There are many similarities between success in sport and success in business, says All-Ireland- winning hurling manager Liam Sheedy. Ultimately, it comes down to the same things – you’ve got to believe in yourself and the people you work with
WHEN A young a sublimely talented Tipperary hurling team came tantalisingly close to dethroning Kilkenny as All-Ireland champions in the 2009 decider in Croke Park, there was general agreement that the losers would not have to wait long to get their hands on the Liam McCarthy Cup.
But that view came in for some amendment following the dramatic 3-15 to 0-14 point defeat to Cork in the first round of the Munster championship on May 30th this year.
There was talk of the 2009 performance being a flash in the pan, and some were even writing off the county’s chance of making it to another final, let alone claiming the all-Ireland. But there was no such negativity in manager Liam Sheedy and his players.
“The team and the whole panel picked each other up after that defeat. It was a low for us but we learned from the loss,” says Sheedy, who is also head of sales capability with Bank of Ireland retail sales and marketing.
“Sometimes you can be written off, and a lot of people were writing us off back then, but that can be an advantage as well. We knew that one bad game hadn’t made the team into bad players overnight, and we could come back from it as long as we learned from the experience.”
Sheedy shared the lessons of that experience and his team’s recovery to ultimate triumph with Bank of Ireland business customers at a number of flagship events during National Enterprise Week.
“There are a lot of similarities between sporting success and business success, and I told people the Tipperary story very much from the purely sporting perspective,” he says. “Ultimately, the two come down to the same things – you’ve got to believe in yourself and the people you work with.”
Sheedy’s philosophy for success begins on deciding where to concentrate your energies. “There are things you can control and things that are outside your control,” he explains. “You have to put your energies and focus into the things you can control and just deal with the things you can’t.”
After that, it’s a question of team spirit. “It’s really about everyone signing up and buying into what the team’s objectives. They have to be willing to give 100 per cent to be successful. What the team is trying to achieve has to be number one, and everyone has to be willing to do everything for that. Personal ambition is important as well, of course, but only within the overall team dynamic. If everyone is working together towards the same objective, you have a much better chance of being successful.”
Learning from setbacks is also important. “Playing in last year’s final actually stood to us this year,” he explains. “Some people thought that the loss to Kilkenny might have had a negative effect but it didn’t. That was our first final in eight years and we learned from it. The three weeks leading up to the all-Ireland final are the best three weeks of your life as a GAA person. You have to be very focused on what you can achieve. You can’t afford to spend your life regretting a missed opportunity. The team has to play fully to its own potential if it is to have a chance of winning.
“I was very lucky to have worked with an exceptional bunch of players,” he says. “Let’s not underestimate that. You need good players if you are to win. The squad also had a winning mentality and that’s important in sport and in business. A lot of them had come off the back of two all-Ireland minor championships. Winning all-Irelands at an under-age level is a big advantage to a team.”
But it takes more than just talent and history. “At the end of the day, it comes down to hard work. Talent and confidence can’t do anything for you if you don’t put the hard work in.”
Another key factor is the competition for places within the squad. “This gives us an edge”, Sheedy says. “Generally speaking, there is an attrition rate of about two or three players a year. New players are constantly trying to break into the squad and there is a lot of competition for places. You need those challenges within a group. This is a big plus and helps a squad realise its potential and turn that into winning medals.”
He also pays tribute to the full panel and the role it played in the all-Ireland triumph. “Championship hurling is now a 20-man game, and you need a panel of 30 to get you through a season. I actually had a panel of 33 and we needed every one of them. Everyone bought in to the team’s goals and objectives from day one and they gave 100 per cent every night in training. We wouldn’t have won or achieved anything without that commitment.”
And the squad’s recovery is a product of that commitment. “We all pick each other up after a bad game. No one is exempt from a bad game. I’ve had them, everyone has them. The important thing is how you react to them and learn from them. These players were exceptional in the way they analysed what went wrong and went about addressing it. There were no excuses and no one attempted to hide. It was a question of learning and moving on. It was wonderful to have had to opportunity to work with such a great group of guys for three years.”
He has no regrets about his decision to stand down as Tipperary senior hurling manager and only has good memories of the past year. “With all of the bad things happening in the economy on at the moment, 2010 will be a year I’ll remember for all the right reasons.”
