Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
PATIENCE TRUMPS SNAP DECISIONS!
Harte: Mcgeeney has been given time which is smart of Armagh
TYRONE boss Mickey Harte believes Armagh’s progression this summer is proof that inter-county managers need to be given time to shine.
Today’s clash between the northern rivals in Croke Park is the first time Orchard boss Kieran Mcgeeney has taken Armagh to the All-ireland SFC quarter-final stage during his three years in charge.
He’s taken a fair amount of stick over that time but Harte knows all about the job’s pitfalls and is happy Mcgeeney was given enough breathing space to turn things around.
“I certainly can identify with that because I had similar things pointed my direction, so we have a lot in common,” admitted the Red Hands boss.
“It all depends how you measure success.
“If success is only measured in winning trophies and titles, there’s going to be a lot of failed management teams.
“People do need time and therefore it’s not so much about the time, it’s about how people judge the progress in that time.
“Where are you coming from and where are you at now? It won’t always happen in straight lines.”
Harte has won three All-ireland titles and six Ulsters, and completed a second back-to-back triumph three weeks ago.
Despite all that, he’s still awaiting confirmation he will be in charge in 2018 for an incredible 16th year although it looks a mere formality given his team’s staggering consistency. THERE may still be a certain novelty to two Ulster teams playing a major Championship match at Croke Park but not so much for these two, who face off at GAA HQ for the fifth time tomorrow, albeit the first since the classic All-ireland semi-final of 2005.
Their last Championship meeting in the 2014 qualifiers probably represented the nadir for Mickey Harte’s Tyrone reign, with Armagh’s win in Omagh leaving him close to the brink. In the meantime he’s steered the
“Everyone can’t be winners all of the time. There’s going to be trends, there’ll be counties that have the upper hand from time to time.
“Tyrone and Armagh were the ones in the noughties, Donegal and Monaghan took over in Ulster for four or five years.
“We like to think we’re getting back into that zone. Armagh have designs on that too.”
Tyrone and Armagh belted out a few classics in the last decade, starting with the 2003 All-ireland final followed by a brilliant trilogy in 2005 of two Ulster team to an All-ireland semi-final and successive Ulster titles while it’s only in recent weeks that Armagh have rediscovered the kind of form that got them to the last eight three years ago.
Having dropped so many League points in tight positions earlier this year, Armagh have improved out of recognition in that regard. But Tyrone look to have moved to a level now that’s out of Armagh’s reach. finals and an All-ireland semi-final.
They haven’t met in Croke Park since – their All-ireland qualifier in 2014 was staged in Omagh – and Harte has only good memories of those battles.
He’s braced for a physical encounter today but reckons those who think the two engage in dirty warfare should think again.
“All you have to do is look back to the proposed bloodbath in 2003 that never really occurred - only in people’s minds who wanted to think that way.
“Maybe those same thoughts still prevail in some heads and maybe they need to leave them down. I don’t think anybody went to the 2003 final and didn’t think it was good entertainment.
“In fact any of the games between ourselves and Armagh were most entertaining – and memorable.
“The Ulster finals and All-ireland semi-final in 2005 were great games to watch and I don’t understand what people need sometimes to entertain them.
“There’s an old saying sometimes, ‘there’s none so blind as those who don’t want to see’.
“Perhaps we suffer from that a little bit.”