Shane Ronayne can’t wait to start working with the Waterford footballers. The All Ireland winning manager with the Tipperary and Mourneabbey ladies takes over from Benji Whelan on a two-year term.
“I wanted to challenge myself. I think there is potential in Waterford to improve. They're down where they are in Division 4. It's something different. I'm used to going in with teams where expectations are high. With Tipperary to get up senior status and with Mourneabbey to win a county, a Munster and an All Ireland. This is a different challenge and it's one where I'm coming out of my comfort zone and I'm going to enjoy it. That was a huge thing about it. It's going to challenge me as a manager and as a coach and that will be good for my development. I've plenty to learn and hopefully this experience will be beneficial for both me and for Waterford.”
The approach from the committee came out of the blue. “I got a phone call just after Christmas from the chairman Sean O’Regan asking would I be interested in putting my name forward for the position. After stepping down from Tipperary, I was looking to get involved in the men’s game at club level. I hadn’t given much thought to anything really, I turned down a couple of different clubs. When Sean rang, I was a bit surprised to be asked. I asked him for a couple of days to think about it. I went away and spoke to friends and family and I spoke to a couple of people who had been involved and they spoke very highly about the whole thing. My dad is a Waterford man as well so all these things came together.”
Ronayne’s father hails from Clashmore. “He has always been very supportive. He got me involved in coaching a long time ago. I trained the Mitchelstown under 16s when he was the manager. I could tell that he would be interested in me doing the job because he has a great affinity with Waterford GAA. He has been out of Waterford for 45 years or so, he’s living in Mitchelstown. I know how much Waterford GAA means to him, especially over the last few years with the hurlers going well and that. He is a very proud Clashmore man, always follows the Clashmore teams. Before all these regulations came in, he would have been up and down to Clashmore once or twice a week, a lot of family down there.”
Ronayne realises the magnitude of the task ahead of him. Waterford will take their place in Division 4 for the tenth year in a row. The Déise have been competitive in recent times without getting the results. Under his predecessors Tom McGlinchey and Benji Whelan, they lost 14 games by two points or less. “There’s very few games where they weren’t close to teams. So many of those defeats were by a couple of points and a goal here or there. I’m not going to set specific goals that we have to get out of Division 4 or we have to win a championship game. That can hold you back. What we are going to look at is getting that consistency of performance. In a lot of the games, they play well for long periods and then something goes wrong. That’s what happens when you’re losing those tight games. If we get that belief in the lads and work on improving their performance each and every session and each and every match, I think they can really improve.”
The Tailteann Cup will be staged this year for Division 3 and Division 4 teams with the semi finals and final due to be played in Croke Park. “It’s something that’s very achievable. How great would it be to see the Waterford footballers playing in Croke Park?”
Listen back to the full interview with Shane Ronayne from Friday’s Lár Na Páirce.
https://www.spreaker.com/user/wlrfm/sronayne
