. So when somebody is not picked or something like that, they know it's coming from an honest perspective. Whether they agree with it or not.”

This Laois team’s upsurge in form since Sugrue took charge is the best indicator of his management nous.

Successive League promotions and a Leinster Final appearance last year is a formidable body of work in a short period of time, and you can be sure he’ll been keen to continue building momentum by beating Westmeath in Saturday’s Allianz Football League Division Three Final.

“He's after bringing a bit of organising to the thing,” said Delaney. “He has a clear thought about what way things should be done and the players can see that and have responded so far.

“The talent was always there, it was just a matter of getting it out of them. We have made a lot of progress, but I still think we can produce even more.”

As long as Sugrue is Laois manager, there’s every chance he’ll get it out of them.