When you look at it against higher quality opposition, was it a reality check or was it a failure?

Different games give us different lessons.

I mean, if we...

Okay, we spoke about the Malaysia game obviously already.

The first game against Indonesia, the game probably came to us too early, I think, because we're going to play a team that, you know, largely based in Europe.

So they were coming from quite a high level and given our... circumstances our situation you know we probably needed a little bit more time to get the players starting the game in a similar manner as them but unfortunately in international football you don't have time so it's not an excuse but it is on us staff again to try to find a way to mitigate this factors right so that when we come into these kind of games we are more ready than us needing 20 minutes to get into the game which was what happened against Indonesia so And again, it's quality sides.

Once you let them in, it's very hard to push them out in that sense.

What's the talk process there?

What is the difference in the team from that team that you were assistant head coach and the team that faced Thailand this time? What do you think are the biggest differences?

Oh, it's a tough one because, I mean, contextually it's quite different.

I mean, I wasn't a head coach, like you say, I was Coach Ogura, unfortunately, had COVID.

Yeah, COVID, literally.

I was pushed to step up for the game.

But it was nice.

The context was also a little bit different.

How has that affected your perspective of what you do?

Is that just part of trusting the process? Is that just phase one of Gavin Ball? Or is this really what Singapore football can expect from the team? That doggedness, that fighting spirit rather than the tiki-takas of the

world? I mean, sometimes like wise men have told me before, you make your own luck, right? So we have got to put ourselves into positions and that gives us the chance of success.

So credit to the boys, no matter what, we never gave up and we grind the result out sometimes.

But having said that, I think Ilhan will tell you, right? We don't allow the result to evaluate our performances.

You know, there are games where we won, but it felt like a loss really.

And then there are games where we didn't win, but there were many aspects of the performance that we're proud of.

But even within the performance, you know, we are not just clustering all of the performances under one umbrella, right? We might be happy with our attacking side of things, but not happy with the defending side.

Can't let Gavin get away without answering that previous question in terms of what do you do on the training page or perhaps even in team meetings to get everybody on the same page because this is not so much a football question right because I think even within our working environments we all want everybody to be on the same page but it's not always easy because everybody has their own style and own individual traits that they bring to the fore how do you get everybody on the same page what are you doing in training without revealing too much much secrets.

What do you think that is?

Yeah, no, I think those two countries have shown that despite of a small population, it is possible, right? Um, but at the same time, you cannot deny that population does help, right? But what they have shown is that, um, even, even if you have a limited number of players or lim- limited pool of players, it's about maximizing human resource, right? Uh, I think just like us, we, we have a smaller pool of players, a smaller population size compared to our neighboring countries and, and, and, and in the region.

So the challenge for us is how can we maximize our talents? How can we maximize not just the player pool, but also the, the, the staff, you know, the, the, the human resource when it comes to administration and, and coaching and, and stuff like that.

Um, if you look at those two countries alone, they have got a decent amount of players playing in, in very good leagues in the Europe, right? So if those players are playing at that level, then the national team benefits.

So the challenge for, the question comes back to us is, how can we get more of our players playing in leagues where they are, they will be uncomfortable, they will be overloaded, uh, regularly, right? The challenge, the, the problem also comes maybe they only get those kind of stimulus not often enough with, with, with the national team.

But then, okay, now with Sailors and Tampines, they're, they're playing in regional competitions and, and that will help.

But the question is, how can we get more of our, our resource in those kind of environments? Because that will benefit the national team in the end.

So, uh, is there something that actually we are doing well then at the local level when it comes to coaching that you have been able to nurture yours- your abilities here?

What do you think that is?

Yeah, no, I think those two countries have shown that despite of a small population, it is possible, right? Um, but at the same time, you cannot deny that population does help, right? But what they have shown is that, um, even, even if you have a limited number of players or lim- limited pool of players, it's about maximizing human resource, right? Uh, I think just like us, we, we have a smaller pool of players, a smaller population size compared to our neighboring countries and, and, and, and in the region.

So the challenge for us is how can we maximize our talents? How can we maximize not just the player pool, but also the, the, the staff, you know, the, the, the human resource when it comes to administration and, and coaching and, and stuff like that.

Um, if you look at those two countries alone, they have got a decent amount of players playing in, in very good leagues in the Europe, right? So if those players are playing at that level, then the national team benefits.

