Captains

The importance of a captain is debatable. We've all had good and bad ones, picked with different motivations and reasoning.

In Belgium football terms, we have had four. In 2008, it was Emmett Devine, a real 'does what it says on the tin' kind of guy. 2009, we had Cluxton. For him it was a bit of a poisioned chalice. We'd won the Championship in 2008 but had to contend with the disruption caused by European elections and other things in early '09. There was a culture of excuse making during the course of that year and we were happy to blame blame blame. If we had the attitude we have now, back then, we wouldn't have wasted a year. Just a case of bad timing for Clux.

2010 sprung a surprise. Something needed to be done to get myself and Eoin on the same page. We could rebel against each other or we could work together. We chose the latter and got back on track. Last year, there was a role reversal, Eoin took over the set-up with Conan and installed me as captain.

In the Shield, we have had many more, which would be the nature of such a team when you'll have guys pulled to the Championship panel during the year. However, Johnny Phelan was the most consistent person in the position. Last year, Eoin rotated it early in the year and I continued that policy later on with Paul Gavin having the role in Limerick.

So far this year, we've had a couple of challenge games and in-house games and appointed different guys in each. I think its important to see guys for a couple of months and observe their approach to communication, training, matches and the general way they carry themselves in the set-up.

I hate using lingo, but we've long felt a lack of 'leaders' in the group. However, since last summer, guys have really stepped up in what has been a difficult transition period for us. People show it in different ways; some will be vocal, some will prepare themselves better and encourage others to do likewise, whilst some will show their hand in 1:1 discussions.

In coming to the decision about this year's captains, the discussion with Conan was concluded very quickly.

For the Shield, Johnny Phelan will again take up the reigns and look to drive the team on after last year’s success. He's back fit now and has been a good example of how you can improve if you apply yourself. He has now become a big part of the overall group and showed in Guernsey last year that he can step up to Championship level and make a contribution.

For the Championship, Timmy will lead us for the year. He was always a guy I wanted to be more influential but in the past he didn't exert an influence over the group as a whole. We relied on him heavily in 2011 and he stepped up big time and took the lead in organising the forwards during games.

Through the winter, both Timmy and Johnny looked after their fitness and they'd be two guys you'd see in the gym often. The thread continued into the early months of training. Rarely would they miss training and if they did, you would always know their whereabouts.

I mentioned already Johnny's improvement on the playing side but Timmy's has been significant also. He's looking strong and his direct approach makes him a very hard man to stop when he gets a head of steam up.

He sealed the deal with me on Monday night when he gave Fergal Mythen a dig in the stomach (they were on the same team!)!! We've designed a few games to get guys a little agitated and to coax the fire out of them. Timmy's team had just received a lesson in one of the drills and as we were preparing for the next round, he was out beating the drum to the lads and getting them going.

We wish them both luck and hope they can lead us to silverware in 2012.