DERRY’S DYNAMIC DUO
Harte and Devlin’s success is following them on Foyleside
THE first time Mickey Harte heard an utterance from Gavin ‘Horse’ Devlin, he got a sense of the coach when he was still a boy.
It was November 1997 and Harte — as Tyrone minor manager — was putting together a panel through a series of trial games full of nervous kids hoping to be seen for their flashy skills and not heard offering their insights. But one was different. ‘He was on one of those teams and he was playing wing half back, and this lad was talking and directing operations and telling people where to go,’ recalled Harte.
‘He had never seen any of them before but he knew that they needed to be doing things that he could see they should be doing.’
Twenty-seven years later the pair are still together, Devlin’s voice still providing the direction for those around him.
“Gavin has been very loyal to me”
Inevitably it was Harte’s appointment as Derry manager that made waves last autumn but it was the dual ticket that attracted the Oak Leafers and, on the flip side, it is unlikely that Harte would have made the leap without Devlin or vice versa.
This is their 12th season working together and in that time they have taken Tyrone to an All-Ireland final, Louth from the Allianz League’s Division 4 to Division 2 and, last month, Derry to a first National League title in 16 years.
‘I have never seen anybody as good as him, that’s the truth.
‘I am just there now as a kind of an overseer of the thing.
‘The directive comes from him. He knows what we want to achieve with this team. He creates the training elements that need to be put into it to make that happen.
‘People think because he played as a defender that he is kind of the defence man, absolutely not.
‘He is a very creative coach. He is a great innovator in terms of setting up situations in training and in the training arena that translate to the game.
‘It’s not just about training certain drills to do the skills, if they haven’t got relevance to the game they are not going to be as beneficial as they would be otherwise.
‘He has that innate ability to transfer skill arrangements on the training field that will be used on the game day.
‘He reminds me of these top class snooker players ,not looking at the immediate, looking at three shots down the line. He is just gold to me,’ suggested Harte.
It is an innate intelligence as much as a studied one that gives Devlin that coaching edge.
The mouthy teenager not only made it onto Harte’s 1998 All-Ireland winning minor team but was one of those who was there in 2003 when they shattered the glass ceiling.
‘He was just such a good reader of the game.
‘He knew his limitations, he hadn’t a big kick of the ball but of course he was very fortunate he had Brian McGuigan not far from him all the time.
‘All he wanted when he got the ball was “where’s McGuigan?”, so he could give him a foot pass or a hand pass and he was very good at that.
‘He knew the people that needed to get the ball to make things happen,’ added Harte.
It was Devlin’s decision to quit Tyrone as a player within four years of winning that All-Ireland which also revealed a man who was informed by head over heart.
‘When teams realised that he was going to be a sweeper extraordinaire and eating up all that kind of ball, they put a flyer on to be his marker and he was away around the pitch and there was no point in Gavin going after him because he wouldn’t have the legs.
‘Again, he knows the game and he knows what’s happening and he sees that.
‘So, it was a decision he made himself. I didn’t have to tell him to go.’
While much was made of Harte’s decision to make the switch to Derry, the leap was a far bigger one for Devlin as an Ardboe man positioned on the frontline of that Tyrone/Derry rivalry.
But he did not flinch in making a move that on Saturday will see him head out in the Ulster Championship against Donegal wearing a different shade of red and white.
‘I’d accept whatever he said and I would understand how it would actually be more difficult for him where he is operating out of but it wasn’t a big issue,’ insisted Harte.
‘He has just been very loyal to me over time.
‘I have always said he is as good as another son to me.’