HANDS LEGEND SEAN TAKES A POP AT HARTE
TYRONE great Sean Cavanagh has risked the wrath of former boss Mickey Harte by claiming their defensive style stopped several brilliant young forwards in the county from properly developing.
Cavanagh’s three-time All-ireland winning colleague Conor Gormley said recently that Tyrone lack ‘marquee’ forwards.
But former captain Cavanagh said the reality is that plenty of thrilling talents have come through only to realise they don’t fit into Harte’s counter-attacking system.
Asked if players ever confronted Harte about the system, Cavanagh smiled: “Mickey’s the man, lads, and that’s just the style of leadership he has. It’s quite an autocratic style at times but that’s just where he’s at.”
The comments will be interpreted as criticism of Harte, whom Cavanagh played for until last season.
Asked about Tyrone’s apparent lack of
‘marquee’ forwards ahead of Sunday’s Ulster SFC showdown with Monaghan, Cavanagh said:
“The way Tyrone has played this past three or four years, we haven’t really played with any structure in the forward unit, that’s probably the best way of putting it.
“That’s probably one of the reasons why some of our forwards that came through the system this past four, five or six years haven’t really kicked on.
“Ronan O’neill, Darren Mccurry, Kyle Coney who came through way back in 2009, 2010, Niall Mckenna, there’s been a flood of guys who probably have suffered because we haven’t played with six attackers.
“And some of those guys have obviously fallen away and aren’t on the panel anymore. That’s probably not all their own fault, if I’m honest, it’s just the way the system, or the type of football, has gone.
“Some of those type of players have suffered.
Cavanagh agreed that these players have been victims of Harte’s system.
The 2008 Footballer of the Year said: “That’s exactly what they were.
“It’s sad because some of them have possibly more talent that some of the older (guys), the guys that were on some of the older teams. But they just haven’t been given that opportunity to play, which is just tough.”
Mickey is the man and that’s just the style of leadership he has at Tyrone