Mickey Harte Kicking Down Heavens Door 2003

KICKINGDOWNHEAVEN’SDOOR
DIARYOFAFOOTBALLMANAGER:MICKEYHARTE
withKieranShannon
Z(7ia9f4-GGBGBI(>
ISBN 0-9546616-1-3
£11.95 / €17.50 / $22
‘There are different ways to win an All
Ireland. This is another one.’
Mickey Harte
Only minutes after Peter Canavan
became the first Tyrone man to lift the
Sam Maguire cup, he paid particular
tribute to one man. “Words can’t
describe what you’ve done for me, what
you’ve done for this team, but Mickey,
you know it.” It turned out Harte himself
had the words to explain how Tyrone
made that remarkable breakthrough.
Back in November 2002, when Harte
was appointed Tyrone team manager,
a reporter and a publisher suggested
Harte should keep a diary. To them
he sounded like a man who was
going to win his All Ireland.
That diary Harte kept is not
only compulsive reading
for anyone with any interest in
sport; it is a must-read for anyone who has
ever had a dream. In getting his players to
dream ‘lofty dreams’, he often cited an
American motivational speaker called George
Zalucki. He tapped into the wisdom of anyone from
U2 to Avril Lavigne but particularly into the emotional
intelligence of his own players, fostered by the death and
spirit of one of their former underage colleagues, Paul
McGirr. And of course he also listened to his daughter
Michaela. Her plan had a habit of being God’s plan.
‘Kicking Down Heaven’s Door’ is a remarkable voyage, bringing us back to
the moment Harte was appointed Tyrone manager much to the chagrin of
many critics. The team talks, the phone calls, the game plans; they are all
here in what must be the most revealing book on Gaelic football since Liam
Hayes’ ‘Out of Our Skins’. You will be in that dressing room, or as is the
case with Tyrone, in that circle.
Kieran Shannon is Gaelic Games correspondent with the Sunday
Tribune and was the co-author of ‘Hooked: A Hurling Life’ with hurling
legend Justin McCarthy, a book described by The Sunday Independent
as ‘the best hurling book yet’ and by the Irish Times as “exceptionally
well told’.
So is ‘Kicking Down Heaven’s Door’.
all-star print
Covers Layout 18/11/03 12:01 pm Page 1

KICKING DOWN HEAVEN’S DOOR
DIARY OF A FOOTBALL MANAGER
Mickey Book 1st 8 Pages 18/11/03 6:41 am Page 1

CONTENTS
1 INTO THE LINE OF FIRE 1
2 HARTE ACHES 27
3 GETTING STRONGER 57
4 OPERATION FRONT DOOR 99
5 MISSING YOU 125
6 KEYS TO THE KINGDOM 145
7 CLAWING FOR IT 153
8 THE FINAL COUNTDOWN 163
9 TOTAL FAITH 197
10 AFTER THE GOLD RUSH 215
11 POSTCARDS FROM HEAVEN 219
12 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 226

1
INTO THE LINE OF FIRE
The county board think they’ve solved the problem of winning Sam.
Let’s be fair – the last team to win an All-Ireland title for Tyrone at
under-21 level would have won the title with Mickey Mouse at the
helm, never mind Mickey Harte
‘Concerned Tyrone Gael’, Irish News letters section,
November 2003
I thank you for your kind letter on the occasion of my retirement as
team manager. I would have preferred to have gone out quietly and I
was dismayed by the PR disaster which I left in my wake. I wish to
thank you for your support, efficiency and co-operation during my term
… I wish the new management team every success and I sincerely hope
that they can deliver what we all have striven for.
Art McRory’s letter to Tyrone county secretary
Dominic McCaughey, November 2003
Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the
deepest valleys.
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
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Mickey Book Chapter 1 18/11/03 6:10 am Page 1

Thursday 14 November
Over the last few months I had been half-joking to my family and
friends that landing Sam Maguire would be easier than becoming
Tyrone senior team manager. We’ll see now. Today I was appointed
Tyrone senior team manager.
The phone rang just before I was heading off to train Errigal. My
wife Marian, my son Mattie and myself were all gathered in the
kitchen, hoping it would be a county board officer with some good
news. It was my daughter Michaela, in Belfast.
‘Well, have you heard anything?!’
Mattie started shouting in the background, ‘Ah, stop ringing,
Michaela! Daddy, hang up!’
