Like many sports clubs around Dublin, Kevin’s attracts a good mix of members from both the local community and further afield. The club has been growing year on year. We have been fielding hurling teams at all levels for a number of years now and the camogie section is also growing.
Central to our growth has been the work that goes on in the schools. GPO Paul McManus is one of the longest serving coaches in Dublin GAA. An accomplished hurler himself in his day, he first came to Kevins over 20 years ago as part of the Urban Area Projects initiated by Nickey Brennan and Jimmy Dunne who were central figures in Leinster Council at the time. There was no iPhone gadgets back then and the first batch of kids Macker coached in the club are now talking about retiring. At least that’s what their social media posts are hinting at … There were lots of lessons learned along the way and every day is a “school day” where we learn something new, but the last 10 years has seen steady growth. Mackers work continues and Jenny Kearns has been added to the coaching ticket in recent years. Jenny came up through the ranks and has been instrumental in the development of the camogie section who are rising fast through the divisions. We now have two adult camogie teams and the Intermediate squad secured promotion this year already. An injection of youth was a key factor and playing alongside Jenny is her daughter Chloe.
The club-school link is also key to the clubs growth! There is lots of hurling going on in the schools. St Clare’s HX and Griffith Barracks ET on the SCR supply a lot of club hurlers and they did very well this year. St Clares made it to the quarter final stages and Griffith Barracks reached the holy grail of Croke Park. We also have club players dotted around in other schools who are playing in Cumann na mBunscol and to ensure schools are playing regularly Paul and Jenny are busy organising schools blitzes in Dolphin Park. Combined with the June Striking Academy, the boys and girls are hurling at least 3 times a week.
Having good mentors to welcome new players is also essential and there is no better example than Under 13 hurling coach James Nix. James first came into contact with the club a number of years ago when his eldest son – who was attending St Clares – signed up for the Kevins Nursery. Over time James got involved with coaching in the Nursery and then volunteered to manage the “Born in 2012” group who are now Under 13. He goes about his business in a low key manner, sporting his Galway GAA peaked cap, just in case he is mistaken for being a Dub! Many of the parents credit their children’s participation to how he has encouraged the players since they started with him at Under 8. The only matters that seem to get him visibly perplexed is a suggestion that his beloved Galway or St Patricks Athletic may be performing below par … and of course no mentor would ever attempt to swipe a sliothar from his bag! James credits his attention to detail with the bag of sliothars on the amount of time he spends in Cavan with the in-laws.
An initiative introduced back in 2013 via the Club Strategy was the Coaching & Development Committee with specific responsibility for coach education and awareness. The committee has been chaired by Paul McKenzie for the past few years and more recently Donal Dowling has come on board as secretary. Both joined the club through a similar manner to James Nix. They joined the club as parents as their children were in the local schools. Coach education has been critical to the success of the club, especially in a club that attracts a lot of people that don’t have a hurling background. In a recent coaching seminar hosted in Cathal Brugha Barracks, Guest speaker Pauric MacDonald reminded us that while the technical side is important coaching is essentially a “people game”. The people side of the coaching has come natural to James! In his earlier days of coaching, the technical side was supplemented by a bit of social hurling in partnership with St James Gaels. It was a long number of years since James had played as a juvenile, so the social puc arounds helped translate some of the classroom material into a practical appreciation for the challenges players can face on the pitch.
While many teams around the city report that there is a drop off in player participation as the children transition from primary to secondary schools, James and his fellow mentors Stephen McCarron and David Gavin seem to be turning the tide. Their Under 13s are growing in numbers… “21 up at training last night” reports James! You can hear his positivity bursting out through his WhatsApp message! The lads have also had a good start in Division 5 this year. They’ve won their first two games of the campaign against Castleknock and Beann Eadair. While they were on the wrong end of a narrow 2 point defeat against Commercials in their last game, it was very noticeable that they had a big turnout, despite the biblical conditions! A great match to watch was the consensus of the many parents who braved the weather! Despite the loss James was upbeat after the game, noting that Commericals had beaten them well the last time out, so progress was evident!
It’s a rare statistic but the Under 13 hurlers also produced 4 school captains this year including Harry Gavin (St Clares), Sonny Wakefield (Griffith Barracks), Alfie McCarron (Scoil Mologa) and Séadna Clancy (Gaelscoil Na Fuinseoige). All 4 made it out of their group stages, 3 made it all the way to Croke Park and 1 lifted a trophy. It’s an amazing achievement for any club team to see their players captain their school team, but to have 4 is off the charts. It augurs well for the future of the team to see so many leaders in one group. It’s no coincidence that this group is producing leaders as they are learning from the best!
Of course while participation is key, James does admit that he hopes for a bit of success at some stage, as his wife Marie often reminds him that she is officially the funniest person in the club having won the “Stand Up For Kevins” title … so some silverware may furnish him with a witty retort at the dinner table! Until then James will just have to settle for being a leader of leaders!
The Under 13s next game is against Na Fianna on the 28th June!
