Welch ‘excited’ by university challenge

Neil Welch will be scratching a 12-month itch when he steps back into the coaching hotseat at the Mardyke this evening as the new man in charge at UCC.

Having won five trophies from a possible six domestically during a two-year stint at the helm of Cork Church of Ireland, Welch vacated the hotseat at Garryduff at the end of the 2007/08 season.

Now, in one of the most eyebrow-raising coups of the summer, he’s back patrolling the touchlines, this time with College, a challenge he’s looking forward to meeting head-on.

“My interest in this is that it’s a different kind of job, completely and utterly,” he says.

UCC's Brendan Woods in action against Trinity at last year's intervarsities. College will be looking for an improved performance this time around under new coach Neil Welch. Picture: Adrian Boehm

“(With C of I), you’re coming in with a huge amount of international players and you’re trying to just tinker a little with it, whereas this is probably more of a complete start-up scenario; that’s the way I’d look at it anyway. We’re trying to put good practices in place, and see where we go from there.

“The College thing suits because you’re working with a lot of younger guys, I’d know the majority of them anyway and it’s just fresh. I’m excited about it, because it’s starting from a lower level (than C of I), they just came back into Division One last year, so you’re looking to see can you build on that.”

Attracting players to give college hockey a crack during the period they are eligible to do so is a vexing question for those involved. But Denis Pritchard and Paidi Hartnett have proved it can be done, transforming the UCC women’s side from also-rans to one of the top outfits in the province in recent years.

Welch takes charge of his first training session tonight, knowing it will be another few weeks before the composition of his squad is fully known, but has forthright views on the kind of team he wants to build.

“The difficulty for College, from an outsider’s point of view, is that they probably haven’t been able to attract enough players at the same time to make it an easy decision for someone who might be borderline,” he reasoned.

“There are players who are obviously talented enough, and the temptation might be to go into an enlarged panel at Quins or C of I and take their chances; the clubs have been so successful, you’re getting exposure, you’re playing IHL, Irish Senior Cup, you could be lucky and fall into it.

“But the downside for some of those players is they might never quite get there, and from their own point of view, development-wise, it’s a problem. Yes, they’re training at a high level, but they’re not getting pitch time.

“If you do get a higher calibre of player into College, some of the other peripheral guys might say ‘Hang on a sec, these guys are decent first-team standard players’ (and follow suit).”

UCC's women have been transformed into one of the best sides in the province in recent years, a feat the men's team will be hoping to emulate. Picture: Eoin Tyrrell

Welch, himself a former Ireland U21 and Schools international, adds that balancing young starlets with more experienced players will be an important part of his remit, citing club captain John Catchpole as one of the latter.

While admitting that UCC has the potential to become “Munster’s third power”, he adds that his initial priority is to make a side that won just once in 12 league outings last season more competitive.

“It’s about getting structures in place, working with the players and seeing how much they want to put into it,” he says.

“What I’d like is to get them to a situation where it’s competitive all the time, and they’re physically up to scratch – there’s no reason on this earth as to why they can’t be as fit in anyone else in Munster, certainly. But you’re looking for a bit of luck too; in cup draws you’ll hope to be at home, avoid the big two and take your chances from there.

“But a lot of it will be down to confidence with the lads, winning is a habit and so is losing. If you’re competing well you always have a chance, but if you go out and you’re disorganised, you’re not fit enough, then you haven’t got a prayer. Whatever we can influence, we will.

“We’re being absolutely transparent in what we’re trying to do, you’d just be hoping players will respond to it. It has to be player-driven too; it’s much easier to coach when players are enthusiastic, turning up before time, coming up with ideas, there’s a flow of information both ways.

“The last thing you want is where you’re expected to dictate everything – that can’t happen, it’s got to be about their ideas and interests, they’re the ones on the pitch, you’re just trying to steer them the right way.”

Coming soon: more interviews with the coaches taking up new posts for 2009/10