‘Not yet, Michaela. We’ll call you when we do.’
The minute I put down the phone, the minute I was picking it up
again. This time it was a county board officer; Dominic McCaughey,
the county secretary. ‘Mickey. I’m calling to say that your application
has been successful. You’re the new Tyrone manager.’ Marian and
Mattie could tell from my reaction that the news was good, and they
excitedly held my arm.
‘Well, Dominic,’ I said, ‘I’m delighted to hear that. Because it
wasn’t easy here today, I can tell you.’
It hadn’t been either. Mattie and Marian were relieved more than
anything else. It had been a stressful day up to then.
When I went into the shop to buy the paper this morning, Eddie
Mallon, the newsagent said to me, ‘Well done.’
‘I don’t know what for.’
‘It’s in the paper, that you got the Tyrone job.’
I found my way through the Ulster Herald and there it was. ‘Mickey
Harte – new Tyrone manager.’ I didn’t know what to think. Myself and
the three other applicants were only to know within an hour of tonight’s
county board meeting what decision had been made. This was either a
journalistic gamble, a deliberate leak or someone feeding a journalist
dubious information to discredit me from the start in case I did get the
job. It was a weird feeling. I thought, ‘Well, it’s better the story’s
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suggesting a decision has been in my favour rather than against it,
because these stories have a habit of being true’ but I was still very
wary. I went to our school, St Ciaran’s, coached the under-14s to a win
over Dungannon, but whenever anyone referred to the story, I could
only tell them I didn’t know how true it was.
That’s why, when the word officially came through, I had to express
my dissatisfaction to Dominic. He said he was disgusted as well, that
only five board officers had been aware of the decision. Only now were
the candidates meant to know, and then at eight o’clock, delegates
would be told at the board meeting. I took his word for it. I hadn’t time
to talk any more to him. Instead I had to head off and train Errigal
Ciaran. On the way over, I phoned Michaela with the good news but
when I arrived at training, I just took the session and didn’t say a word
about the big news. Neither did anyone else. We’re preparing for an
Ulster club championship second replay against Crossmaglen Rangers.
Everyone at the club has enough to occupy their mind, especially the
manager. If it wasn’t for the club’s run this year, he wouldn’t have the
position with Tyrone. As much as my mind is racing, it has to prioritise.
I’m just after making out some notes and it’s not what I’ll be saying to
the Tyrone panel when I meet them for the first time. It’s what I’ll be
saying to the Errigal boys on Sunday.
Friday 15 November
Tonight has to have been one of the most embarrassing nights of my
life. I’m back from the Ulster Writers’ Annual Awards in the Great
Northern in Bundoran, after doing something I’d rather never have had
to do. Adrian Logan, the UTV presenter, was the master of ceremonies
and had planned that all the national cups Ulster teams had won this
year would be paraded through a pathway to this big fanfare. He had
Joe Kernan with Sam Maguire, Adrian McGuckin with the All-Ireland
club trophy, Gerard O’Kane, the Derry minor captain, with their All-
Ireland trophy, but nobody to bring up the national league trophy.
Stephen O’Neill had something else and wasn’t there. Peter Canavan
was getting himself ready for Sunday’s game and Art and Eugene most
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certainly weren’t there. About the only other Tyrone man there was
Logie himself. ‘Mickey,’ he said, ‘will you bring it up? I’d be grateful.’
So I did, out of a courtesy to Adrian who has been good to me over the
years. But I was absolutely mortified doing it. I was walking up there
tonight, thinking, ‘I’m an impostor here. This is Eugene and Art’s cup;
this isn’t mine.’ I could hear boys thinking, ‘That Harte, he has some
neck. First he takes McKenna’s and McRory’s job; now he takes their
cup.’
Tonight I promised myself that I didn’t want to be ever in that
position again. I promised someone else while I was at it. Outside in
the foyer I met Kenny Curran, who brings out a great little monthly
Tyrone GAA magazine called Team Talk. Kenny said to me, ‘Mickey,
there’s Joe Kernan with Sam Maguire over there. That could be you
next year!’
‘Kenny,’ I said, ‘I want to be back here next year with the league,
the Anglo-Celt and the Sam Maguire.’
