CATHAL McSHANE ON TYRONE’S HABIT OF WINNING —
Success in the McKenna Cup can set us up for bigger prizes, insists Tyrone’s McShane
‘It took us a fair bit of time to get over the Dublin defeat’
IN many ways, Cathal McShane sums up the winning culture that has been the hallmark of Mickey Harte’s reign as Tyrone manager. The Red Hand men will seek to win the McKenna Cup for the seventh year in a row against Donegal at the Athletic Grounds tonight, and if they succeed it will be the 11th time they will have won the trophy in Harte’s 16-year tenure.
That is quite the strike rate, but it is one shared by McShane, over an admittedly far shorter period of time. In the last two and a half years, he has won two All-Ireland medals (Under 21 and Sigerson Cup), three Ulster medals (two senior and an U21) and a couple of McKenna Cups for good measure.
‘To be fair, it has been a good experience. I have won a lot but even in the minors too, we didn’t manage to get many medals, but we got to the Ulster and an AllIreland final,’ he says.
But there have been bumps on the road, too.
His promotion to the senior ranks was a given following his telling midfield role in the county’s U21 success in 2015 when his goal in the decider against Tipperary proved decisive. However, it hasn’t been all plain sailing.
He broke into Harte’s team and made his Championship bow against Donegal that summer, but tasted defeat.
However, it was the following season’s clash with the Tír Chonaill men that stands out in his memory for all the wrong reasons. It was the Ulster final and McShane was sent off for a black card offence — a harsh call for what hardly qualified as a cynical hand trip.
Even at this remove it still rankles.
‘At the time you are obviously devastated. I was 100 per cent sure I hadn’t done anything wrong.
‘There were a few different rumours going around after that which claimed that I had said something to the referee and that was false as well.
‘It was simply for the trip but I knew it wasn’t a black card at the time,’ he recalls of the foul which occurred at the edge of his own square during a chaotic scramble for possession when his actions seemed more instinctive than premeditated.
‘But coming off the ground that day in Clones, having trained so hard for that game, and to be taken off for that decision was one of the hardest things I ever had to do on a football pitch
‘But it was all about us winning Ulster and that’s what happened so I was a very happy man at the end.
‘I was really nervous watching, especially towards the end, but I was never as happy to see Tyrone winning in my life,’ he remembers.
It is unlikely that emotion will be matched tonight, when both counties, with pressing Allianz League commitments ahead, are expected to field weakened teams.
‘I think in the McKenna Cup, we see it as very important because it gives players a chance to step up and contest positions.
‘We worry about ourselves, we can’t worry about other teams, but the McKenna Cup is a great platform for the League and that’s how we see it.
‘And winning silverware, you want that to become a habit, so we use the McKenna Cup to get ready for the League and then there is the chance to win more silverware. We find that winning becomes a habit.’
Perhaps, but winning big still remains the challenge for Harte’s new team.
The progress that has been represented by back-to-back Ulster wins in the past two seasons has not extended to making an impact in the All-Ireland series.
At the start of last year, Tyrone were seen as the most likely challengers to Dublin’s dominance but it didn’t work out that way when the two sides eventually collided in the heat of Championship.
McShane didn’t feature in August’s blow-out against the All-Ireland champions, but he knows that Tyrone have to learn from that 12-point mauling if they are to stay true to their winning ways.
‘It probably took a bit of time to get over that defeat,’ he admits.
‘Everybody was disappointed with the way the game went. Dublin played very, very well that day, while we needed Dublin to have a bit of an off-day and we needed to have a perfect day. It didn’t work out that way.
‘We just have to keep working hard, stick to the gameplan and hopefully that will bring us success.
‘But right now we want to use this weekend to keep the winning streak going. That will help us for the rest of the League.’