Relentless Harte will make sure Derry don’t die wondering
IT WAS probably the least important game of football in my life and yet it taught me everything I needed to know about Mickey Harte. Back in 2008, I travelled on the All-Stars tour to San Francisco for a five-day jaunt that is basically like a good Irish wedding, followed by a big Irish funeral, with a Fair Day at the end just to put the tin hat on it.
Somewhere in between there was a game of football; exhibition stuff which might as well had jumpers for goalposts and ended with some kind of ridiculous scoreline like 18-2 to 17-3.
There are seriously hungover married versus single games on St Stephen’s Day where the competitive bar is set higher, so in keeping with that mood, Darragh and I rolled in so late to the dressing room that day, we had the boots on barely in time for throw-in.
We were on the 2008 selection managed by Mickey and were playing the previous year’s All-Star selection which our own Pat O’Shea was charged with taking care of, in a kickabout that would at least give lads a couple of hours’ break from riding the high stool.
Fun and frolics? Pretty much so, but while the 2007 All-Stars were quite likely doing ‘Rock the Boat’ in their dressing room, Mickey, prior to our arrival, had made it clear to our selection he wanted to win a game.
Did we win it? I will be honest, I have not got a clue and I am pretty sure if you asked any of the other 29 lads who played in it, they would not remember either but I most certainly know one man who would.
There simply has not been a game of ball that Mickey Harte has been involved in that he did not want to win. It is his default setting because he is simply relentless.
I make that point because as Derry have made a scorching start to the season, there are some shaking their heads while warning that they have started too well and will eventually blow up. Nonsense.
I am not saying that they are certain to win the All-Ireland, but the idea that if you start a season well, you will not be able to maintain it, is a lie. People will point to Mayo last year winning the league and losing to Roscommon a week later as evidence, but that is just the natural rhythm of a season.
Jack O’Connor has won four All-Irelands as Kerry manager and every one of them was accompanied by National League success, so this idea that you have to pull hard on the reins so you can get out the whip at the end does not add up. Nothing beats being in a dressing room where there is absolute clarity and Mickey Harte gives a team that.
They head to Galway today hellbent on winning the league and right now, on form, they are the best team in the land. There is nothing in that which Derry should apologise for or worry about.
In fact, they are winning while getting stronger.
Rory Gallagher did an immense job in getting Derry this far, but if there has been one weakness in the group over the past couple of seasons, it is their lack of depth.
That is changing in a significant way, not least with the introduction of Cormac Murphy, who has given an attack that was far too dependent on Shane McGuigan a new dimension, while Diarmuid Baker has really impressed in defence and Ryan Scullion is getting gametime in goal as a consequence of Odhran Lynch’s injury.
More than anything, though, it was the sight of Niall Toner – a regular starter in the past – and Emmet Bradley coming from the bench last weekend which reminded that Derry are developing impact options they did not have 12 months ago.
It may be early days, but the sense is that Harte and his coach Gavin Devlin are already having a profound impact on the group.
‘If every man has to defend, we will flip it on the defenders and say everybody has to attack. We have 15 players on the field comfortable on the ball and mad to get a score. It is the simple things that we are doing in terms of shooting on the training field with Gavin Devlin,’ explained McGuigan, after kicking 0-11 against Monaghan last week.
The evidence that scoring is very much a collective responsibility was to be found in the goals scored by defenders Conor McCluskey and Padraig McGrogan and while that has always been in their locker, it seems to be accentuated under Harte, who has long preached the virtues of players adapting to more versatile roles.
One of the arguments for Derry going after the league is that one national title might well beget another. But perhaps the more relevant one is that it will provide them with a reservoir of confidence that may not have run as deep last year.
I suspect the manner of that Division Two league final loss to Dublin when they conceded five goals may have rocked them more than they let on.
While the Brendan Rogers/Conor Glass midfield partnership worked superbly, there were times when Glass’s role as the holding player diluted his influence.
They had Kerry on the ropes in the semi-final and while Rogers had an outrageous game on the front foot, such was Derry’s superiority that Glass’s impact was less obvious because of the role he had. Derry’s reluctance to leave off his handbrake may well have been rooted in the memory of what happened in that league final when the Glen man was forced off the field because of injury and they leaked all those goals.
In leaving it all out there this spring, whatever happens Derry will not hit the summer burdened by doubt.
‘RIGHT NOW, ON FORM,
THEY ARE THE BEST TEAM IN THE LAND’