It’s four o’clock in the morning now and I’m back in our shop here
in Ballgawley, still in my tux. It’s a nuisance but it has to be done,
every night, just like it has had to be done nearly every night these past
twelve years. I check the till, make sure there’s enough coins and notes
for the morning and make a list of some items we need to order. We’re
low on Jordan’s jam. And Bachelor peas. And on the Kellogg’s Corn
Flakes. They have to be taken care of in the morning. The league,
Anglo-Celt and Sam will have to wait.
Saturday 16 November
The more I think about tomorrow, the more I think we’ll do it. It’s
going to take a special effort to beat a team that has won three All
Irelands but I think we’ll do it. Our preparation has been very good this
week. We had Denise Martin, who does some work with the Sports
Institute in Jordanstown, in with this match analysis software which a
crowd called Elite Sports Analysis have devised. It’s excellent. You
‘tag’ in a particular category of play, say kickouts, that you want
analysed. Within a few seconds you’ll be able to see all your kickouts,
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or all the opponents’ if you wish. Pascal Canavan tipped me off about
it and I’m glad he did. We noticed a particular aspect about his midfield
partner’s game. Peter Loughran was on the ball thirty-two times last
Sunday, which is well above the average. But we noticed that on five
occasions he tried to go past a player and four times he lost the ball,
including one at the end that led to John McEntee’s equaliser. Those
four occasions were what we call ‘eliminations’. This week we worked
on eliminating any chance of further eliminations. Peter’s problem has
been that he solos the ball on the open side. He’s not naturally right-
footed, so when he goes right and starts soloing with his left, his body
isn’t between him and the ball and it’s easier for a defender to
dispossess him. Peter now knows that he’s to keep soloing to a
minimum, and if he does go the left of a defender, he can’t be in the
middle of his solo.
Our confidence is high. We’ve twice come back from the dead now
in this fixture. We were eight points down with twenty minutes to go in
Omagh two weeks ago. That was some comeback, considering we did
most of it without Peter. He got an awful belt early on and had to come
off, though with a few minutes to go when we were back to within a
point, I said to him, ‘Are you fit to do anything here at all?’ He said, ‘I
am.’ When he came on, he won a ball, foraged past few defenders and
passed it out to Eoin Gormley who scored the equaliser. In fact we
almost won; Pascal punched the ball off the crossbar in the dying
seconds.
Last week’s comeback was even better. At half-time we were 1-8 to
0-2 down, in Crossmaglen. But the first thing I did in the dressing room
was refer to a passage of play just before the whistle. Cross were
through on goal again but a couple of our backs threw themselves at it
headlong and John Devine ended up taking care off that deflected shot.
‘I saw enough there,’ I said, ‘to know we don’t want to give up this
game. If we did, we’d have given up that last goal. We came back last
week in twenty minutes from eight down; now we have thirty minutes
to come back from nine down. Do you think you can do that?’ They
gave their answer in the second half. This is my first season coaching
the Errigal senior team and at my very first session I told the boys that
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we needed to show people we had steel. That we weren’t just some
group of pretty footballers; we needed to display some steel. I think
we’ve shown those people we have, and probably the county board too.
That’s maybe why they’ve gone for me; because of the spirit Errigal
have shown these last two weeks; I don’t know. All I know is that we’re
going to need to display all that resilience and self-belief again
tomorrow, but I’m confident we will.
Sunday 17 November
Errigal Ciaran 1-13 Crossmaglen Rangers 1-10
I’m going to have to make sure we use that Elite Sports Analysis
software with Tyrone. Peter Loughran was brilliant today and wasn’t
once eliminated. Indeed the whole team played really well after
another poor start. We were 1-2 to 0-1 down after ten minutes and then
Eoin Gormley went off injured having pulled a hamstring. A year ago
that might have affected an Errigal team, losing someone like Eoin who
has played for Ireland, but this Errigal team seems to thrive in that kind
of adversity. Once Peter scored a goal after eighteen minutes, we never
looked back. Young Dara Tierney did very well in place of Eoin, while
my son, Mark Harte, scored two lovely points from play as well.
Cross looked tired. Their county players are after a long, hard
season with Armagh and they’ve been out every Sunday since so their
county championship could be run off in time. I think they were also a
bit deflated by not finishing us off last Sunday on their own pitch which
was a heavy pitch and more suited to their style than ours. Our tenacity
has surprised them and I think today it finally wore them down.
