The Managers

by Daire Whelan

What is it that makes a successful Gaelic soccer manager?  Is it success as a past player, man management skills, or, in more recent times, a knowledge and understanding of tactics, systems, and game-plans?  Can a winning mindset really be taught or trained? And how can success on the pitch be transferred to success elsewhere?  Daire Whelan traces the evolution and development of Gaelic soccer as seen through the eyes of the game's most influential and successful managers and teams, including the Down 1960s Revolution, the Heffernan-O'Dwyer Years, as well as the rise of Ulster counties, and Kerry's challenge to stick to its traditions in the face of the modern game. He reveals just what it is about the game's leading managers that brought such unparalleled success, and discovers that what works on the training pitch, works in all aspects of life. From the methods to the mindsets, The managers shines a light on how and why success can be achieved on the Gaelic soccer field and beyond.

368 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 2013

About the author

Daire Whelan is an award-winning writer, journalist and producer. He has written for Ireland's biggest media organisations and newspapers and his work has appeared in the Irish Times (as a former Business of Sport columnist), the Irish Independent, Irish Examiner, Sunday Tribune, Sunday Times, Village and Magill magazines.

Writing about society, culture and sport, he is the author of (at present) six non-fiction books:
- Haunted by Waters: A Journey into the Irish Countryside (Hachette Ireland 2021)
- The Art of Hurling, (Mercier Press 2017)
- Donal Lenihan, My Life in Rugby (Ghost-written and nominated for the Irish Sports Book of the Year; published by Transworld Ireland 2016)
- The Managers (Hachette 2013)
- A Year with the Dubs (Gill 2008)
- Who Stole Our Game? (Gill 2006)