So the challenge for, the question comes back to us is, how can we get more of our players playing in leagues where they are, they will be uncomfortable, they will be overloaded, uh, regularly, right? The challenge, the, the problem also comes maybe they only get those kind of stimulus not often enough with, with, with the national team.

But then, okay, now with Sailors and Tampines, they're, they're playing in regional competitions and, and that will help.

But the question is, how can we get more of our, our resource in those kind of environments because that will benefit the national team in the end.

So, uh, is there something that actually we are doing well then at the local level when it comes to coaching that you have been able to nurture yours- your abilities here?

been a phenomenal year, obviously, after winning the Leinster Championship, you've got the four-week break into the semi-final, but for you and the team to put in a performance like that, it was phenomenal.

Yeah, I suppose the management team managed the four week break very well, something that they would have been used to from back in 17 and 18.

So we came into it very fresh and we knew we were well prepared.

We had a bit of time to prepare for Cork and yeah, I think we got it right on the day.

You put in a fantastic performance all through, but I suppose in the early stages of the second half, some of the scores Galway got, you got two yourself, they were phenomenal.

Yeah, I suppose it was just sticking to our plan really, that's all it was.

We pushed up a bit after a half-time there, forced them along and probably got on top of their puck out and just ran it out from there.

What does it mean to be in an All-Ireland final? It's unreal, it's unreal, it's an unreal feeling.

You've got the four-week break into the semi-final, but for you and the team to put in a performance like that, it was phenomenal.

Yeah, I suppose the management team managed the four-week break very well, something that they would have been used to from back in 17 and 18.

So we came into it very fresh and we knew we were well prepared.

We had a bit of time to prepare for Cork and yeah, I think we got it right on the day.

You

It probably gave you that age as well that there was a bit of pressure on them.

pressure on them and I suppose we probably created an angle of it that we weren't really respected coming into it either, that teams weren't really giving us the credit we deserved and we definitely used that as a motivating factor.

People were

As a coach and a father, what is your view on getting that balance right between sports and study?

Yeah, I think we, we have enough evidence in Singapore that it's possible, right? The three athletes that you've just mentioned have been very successful.

I think in football as well, we, we're seeing more players coming through with, uh, they are going through the, the junior college, the polytechnics, and u- universities.

And as a coach, I think, uh, especially when I was in a club, uh, back then, one of our goals was to support players through, through this journey, you know? We understand the academic demands, and so we, we wanna put them in a position where they could strive within their, their football journey, but at the same time manage their academics.

And because ultimately, uh, you, you finish your career at some point, uh, football, so, so you do need something to fall back on and, and that's just the reality.

So our job as coaches is, is to support them in, in, in this, in this path.

KW wants to ask Gavin, "What can parents of young athletes do to help to be more supportive as they try to balance the sports and the studies?" What can parents do?

Yeah.

I suppose it just shows that the competition for places in the team that yourself and the likes of Joshua Ryan, Connor Cooney and these guys were coming onto the team and it just shows that there's serious competition there now.

Yeah, I mean, everyone says it, every team says it, that it's, you know, it's a full squad game now at this stage.

And it's true.

They're saying it because it's true.

And, you know, you need your five subs every day.

And, like, it goes past that.

Even when you look into training, like, you genuinely do need everybody pushing all the time.

It just gives you that little break now, considering there were so many games coming so fast over the last while.

and i suppose we often make the comment once the year starts with the welsh cup it's just never ending isn't it do you feel that it's like it's it's nearly week on week game on game since you started back in the world

yeah it's it's with the new format now yeah it is it's tough going you know you're looking at really a game every week or two weeks really and games are very physically tolling now and yeah I suppose you're bound to pick up a few knocks on the way but it's really enjoyable because you know you play Hurling you play because you want to play games you don't play because you love Hurling

probably,

I suppose the challenge for us now really is to get a full 70-minute performance out of ourselves.

I don't really think we've hit them heights fully yet.

We've played in patches and I think when we are playing well, we're playing at a really high level, but I suppose we can't afford to have the quite of lulls and performance that we've had throughout the last couple of games.

So yeah, the challenge for us is full 70 minutes.

Never

... right? I mean, I mean, the journey in itself is like a Netflix show.

We started a campaign.

We drew with Hong Kong and Singapore nil-nil, so it's like a pilot episode where everybody's not, not very sure about it.

And then we went to Bangladesh.

We, we did well, we won.

In Singapore we played India at home.

You, you said you weren't good enough in, in your own standards, I would assume.