Once the final whistle went, we took the players to the middle of the
field to warm down. Five years ago when Errigal beat Cross, our
supporters came onto the field and the whole club got caught up with
beating the All-Ireland champions; the following week Dungiven beat
us in the final. Today when the players came off, half the crowd had
gone home. As I told the reporters afterwards, ‘This isn’t a time for
celebration; it’s a time for preparation.’ Next week we’re playing the
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All-Ireland champions, Ballinderry. If we lose that, today will be
forgotten about.
Errigal Ciaran: J Devine; B O’Donnell, C McGinley, D Neill; Emmett McGinley, P
Horisk, D Harte; Pascal Canavan (0-1), P Loughran; Enda McGinley, M Harte (0-3,
one free), A McGinley; R McCann (0-2), Peter Canavan (1-5, three frees), E
Gormley.
Subs: D Tierney (0-2) for Gormley, E Cavanagh for A McGinley, S Mallon for
O’Donnell.
Tuesday 19 November
Today I was introduced to the press at a reception in Paudge Quinn’s
in Killeeshil, about nine miles from where I live. We produced a little
brochure outlining all the honours I’ve won with teams and some little
bio details, just to give them a taste of the professional approach they
can expect. I felt I fielded all the questions quite well. I outlined why I
had taken on Paddy Tally, a twenty-nine year-old, as my team trainer,
that Fr Gerard McAleer would also be part of the management team;
that I was well aware of the expectancy within the county to win our
first All Ireland and that I had confidence in the players at my disposal.
I still know the headlines tomorrow won’t be so much about me but
about whom I’m replacing. Already the news on the television tonight
has taken that tact.
The board have expressed their regret for ‘all the people who have
been hurt over the last few weeks’. The county chairman Liam Nelis
has made a special apology to Eugene McKenna and his family in
particular ‘for the hurt and anxiety caused to them’. From what I know,
Eugene certainly deserved an apology for finding out from a reporter,
and not an officer, that the managerial position was again vacant after
Art had indicated he could not guarantee his commitment for health
reasons. But the board didn’t specify today why they were apologising
to Eugene. In trying to make the situation better, they’ve innocuously
made it even trickier, especially for me. The apology has perpetuated
the myth, the impression that something underhand has gone on and
that I’ve sneaked this job from someone else. The innuendo in the local
7

papers and website chat rooms is that I’m a usurper, that there’s been a
coup d’état. That is not the truth.
I have not stolen anyone’s property. When I applied for the position
last month, the position was vacant. It didn’t matter if there was one
other applicant or a hundred other applicants, I was simply saying, ‘I
would like this job.’ I wasn’t a politician saying, ‘My party is great and
his is rubbish.’ Eugene, Brian McIver and Peter Doherty weren’t my
enemies; they were other people like myself who were interested in,
and interviewed for, the position. If Eugene was my enemy, if I was this
Machiavellian figure some are making me out to be, then I’d have
challenged them during the autumn. I didn’t.
I have to say though, I was disappointed when Art and Eugene were
re-appointed at the start of last month. I thought the time had come. I
thought the time had come for me to get back with the boys. Another
year away from each other and the spirit of ’97 would be further
diluted. Besides, Michaela always said 2003 had to be the year…
The night we lost the 1997 All-Ireland minor final to Laois, I
announced that I would be stepping down. I had been seven years
trying to win that All Ireland and that ’97 campaign in particular had
been draining. The following night when we came back to the
Glenavon Hotel in Cookstown, Stephen O’Neill had been speaking to
Marian, and Brian McGuigan had been talking to Michaela, both trying
to get me to stay on. Later that night Stevie came up to me and said,
‘One more year, Mickey, and we’ll do it.’ By the time we were leaving,
I had relented and on the way home in the car, we were picking the
team of ’98. When we got home, Michaela went to her room and wrote
the following wish list in big yellow writing. She still has it, along with
the napkin she cried in the previous night at the Ambassador Hotel in
Dublin. Her letter reads:
‘WE: Mickey and Michaela Harte (possibly Father G)
1) WE WILL win the All-Ireland final in 1998 (minors)
2) WE WILL win the All Ireland final in 2000 (u-21)
3) WE WILL win the All-Ireland final in 2003 (seniors)
2 & 3 with special 1997 minor team.’
8

Michaela Harte was thirteen when she wrote that letter. So far she’s
been right about everything. Especially the bit about that ’97 team
being special.
We didn’t know it when we came together at the start of that year.
