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Evans has Premier in Tipp top shape

April 7th, 2009
by Weeshie Fogarty

John Evans' magnificent achievement in bringing lowly Tipperary from the bottom of Division Four to the dizzy heights of Division Two of the National Football League must be acknowledged as one of the great achievements of the last two seasons. While the genial Laune Rangers man has a superb training record here in Kerry his accomplishment with Tipperary has been the talk of the GAA world.

So, what exactly did he do to achieve this remarkable promotion drive? I met up with John last week and being the outgoing, greatly enthusiastic and 'pull no punches' interviewee that he is we chatted and discussed his great Tipperary odyssey. I began by asking him what had tempted him to take on the management of the Tipperary squad?

"I am an ambitious guy and I saw it as an opportunity to gain experience at inter-county management and here was an opportunity to re-build a team without the presence of Declan Browne who had given such great service to Tipperary. When I went to Tipp I began with a squad of sixty players and they were whittled down to thirty eventually and I knew that I had a good squad. Then we found ourselves heading for promotion from division four."

"I was convinced that we were well capable of matching a lot of the counties because having seen the football being played by others I was fully convinced that if I could get my lads playing the style of football I favoured I convinced the players that we would be a match for most of the opposition. Suddenly the idea clicked w ith them and they bought into it and once they bought into it there was no stopping them," Evans says.

The Killarney based Garda brought in a bunch of young footballers to the panel and there was fierce energy in them, but what impressed him most was their ambition. He attended all the summer championship matches in the county and he selected the type of player he favoured.

Down the years anytime I had played against Tipperary or refereed their games or watched them playing at home against Kerry their chosen venue was invariably Ardfinnan or some other compact rural ground. However, all of this changed under the Killorglin man. "I convinced the board and the players that with the type of broad, expansive football I advocated then we should play our home games in the wide open spaces of Semple Stadium.

"Yes, there was opposition to it but the players bought into it and I explained that we would be playing counties that would probably involve a lot of physicality and with our pace, flair and ambition Semple Stadium would suit us greatly. And also I realised that every young fellow in Tipperary, both hurler and footballer, dreamt of putting the ball over the bar or scoring a goal in famed Semple Stadium. So it was the stadium of dreams for all those young footballers I had brought in," he explains.

His memories of this amazing two year journey are mixed and varied. "The sight of the Tipperary footballers going out on to Semple Stadium against Down with only a few in the stands sticks out. Our first game away to Cavan which we won and the huge crowd baying for our blood and only a few supporters from Tipp present. That was a great win. Travelling up to Dr Hyde Park and beating Roscommon was terrific. We had twenty five supporters with us and that is pure true because I counted them."

Evans pitted his managerial skills against fellow Kerry man Mick O'Dwyer last year and this year he walked the same sideine as Limerick manager Mickey Ned O'Sullivan and he has tremendous respect for both men. "Mick O'Dwyer was my absolute idol growing up and still is to the present day. He came into our dressing room last year and that in itself for me was memorable to hear him praising our fellows who had just beaten Wicklow."

John admitted that he was heart broken recently when a last minute goal by Cork denied Tipperary U21s, of which he is also the manager, of the Munster U-21 championship title. "This game was played the day before the crucial promotion tie against Louth and I had to rest six of my U-21 panel against Louth. They are all talking about burn out. Our U-21 semifinal was also fixed before a national league fixture. The Munster Council was totally wrong. How can young players perform to their full ability when fixtures are piled together like this?" he asks.

Tipperary are not going to win the Munster championship or the All-Ireland this year. That is a raging certainty, but what John Evans has achieved with the footballers of the Premier county is one of the great GAA stories of recent times. And why should anyone be in the slightest way surprised as his record in Kerry with Laune Rangers was exemplary. We will continue to follow Evans and Tipperary's progress with great interest.



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