“He would stand up to anybody, I would call him an ultimate alpha male”

Niall McIntyre

It’s all fine and dandy on The Sunday Game. Liam Sheedy knows how to tone it down for the post-match interviews.

When there’s serious work to be done though, the game face is on. He becomes a different animal, a motivational machine and it’s these man-management skills that have brought Tipp back to another All-Ireland senior hurling final.

Ten years on from his first one.

Paddy Stapleton saw it first hand. The Borris-Ileigh club man was Sheedy’s first choice corner back in his first tenure and his experience of the Portroe man was a far cry from the relaxed demeanour he often emanates.

“Saying he’s very relaxed, I actually wouldn’t. I wouldn’t have seen that too much in there. He’s very approachable but there’s a fair intensity, I don’t know if you’d get that looking on The Sunday Game or any of that. You might by looking at him on the sideline. There’s a unbelievable drive in him, I would call him an ultimate alpha male,” Stapleton said.

Business is business with Sheedy. You don’t mess around.

“He would stand up to anybody, that’s players, opposing managers. He’s very driven, brings a great strong-minded attitude, he’s bringing everybody together. He never thinks he’s the smartest person in there, but he’ll get them all in. When he speaks, you could hear a pin drop in the room, he commands so much respect…”

It’s all about getting the best of what he has at his disposal. Paddy Stapleton’s mind turns back to the 2010 All-Ireland semi-final against Waterford.

“Honest to God, in three years, I don’t think he ever name-checked any player. That (the 2010 All-Ireland semi-final against Waterford) was the only time I ever heard him talking about man-marking anybody…”

“Before we played Waterford in that match, we played Galway under-21s in a challenge match. He put me in full back for that match and it just so happened that there was a small lad with a red helmet playing full forward. After the match, he never even said it in so many words, he said, ‘you know why you’re playing full back now? Yeah, there’s a lad with a red helmet. And you’ll be on him.’ And that was it, that was absolutely it. It was all about building up my players, building up them. I’m going to make the best out of what we have. The one thing I can always remember Liam saying is ‘we’ll make the best of what we have in our room,’ and to be fair, he lived it…”

One wonders if this tactic of basically ignoring the opposition can continue in this day and age. Especially with the game gone so intricate and tactical, but there’s no denying that Sheedy’s primary concern is his own lads.

And that’s always a good thing.

You can listen to the All-Ireland final preview show with Cheddar Plunkett and Paddy Stapleton here.