BLOCKBUSTER ULSTER LAST-EIGHT TIE
“I knew his value to the team. I didn’t think twice about it. As soon as his suspension was over, he fitted the bill.”
With the game moving on, Devlin stepped away from Tyrone duty in 2007 at just 26 years of age with five AllIreland medals in his pocket — two senior, two Under-21 and one minor.
“He was young enough,” said Harte. “I think he saw the game moving in a way that didn’t suit his greatest assets, which were reading the game and being in a certain place.
“Then 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 him to be his marker.
“He was away around the pitch, picking up loads of ball and causing havoc.
“And there is no point in him going after him because he wouldn’t have the legs to go after him and you would be taking away his greatest value to the team.
Happening
“Again, he knows the game. He knows what’s happening and he sees that.
“So, it was a kind of a decision he made himself. He had left the game at that stage. I didn’t have to tell him to go or anything else.
“He saw that the game was changing in a way that wouldn’t have suited his skill sets.”
When they discussed it, Harte had few worries that Devlin would not move to Derry.
“I mean, 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 than where I am,” he continued.
“It wasn’t a big issue. I am nearer to Monaghan. I am nearer to Fermanagh. I am nearer to Armagh than I am to Derry.
It wasn’t a big issue.
“Again, it wasn’t strange for me to say it, because I’ve been saying this all the time. “People used to ask me this question time and time again, ‘Would you ever manage anybody else?’
“And my answer obviously was, ‘If Tyrone didn’t want me and I still felt I wanted to be operating at that level, then of course I would.’
“That’s why I am where I am. That’s why we went to Louth. That’s why we are here.”