Life in the rear-view mirror

In an exclusive interview with Southern Fried, recently-departed Irish senior men’s coach Dave Passmore talks about Ireland’s failure to qualify for major tournaments, what will be expected of his replacement and Iain Lewers’ controversial defection to Great Britain

He hasn’t quite jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire, but at least Dave Passmore doesn’t have two substantial hazards to contend with anymore.

The Limerick-based Englishman recently vacated the Irish senior men’s coaching job, to take up a full-time role as the IHA’s high performance director. Passmore had been fulfilling both roles for the past two years, and his relief at shedding that burden is palpable.

“Doing the two roles has really stretched me,” he admits. “I’ve been working long hours and had few days off. It has to be said I haven’t done the high performance role as well I could have, because there’s been period where the men’s job has been the priority.

“We knew back in 2006 that we needed to split the roles, but only now are we really in a position to do that. It’s a good time for the men’s team now, I’ve taken them as far as I could. I’m looking forward to getting my teeth into looking at the structures for long-term success for Ireland.”

Dave Passmore: Believes Ireland need more tournament experience to help their quest to qualify for major tournaments. Picture: Adrian Boehm

Passmore’s candid admission in his opening gambit that he’d reached an end-line with the Irish squad will be music to the ears of his detractors, who point to the failure to achieve Olympic qualification and Ireland’s relegation from the top tier of European hockey as the biggest blots on his copybook in almost four years in charge.

Nonetheless, it is difficult to deny that Ireland have made tangible progress on Passmore’s watch, having moved from 24th to 18th in the world, and the raised expectations against which he has been judged are, perversely, a testament to his success.

Tournament draws with top-10 sides Spain and Pakistan are among the better results achieved, while there was genuine disappointment at the failure to oust Argentina and New Zealand for an Olympic spot earlier this year.

Passmore admits that Ireland’s Jekyll and Hyde performances at high-pressure tournaments have been their Achilles heel. As he pointed out at the time, Ireland lost their EuroHockey Nations Championship status despite boasting the best defensive record in the tournament, as well as posting the biggest win in the competition’s history (10-0 over the Czech Republic). But the shock 1-0 loss to France ultimately sealed their fate.

“I don’t think there’s any major changes to be made, but the team needs more tournament experience,” he says. “That’s really where we fall down, producing the goods at exactly the right time. We don’t play enough tournaments and go into enough pressure situations.”

To this end, Passmore revealed that Ireland plan to enter next year’s new Champions Challenge II Trophy, a competition for mid-ranking nations to complement existing competitions which cater for the world’s top 12.

As well as providing valuable world ranking points, Passmore says the competition will “help facilitate the development of a young group”. Either way, it would give the country a dual focus along with the EuroHockey Nations Trophy, which Ireland will be looking to win to bounce back to the top tier at the first attempt.

They will do so, of course, without Iain Lewers, whose defection to Great Britain has been another stick used in some quarters to beat Passmore with.

Iain Lewers: Claimed the Irish top-level structures are "somewhat lacking". Picture: Adrian Boehm

The former Annadale man delivered a scathing parting shot, telling Southern Fried that the top-level structures are “somewhat lacking” and unable to give “these talented players the best possible chance of qualifying for major tournaments”.

Whether Lewers made his feelings known inside the Irish camp isn’t clear, but if Passmore is stung by the criticism, he does a good job of waxing philosophical about the HGC player’s departure.

“You have to create a system that’s bigger than one player,” he says. “Iain is a very gifted player technically, he has all the attributes of a player you want. Unquestionably, he’s a loss, he’s made a decision and that’s his prerogative. It’s disappointing for the team, but there are so many exciting players who have been working hard to step into his shoes.”

Despite the loss of the talismanic Lewers, Passmore has otherwise left the Irish squad in good health for his successor, particularly in terms of the relativity of age profile and experience.

The glut of retirements following the failed Olympic qualification tournament necessitated change in any case, but Passmore must be commended for giving youth its’ head in time to plug the gaps left by the likes of Jason Black and Paddy Brown.

The likes of the Harte twins, Mikey Watt and Tim Lewis have already amassed a few dozen caps, while prodigious talents such as Mitch Darling, Jason Lynch and David Ames have also been successfully integrated into the setup in the past 12 months.

“We should be excited by the talent coming through,” he offers. “One of the reasons I was keen to stay on throughout the summer was to ensure that players who have been working hard over the past two or three years in our development group had the opportunity to express themselves and show their potential.

“There’s fantastically talented players there, the likes of Mitch Darling, who’ve needed time to evolve and develop, and there’s a nucleus there of 21 or 22 very good players.

“Obviously, any incoming coach will have their own views on players that may be different to my own. But he’s coming in at a time where technically they’re sound, physically they’re in good shape, tactically they’ve moved on leaps and bounds. Now it’s about getting the performances in the right games.”

Passmore has introduced lots of young talent to contend with the retirements of experienced players, including Mitch Darling (3rd from left), Mikey Watt (standing) and Conor Harte (2nd from right). Picture: Adrian Boehm

Regarding the new man, Passmore says the IHA are “very open-minded” about who might fill his shoes on the touchline, insisting that a foreign passport isn’t a prerequisite for the job, rather that the national body is exploring options at home and abroad.

“We know there are candidates in Ireland that are good enough, but one of the reasons for choosing after the Olympics [to look for a new coach] was to allow anyone from world hockey to apply,” he says.

“There’s been a lot of interest worldwide in Irish hockey, because they’ve seen the progress we’ve been making. But what we’re looking for now is someone to make the next step with the group by qualifying for the World Cup or, preferably, the Olympics.”

“You have to look at what’s right for the group and get the timing right in terms of when the right person is out there. This is the perfect time to bring in a new men’s coach because we’re at the beginning of a new Olympic and World Cup cycle.

“But at the same time, there’s not a lot of time between now and next year’s Europeans. That’s a big tournament for this team, and it’s critical to their success thereafter. So we’re keen to get the best person we can find on board as quickly as we can.”

Unusually, the new coach will have to report directly to their predecessor, with Passmore’s high performance role at the top of the food chain in Irish hockey’s coaching structure. However, Passmore doesn’t envisage any clashes in this regard.

“Any coach coming into a squad has to be allowed autonomy over how or what they deliver. My role is to direct them and support them as needs be,” he insists.

“I strongly believe this team is heading in the right direction. There’s areas they need to improve upon, and we need to find someone who’s ready to move them on, but I don’t believe they need to re-invent the wheel.”

An abbreviated version of this interview appears in the print version of today’s Irish Examiner