By Cian O’Connell

Time flies managing teams. David Power, though, doesn’t really know any other way.

Since becoming involved with Tipperary development teams before taking charge of the minors, Power has just embraced the challenge. Regardless of the team or level, Power simply wants players to evolve and improve.

That is key. Tipperary’s All Ireland Minor Championship win in 2011 was a notable achievement. In the September decider the blue and gold outfit overcame Dublin, who featured Eric Lowndes, John Small, Jack McCaffrey, Robbie McDaid, Emmet O Conghaile, Cormac Costello, Ciaran Kilkenny, Paul Mannion, David Byrne, and Niall Scully.

Tipperary’s triumph proved to Power what could be achieved because he was always a firm believer: possibilities existed.

“When I was very young my father was immersed in Tipp football, being secretary of the Football Board or he was always involved with teams,” Power recalls.

“He was a selector on senior teams in the 90s and I would have grown up with a football in my hand basically. I'd like hurling, but I always liked football which is a bit strange coming from Tipperary. I always had great time for football.

“When I was in my mid 20s I was asked to get involved with a development squad back in 2006 or 2007. I just loved it, I loved seeing players develop.

“Then in September '08 I was asked to do the minor manager's job which was huge. I was only 25 when I took it on. It was fairly daunting, people were saying 'he is too young'.”

Such comments only increased Power’s desire. Earning respect for Tipperary football was crucial. Nuggets of optimism were available.

“I would say I'm a very organised person and I would have the work ethic that is needed,” Power adds.

“I still kept involved with the 17s and 16s. Over a couple of years we really put a system in place. In 2010 we won the Under 16 Munster for the first time ever.

“That led to what happened in '11 and even in '12. Ultimately if someone was to ask me I thought we would win the All Ireland in '12 if I was being honest, but it happened in '11. I was part of a great four or five year journey in underage football.

“We were beating Cork and Kerry - it was no problem. Now we are at a stage where we are probably struggling to beat Limerick, Clare, and Waterford.

“That is going back to my point that the underage has stagnated a bit. It is a thing that needs to be looked at because we need a bigger pool of players involved in playing football in Tipperary.”

Now Power finds himself as the senior football manager in his native county. Two years spent with Wexford offered valuable experience and a different perspective - something Power seeks. So an interesting backroom team was stitched together with Tipperary. Power wants to delegate.

“Absolutely, Michael McGeehin from Donegal, he was with Tipp before when he was part of Peter Creedon's management team,” Power replies.

“He is a very experienced coach and the players got on very well with him the time Peter was with him. Then you have Paddy Christie, I got to know him through the time I was with Tipp underage teams. He was with the Dublin underage teams and he is after having great success with DCU in the Sigerson Cup.

“Charlie McGeever was the Tipp minor manager in 2015 and he has been the manager of Clonmel Commercials - they won the Munster club the same year in 2015.

“Then Joe Hayes is a former Clare goalkeeper based in Tipperary. I knew him from my college days down in Waterford IT.

“I've had links with them all without ever having worked with them which is a strange one. That is what I want. You want new faces, new challenges and I want people that will challenge me rather than saying yes to everything. You need a good management team, the way it has gone.”

The advice is heeded. Tipperary’s Allianz Football League Division Three start has featured a win, a draw, and a loss. It is only part of the story, though, because Power wants to establish a sustainable team and culture in the county.

“I think every day is a learning day,” Power admits. “That goes probably with the best managers in the world in any sport. Every day you are learning something. The day you stop learning is the day you shouldn't be in charge.

“You have to be open to ideas, new ideas, I think if you go in saying this is the system you want to play or this is the way it is - those days are gone.

“From a players point of view we are trying to give empowerment to the players whether it is in terms of pre-match meals or different things around, that they feel they are empowered, and that they can come to us as a management team to ask if things can be done a bit differently.

“It is having that strong connection with the players. If the players feel you are willing to listen I think you will get so much more out of them too.”

On Wednesday evening Tipperary lost to Limerick in the EirGrid Munster Under 20 Football Championship. Power is hopeful that the work carried out by Tom McGlinchey with that crop can help find some players for the senior panel soon.

“You don't have the same players coming through, and I'm slow to mention it, but you are down a couple of players from last year,” Power states.

“You'd also have lost Colin O'Riordan and Peter Acheson, those fellas over the last couple of years too. We wouldn't have the same pool or depth as others. I think if you had all of them you'd be in a very strong position.

“In saying that we have a couple of good young fellas. Tom McGlinchey is the Under 20s manager and we have worked very closely over the winter.

“We are trying to develop young fellas and hopefully some of them will see game time in the League. We've also given lads a chance that might have been on the panel for the last couple of years, to see how they get on. The first year you are trying to sort out your panel ultimately which can be challenging.”

It is why Power is so keen to ensure Tipperary retain Division Three status. For the long term it matters so much according to Power.

“One thing I've noticed about Tipp football is when we have been up in Division Two we can go Two, Three, Four very quick,” Power remarks.

“So I think the big thing for us is to just stabilise at the very least. If we could get a win on Saturday night it would give you a great lift going into the last three games.

"If we win on Saturday night we are only a point below Cork, if we lose we are five points and instead of looking at the top we are looking over our shoulders. That is a position we definitely don't want to be in.

“The big thing for me is to get to the five or six point mark which will make you safe. That is your number one priority. The second thing then is if you've a couple of games to go you're in a position that maybe you can have a lash at getting promotion.”

The conversation wanders back to his time in charge of the underage teams when John Evans was on the sideline with the seniors. Those days playing deep into the summer counted. Tipperary football was relevant. That can happen again.

“John Evans got a Tipp team up from Division Four to Two which was an unbelievable achievement at the time,” Power reflects.

“He didn't have those young fellas, but he had the nucleus of an Under 21 team that won a Munster in 2010. It rolled on from that, The High School won an All Ireland B in '09. All those little things help. Even when we got to the Munster minor final in '09 we were playing football in the summer.

“We lost to Kerry in a Munster final, we lost to Mayo, but we were playing football into August. That is massive for Tipperary to be playing at that competitive level. That year we beat Cork, at the minute you'd find it hard to see when we are going to beat Cork or Kerry at underage again.

“That is the worrying thing. Work has to start back at 13 or 14 years again, we have to start from scratch to build it back up again.”

Power continues to graft. Being the Tipperary boss is a notable achievement bringing pride and a sense of responsibility.

“The players expect a certain level and you have to really deliver on that,” Power acknowledges. “The experience down in Wexford really helped me, it is nice going back into your home county with that experience which I learned a lot from.

“It is very time consuming, you'd be talking anywhere between 35 and 40 hours a week, I suppose with phone calls, trainings, meetings. It is a busy time, but when you are enjoying a thing you don't really think about the time either.”

The focus is firmly on Tipperary football. Finding ways and methods to improve. A decade and a half after starting with a blue and gold developmental squad Power is still going strong. It remains an adventure.