We had decent talent alright, but then, we had in ’96 as well and
Fermanagh beat us by a point in the first round. And at one stage in ’97,
it looked like we wouldn’t even get to the first round; Down had a
glorious goal chance in the closing minutes of our preliminary round
game only for it to be smothered. It meant we lived for another day. It
meant Paul McGirr died another.
Ten minutes into that first-round game in Omagh, Richard Thornton
won a ball in the corner. He took on his Armagh marker, turned him,
came in along the endline and then fisted the ball across the square.
Running onto it was Paul McGirr who dived in front of their
goalkeeper to fist it to the net. Paul though had collided with the
goalkeeper and didn’t get up, so our team doctor, Seamus Cassidy,
went onto the field, called for a stretcher and I came over to help him
off. Paul was writhing in agony but we thought at the time it was
nothing more than a few broken ribs. Seamus took him to the county
hospital in town, we played on, and at the end, held on to win, 1-10 to
0-9. Paul’s 1-1 was the difference.
We stayed on to watch the seniors just about win, went for our post-
match meal in Molly Sweeney’s and then called in on the way home to
see if Paul would be okay for the next game. I got out of my car, started
walking towards the building when I saw Declan McCrossan, Stephen
O’Neill, Adie Ball and our equipment man Francie Goulding. They
looked upset. I said, ‘What’s wrong.’ They said, ‘Paul’s dead.’ I could
feel the blood draining from my face. I went upstairs and there he was,
lying in his Tyrone gear, his mother Rita, his father Francis and his
sisters there, beside the bed, all in a state of shock. Three hours earlier
he had gone to play a football match with us. It shook me to my core.
Paul was wearing number twelve. My son Mark was wearing number
thirteen. That could have been my son I was looking at.
It was someone special as it was. Paul McGirr wasn’t just a young
fella I had become acquainted with at county trials early that year. I
9

taught him in school. He was Mark’s best friend when they were small.
They played together with Errigal until Francis bought a farm in
Dromore and Paul started to play with their under-14s. He was a gas
boy. He’d stroll into training, ready to seize any opportunity for a
laugh. It could have been one of the boys’ haircuts, something they
were wearing or an unfavourable club result the previous weekend. He
was also a very good footballer. He was a brilliant ball winner for a
man of his size, he could score, he worked hard and he was brave. How
brave, everyone in Tyrone football now knows.
It was a freak accident. The goalie’s knee in the accidental collision
ruptured Paul under the ribcage and punctured his liver. One of the
main arteries connected to the organ had torn away. They knew he was
losing a lot of blood and sent for a specialist from the Royal in Belfast.
They put nearly twenty units of blood into him but by the time the
specialist had arrived, Paul had taken a cardiac arrest and died.
The rest of that night is a blur. I just remember staying around in the
hospital for a while, then going home and putting on the telly. The
Sunday Game was on. Paul Bealin had just missed a penalty against
Meath with the last kick of the game but one of the pundits pointed out
that while Dublin were now out of the championship for another year,
at least there was another year for them. ‘What happened in Tyrone,’
he said, ‘that’s a real tragedy.’ Too right.
It was something no group of seventeen and eighteen-year-olds
should ever have to go through. But go through it they did and go
through it they did together. They were all at the removal, the wake and
the funeral. That week they came to live in each other’s pockets. They
spent more time with each other than minor teams tend to do. They had
to rely on each other more than any other minor team ever had to. On
the Friday, we brought in a clinical psychologist, Dr Niall McCullough,
to talk to the boys about the different stages of grief. I suppose that was
the start of the group work too that would become so common over the
next four years. The players talked about what they were thinking,
what their thoughts and fears were. It helped when Seamus explained
Paul’s death in medical terms and how it was such a freak occurrence
but even then, not all of them were convinced. After one game that
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year, Paul’s clubmate, Joe Campbell, got a knock in the head.
Afterwards in the dressing room he asked Seamus, ‘Am I going to die?’
That’s how acute the whole thing was.
Comfort came in different guises. In the lead up to our next game,
the Ulster semi-final against Monaghan, a woman sent holy medals to
our captain, Declan McCrossan, so all the boys would be safe. Declan
offered a miraculous medal to each player and each player accepted it.
Declan received something else that week; a letter from Rita and
Francis McGirr, thanking him and the team for all their support over
the previous few weeks. That day, just before we were to run out onto
Clones, Declan lined up at the door and said, ‘Right, boys. We’re
walking out onto this field today.’And out they walked, behind Declan,
all in a single file. That came from a seventeen-year-old, not
management, the maturity to decide, ‘We should do something
different in our first game without Paul McGirr.’
