O'Hora reflects on her time in Kildare

TWO week’s ago Diane O’Hora stepped down as Kildare LGFA senior manager after two very successful seasons in charge. This week the former Mayo All Ireland winner and All Star sat down with our Reporter, PAT COSTELLO to reflect on that decision and on her time as Kildare manager.

Pat Costello: Diane, I suppose the first question is why step down now after two successful years?

Diane O'Hora: Well, I suppose, Pat, the reasons I took the job in the first place are probably the reasons why it's probably time to step away now. There's a huge amount of talent there, underage is absolutely flying. After three years I think it’s time for somebody else to come in with a different voice and to bring the project on even further.

PC: Your wife, Kerri, has Kildare connections, did you speak with her before you finally made your decision?

DO’H: Absolutely. Kerri is always the first person that I speak to about anything and I had her 100% blessing with whatever I decided to do. But that's not to say now that I won't still be down in Kildare, down with her Granny and her brother and her family as well. I’ll still be making all my trips down there now nearly every week.

PC: Did you agonize before finally making that decision to step away?

DO’H: I've loved my time in Kildare so much. I've really enjoyed working with the current Executive. It's been absolutely an amazing journey with Kildare so it was hard to walk away. I love this group of people. I loved everyone that I worked with down there, and everyone I met, and all of the supporters and people that supported us along the way. So, yeah, of course you'd agonize over it but I guess I had to think of what was best for the county. What helped me make the decision was, what would be best for the county would be a fresh voice, a new management team to come in fresh ideas because the talent is there.

I feel that we did a really good job for the time that we were there, and we probably achieved everything that we hoped we could in our first year in senior.

PC: When you took over as manager from Sean Finnegan, you surrounded yourself with a very strong, powerful and maybe at times, independent backroom team. Was it difficult to get the players to buy into your way of thinking?

DO’H: There were a lot of learnings from the first year when I was in as a coach and I think a lot of the standards that Sean had set and the expectations that he'd set, the understanding that he'd given the county and the players were a huge help to us. The fact that we had with Barbara Sargent there, John Doyle, Noele Earley, Physios, Melissa and Meabh and David this year, so many Kildare people inside the group, I think it was hugely important and it really, really helped to get buy in from the players.

Con (Brennan) had had worked with the girls before and Brían (Noonan) had a huge knowledge of Kildare football from managing Longford so I think that with the dynamic that we had within the group everyone brought something different to it. I do hope the players got something from the dynamism within the group.

PC: Apart from the titles what gave you the greatest satisfaction as Kildare manager?

DO’H: There's nothing more satisfying than to see younger players coming into the panel and showing their worth and being brave enough to put their hands up and to have the attitude for what you need to bring to county level. It's brilliant to get feedback from them as well and to know how much they enjoy it, how much they love being part of the group. Stuff like that makes me very proud.

PC: All of you talked about the players driving themselves on as well.

DO’H: I think that's something to be proud of and I suppose what is disappointed is that we didn't have more time to drive them on to that next level. It's a very, very tight schedule from once that Leinster championship starts to the end of the round robin series. But the team are really, really hungry; they want to improve, they want to drive standards. They know themselves that they could be very easily up in the top table in the next year or two.

PC: While things were successful on the pitch they were perhaps a little less so off the pitch earlier this year but you developed a great relationship with the new Executive?

DO’H: The new Executive came in and we’ve been operating very, very well together; we've had a very good relationship. It's all about good communication from my side, and obviously a very open and honest sort of relationship that we've had. I wish them the very, very best of luck as well, and thank them for all their support.

PC: You developed a good relationship with the clubs and fans also?

DO’H: Since my announcement I've just had so many messages from people that I don't know or I might have only briefly met and the kind sentiments just have been really heartwarming. I've said it before without the clubs, without the support that they gave us in Croke Park, Parnell Park and in Hawkfield for our home games they were the extra person that we had on the field. They were that extra strength behind us and drove us on in so many games.

PC: Finally, Diane, is there a path beaten to your door with managerial offers now and would you like to continue in a managerial role?

DO’H: I'm just relaxing at the moment, Pat. I'm not putting any pressure on myself to make any decisions on anything. It's really flattering to get so many calls from people who'd really value what you what you might be able to bring to their team, but I just won't make any decisions yet. I’m so passionate about it but technically I've changed jobs so I need to get my head around all commitments on that first so I’ll take some time first.