PATIENCE PAYS FOR NIALL SLUDDEN —
Dromore ace turned down initial invite to join Harte’s panel
PERSPECTIVE comes easy when you spend your 21st birthday in an operating theatre.
In an age where the academy is king, Niall Sludden is something of a curiosity in that he was 24 before he played his first Championship game for Tyrone against Derry in 2016.
Three ever-present seasons later and Tyrone supporters would shiver at the prospect of their half-forward line going into battle without Sludden at the centre... and for good reason.
For starters, they wouldn’t be looking forward to an All-Ireland final appearance.
His side-footed finish was the tipping point in the semi-final win over Monaghan and earned the Arsenal fan the nickname Bergkamp from his grateful team-mates.
That strike was no freak either. It took his tally for this summer to 3-13, making him Tyrone’s top scorer from open play and second only in the scoring charts to Connor McAliskey.
That has also been in keeping with his form over the last two seasons — both of which have concluded with him being shortlisted for an All-Star — which begs the question as to why a player this good, came this late to the inter-county scene.
The answer to that, in part, goes back to that operating theatre at Altnagelvin Area Hospital in Derry, where he underwent surgery on a double leg break — the result of a collision when lining out for Dromore against Cookstown in 2013.
It was an injury that kept him effectively out of football for the bones of two years, but it wasn’t the main reason for his late coming.
A member of the 2010 All-Ireland winning minor team, he was on Mickey Harte’s radar from the start but he declined an invite to come into the panel.
‘I was young back then, 19 or 20, and speaking to Mickey Harte, you were very much in awe of the man and of what he had done,’ said Sludden.
‘So when the phone call came I had to be very careful in making sure that when I was talking to him of not giving the impression I was coming across as saying “hold on now Mickey, I don’t want to be part of your squad and I don’t care about the Tyrone team”.
‘I was saying I am not ready but if you give me the call and I keep playing well for my club, no doubt I will come back in.
‘I was leaving a reminder and thankfully he made that call,’ recalled Sludden.
Knowing his own mind from the start, the injury set-back he suffered merely reaffirmed how important the game was to him, ensuring he would make good on his private vow to play at the highest level.
‘Mentally and physically, it meant I was doing rehab and in the gym and it kept this thing very strong up there [in his head] and it meant that I appreciate my football a lot more because opportunities like this don’t always come about.
‘If you have a bad game or a good game, it is all part and parcel of it.
‘I am just lucky enough to be on the field because sometimes people don’t get that opportunity.’ It’s one he’s built to grasp. While he is viewed as a number of 11, in a game of flux he is an all-round middle-eight player. At club level, he is a converted centreback and bringing that skill set to the county set-up has added much to his game. ‘I like defence,’ he admitted. ‘I play defence a lot with my club. I like breaking lines and from the half-back line it is sometimes easier to do that because you are coming on a run and when you are up in the half-forward line, you are a bit easier marked there. ‘The good thing about our team is our versatility and you need that in the modern game.’ On Sunday, Sludden will encounter a side that has embraced such a characteristic.
It was his misdirected pass which led to the turnover that allowed Con O’Callaghan in for the early goal in last year’s AllIreland semi-final as Dublin cruised to a 12-point win.
He recovered from that error and again proved himself as one of his team’s top performers, but he saw enough of Dublin up close — and in last month’s Super 8s clash — to know that this is the biggest challenge of his football life.
‘They are very hard to break down and if you are in the halfforward line and you’re not moving that ball quickly, they are really good at getting men around you and turning over the ball.
‘The important thing for us is that when they set up defensively we have to be patient in setting up the scores.’
And patience is something that has come easy for him.
‘I had to be careful when telling him I wasn’t ready’