There has been something different about those boys ever since. A
few weeks after we beat Monaghan 4-14 to 3-7, we were eight points
down just before half-time to Antrim in the Ulster final. We ended up
winning by seven. In the semi-final against Kerry we were three points
down with five minutes to go but we came back to level. Two weeks
later we were involved in probably the greatest minor football game of
the last twenty years, a game we won, 0-23 to 0-21 after extra-time in
Parnell Park. Even when the boys lost to Laois in the final by a goal,
there was something special about them; how many minor players
come and beg their coach to stay on?
Twelve months after Michaela saw Stephen O’Neill and her other
‘big brothers’ bawl their eyes out, some of them came back and won
that All Ireland. Stephen was there, so was Brian McGuigan, as was
Cormac McAnallen, Kevin Hughes, and the late addition to our ’97
panel, Owen Mulligan. That year our polo shirts had a special crest.
Around the margins was a red line and the numbers ’98 printed in the
same colour, interwoven with a black thread, with the numbers ’97
printed in that same colour. That ’98 All-Ireland was not a one-year
event; the team of ’98 all knew that the rest of the class of ’97 were
there too, including Paul. When we brought the Tom Markham cup
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home to Aughnacloy, Francis McGirr came on stage and shook hands
with every one of the boys. Eighteen months later when we won the
All-Ireland under-21 title, Declan McCrossan was tapped on the
shoulder after the whistle went that day in Mullingar; again, it was
Francis.
On our piano here at home, we have a picture. It’s not of the team
of ’98, it’s not of that under-21 team of 2000, nor is it of the team that
retained that title in 2001. It’s of twenty-four young men before a first
round minor game in Omagh, including Paul McGirr. Because I truly
believe that in the days and weeks and months that followed that awful
day, boys grew up in a short space of time. Boys learned to face and
cope with adversity. Boys grew very close together. They learned to
appreciate how precious life is and they learned to appreciate each
other. I still feel that bond is with us. That unspoken quest, that
unspoken desire to bring the Markham cup back to the McGirr
household in ’97 has turned into something bigger and more powerful
than that. It’s as if every part of Michaela’s plan must be realised.
On that list is something about 2003. On that list is something about
the special minors of ’97. The cynics can think what they like. It’s time
for Gerard and me to get back to the boys.
Wednesday 20 November
Not everyone shares Michaela’s faith in me. There’s a lot of fear and
loathing out there at the moment. Today’s Irish News’ ‘Off The Fence’
section reflected that. A boy calling himself ‘Concerned Tyrone Gael’
in particular had a lot to get off his chest.
‘We finally see the Tyrone county board for what they are! The
agenda the whole time was to get rid of McRory and McKenna. Have
they not learned from making this mistake in the past? The similarities
are uncanny. An under-21 manager fortunate enough to take charge of
an exceptionally-talented bunch of footballers, they win an All-Ireland
title and suddenly the county board think they’ve solved the problem
of winning Sam. Let’s be fair – the last team to win an All-Ireland title
for Tyrone at under-21 level would have won the title with Mickey
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Mouse at the helm, never mind Mickey Harte.
‘The only problem is who they will turn to this time to pick up the
pieces. Surely Eugene McKenna and Art McRory have now washed
their hands clean of the county board. The question is would the
‘interview panel’ really know a good manager when they see one.’
Well, why stop there …
‘But let’s be happy for one man – Mark Harte. Surely come the first
day of the national league campaign, he will line up with the number
fifteen jersey playing for the Tyrone seniors while a number of other
more competent footballers will probably be in the stands watching the
game. This is a manager who could answer the question as to why Ryan
McMenamin never played underage for Tyrone. Inter-county
management is no place for those who hold grudges against players.
The lack of respect shown to Eugene and Art is nothing short of
disgraceful. They are probably the only two people within the county
capable of taking the team the whole way and winning an All-Ireland
senior title.’
