Like his counterpart Ger Loughnane, Len Gaynor's evolution from inter-county player to inter-county coach was almost inevitable. The forces that shaped them were, however, different. Just as Clare's long and persecuted history prompted Loughnane to address just why the county was unable to break through, Gaynor's environment was one of privilege.

Three All-Ireland medals decorated Gaynor's career as a stylish and durable wing back. By the end of his playing days, he had already begun to take on coaching duties and his impact with his club, Kilruane McDonaghs, was later to be reproduced around North Tipperary.

On the Tipperary scene, Gaynor is nearly 40 years in the spotlight. In 1959 he played on the Kilruane team that defeated Ballybacon Grange, including Babs Keating, in the county juvenile final.

It was with his club that he first made an impact as a coach. Work with the Kilruane under-21s while he was still a player led to a rush of success which he was to bring to fruition with the club's first senior title in 1977 and the extended achievement of three-in-a-row in the following seasons.

A further county title was won in 1985, a year after a bad season had indicated that the team was on its way out. In March 1986, the All-Ireland title was annexed with a win over Buffers Alley from Wexford. It was said that Gaynor had pinned a less-than-complimentary press notice to the dressing-room wall in order to fire up his players.

Anyone who tells you anything about Gaynor as a coach emphasises his powers of motivation. For a player whose first instincts were refined, his management approach is much more visceral, but not, according to Jim Casey, a colleague and fellow selector of many years, based merely on tub-thumping.

"I've never met anyone as committed to hurling and I'm not saying that just because he's a friend of mine. Len is prepared to give 100 per cent but - and this is important - he's also a very reasonable guy with great knowledge of the game.

"Now if you're in a dressingroom with Len Gaynor before he sends out a team, you'll hear him getting the players keyed up, getting their blood to flow - and your own blood would flow as well. But he's able to communicate with players and gain their trust and respect because they know he'll put in every bit as much as they will."

Anyone speaking to him during his period as manager in Clare would have been impressed by his protectiveness towards what he saw as a talented group of young players whose only deficiency was lack of confidence.

He appeared to love Clare. Not just the hurling, but also the music and dance (he and his wife are keen traditional dancers). Within the county, this affection is reciprocated: his work with the team is still valued and one county official who was ill in hospital in Cork earlier this year was touched by regular inquiries about his recovery from Gaynor.

His work with Clare didn't alienate his home county, although there have been screeching dysfunctionals from both counties who have barracked him at matches between Clare and Tipperary over the last three years.

Throughout North Tipperary, his reputation was always solid. As one local put it: "Len didn't need to go to Clare to prove his credentials". County titles have been won under his guidance in Moycarkey and Clonoulty, as well as at intermediate level with Shannon Rangers.

Gaynor's involvement with Tipperary in the early 1980s was unhappy as the team lost two Munster finals and he was perceived to "have carried the can for everything that went wrong" at a time when the county was not as well-equipped with talent as subsequently.

When he was offered the Tipperary job again last autumn, it was widely believed that he would put a steely resolve into their play and with the exception of the Munster final, the season has gone well for Gaynor, although he doesn't agree with the dispensation that sees Tipperary in Sunday's final as beaten provincial finalists.

There have been criticisms of his judgement on the line in the course of a match, but the man who won a county final by replacing a centre-field consisting of the team's free-taker and an inter-county player has his defenders.

"He has strong opinions," says Jim Casey, "but anyone who didn't wouldn't be a manager."