Well, I’d be concerned if I was that Tyrone Gael alright. You’d have
to be concerned if you had as bitter and warped a mentality as that. I’m
amazed and a bit disappointed with the News for actually letting him
have that rant in a journalistic organ. If a jerk is going to throw mud
like that about the place, then make him state his name. None of his
accusations stand up to scrutiny. If Mickey Mouse could have coached
the boys to those titles, if it was such a game, set and match job, then
why haven’t they been winning all around them at senior these past two
years? Ryan never came to trial. And why single out one player? What
that ‘Gael’ is saying is that only one player didn’t come through the
system. Well, if everyone else was discovered, then the system
obviously worked!! His argument is pathetic.
So is his one about Mark. I’m going to state a few facts about Mark
Harte and then I’m going to leave it at that. Mark Harte scored two
great points off Francie Bellew the other day; Francie Bellew won an
All-Ireland medal in September. When we were three points down to
Kerry with five minutes to go in that ’97 minor semi-final, Mark scored
two of our last three points, including the equaliser, from play, from a
13

desperately acute angle. In the replay he scored twelve points. This
year he has been the leading scorer for the county champions. He also
happens to be the son of the county manager. That county manager
would be a fool for that fact to prevent him picking his strongest
possible panel. Whether Mark Harte gets to ever wear number fifteen
in the league or championship, time will tell. But he deserves some
number less than thirty-one.
There are a lot of other myths out there. This one that underage
success is a guarantee not to be successful with Tyrone at senior level
infuriates me. It’s so lazy and so unfair. It’s particularly unfair on
Danny Ball. Danny got that team five years after he won his last under-
21 title with them. By then they had been through some crushing
defeats at senior level and their confidence had been severely dented.
Just because that happened at that time, who has the right to say this
will happen again? Is not the lesson there that maybe that under-21
manager should get back with those players sooner rather than later?
There’s this myth that I’ll be too familiar with them. The first thing
I said to the boys when I took over as the under-21 coach was, ‘You’re
not minors any more and I’m not a minor coach any more.’ I’ll be
saying something similar to that now. They have to grow and I have to
grow. I’m expecting every one of them to be better, to become a new
person, a new footballer, an ever-growing footballer. I can’t stay back
in a time warp and neither can they. That’s the symptom of a finished
product and there’s no finished product.
There’s this myth that we need an outside manager. Are they saying
we don’t have people within the county who know enough about
football? About winning? About these group of players? I think our
underage success in recent years suggests differently.
People are now saying that the team is too small. This one in
particular annoys me intensely. Intensely. We lose to Sligo in the last
twelve and now we’re too small. Were we too small when we went
nine-two up in that game? Tyrone, man for man, aren’t any smaller
than most of the other competing counties. Look at the Galway forward
line. Joyce. Savage. Donnellan. Matthew Clancy. Alan Kerins. They’re
smaller than us if anything. Why not nurture what you have got? I can’t
14

make a man three inches taller but I can make him anticipate a break
better, make him kick the ball better, make him tackle better; surely
that’s what it’s really about?
They’re saying we have no midfield. That boys like Cormac
McAnallen, Kevin Hughes and Collie Holmes can’t play midfield.
Again, that’s just so lazy. What people are really saying is that Tyrone
have to win midfield every day. No team wins midfield every day. And
midfield isn’t just about numbers eight and nine; it’s numbers five to
twelve, sometimes even thirteen. Yes, maybe our midfield can be
better. But that means maybe looking at our kickout strategy; maybe
reminding numbers five and twelve they’re part of this as well. More
than anything, it’s about restoring confidence to those players,
especially Cormac and Kevin.
People are saying now we need to do more hard training, that we
need to have the boys out four or five nights a week. I think Art and
Eugene were right on this one; to have only one or two sessions a week.
I’ve already spoken to Paddy Tally about this and we’ve agreed,
freshness is the key. Tyrone is the biggest of the six counties. It would
be very taxing on the boys if they had to keep making one hundred mile
road-trips four or five times a week. Quality, not quantity, is what we’ll
be about.
People are saying that Tyrone shouldn’t have gone for the league
this year, that we shouldn’t go for the league in 2003. As I said to
Kenny the other night, I’ll be all out to win the league. It gives you the
opportunity to create a winning culture. You can’t pick and choose
when you’re going to win and lose. Winning the Hastings Cup in 2000
gave us a huge boost heading into that year’s under-21 championship.
The hurt of losing last year’s Hastings Cup final to Mayo drove us on
to beating Mayo in the All-Ireland final. This year with Errigal we’ve
gone out to win every game and I think winning the county league
helped us win the county championship. It’ll be the same with Tyrone.
I want to win every game, be it league, championship or even the
McKenna Cup. I think that’s how you instil confidence and steel.
They’re the two qualities I feel that I have to instil. I feel I can. The
boys had to be steely to win those underage titles. Nobody can tell me
15

that Peter Canavan isn’t a winner, that he hasn’t got steel. Nobody can
tell me that Chris Lawn and Brian Dooher aren’t winners, that they
don’t have steel. It just needs to permeate throughout the whole squad.
And from that will come confidence and results.
Right now the confidence of the players is dented. They’re hearing
all these theories and myths. The confidence of the whole county is
damaged. They’re questioning the board, the players and they’re
particularly questioning me. I can cope with that. I’m used to it. Even
when we were winning Ulster underage titles, I had a man come up to
me with a map. He drew a line down the middle and asked why I had
more players from west Tyrone on the panel than from east Tyrone. I
know that I’ve never been Tyrone’s favourite son. I know that I wasn’t
near the footballer that Eugene was. He was one of the best players to
ever play for the county; I was in and out of the team for ten years
without winning anything except two Dr McKenna Cups. But I have
confidence in my ability as a manager. And I have confidence in the
ability of the players at my disposal. These supporters can say what
they like. A guy who used to coach the Chicago Bulls basketball team,
Johnny Kerr, once said, ‘If you listen to the supporters, you’ll soon end
up sitting with them.’
I do not intend to be sitting near ‘Concerned Tyrone Gael’ any time
soon.
Sunday 24 November
Errigal Ciaran 0-10 Ballinderry 0-4
I think Ballinderry might have underestimated us today. They’d
watch a lot of Tyrone club football, probably didn’t think we were that
hectic in the club championship, and then thought we just beat a jaded
Crossmaglen team last week. They couldn’t cope with the pace of our
two young corner forwards, Rory McCann and Dara Tierney. They’d
have been preparing themselves for Eoin Gormley, a stronger player
and a bigger name, but instead had to contend with two young
whippersnappers without a care in the world. They also struggled to
16

cope with Mark. They put a blockade up to try and cut out the supply
to Peter, but in doing so, sat off Mark and he was still able to thread the
ball through anyway. After fifteen minutes we started to take control
and never looked like letting go off it after that. Maybe Ballinderry
were a bit flat after only two games in eight weeks, I don’t know, but
we were very sharp alright.
It’s a massive win for us, beating the All-Ireland champions, but
again we followed the same routine as last week. TG4 wanted to
interview a few of the players after the game but we had to tell them
no. If we beat Enniskillen in the final next week, then there will be time
to talk, then there will be time to celebrate. Now is still a time to
prepare.
Errigal Ciaran: J Devine; B O’Donnell, C McGinley, D Neill; Emmett McGinley, P
Horisk, D Harte; Pascal Canavan (0-1), P Loughran (0-1); Enda McGinley (0-1), M
Harte, A McGinley (0-1); R McCann (0-1), Peter Canavan (0-4, one free), D Tierney
(0-1).
Subs used: S Quinn for A McGinley, J Lynch for D Tierney.
Sunday 1 December
Errigal Ciaran 0-8 Enniskillen Gaels 1-3
Now the boys can let their hair down. They already have. Our
supporters went mad when the whistle went in Clones today, and so did
the boys when we all got back in the dressing room. We’re just back
from Kelly’s, our sponsors, and the place was just buzzing. We’ve
waited a long time for this in Errigal; nine years now actually. Today
we simply refused to lose. Errigal teams before us had been back in
Ulster finals, in ’97 and 2000, and hadn’t done it, but today we weren’t
going to tolerate defeat. Before the boys went out into that driving rain
and onto that drenched field, I brought them back to our first session in
February when the snow was booming down on the fifty-two of us
there. ‘Lads, do you remember that first night in Ballygawley? Do you
remember us talking about that being the first step in showing we were
17

steely men? Well today, we can make a massive step in showing we
have steel. To go where no Errigal team has gone in nine years, to bring
that Ulster cup back, to show the whole of Ulster we really have steel.’
We did. Pretty football didn’t win it for us today; steel and heart did.
Enniskillen are a good footballing side but those conditions would have
suited them more than a lighter side like us. Whenever someone turned
quickly today, they invariably ended up going to ground. The heavy
ground affected the quality of ball going in; the ball would just skid off
at a low trajectory.
It meant it was a very low scoring game; at half-time it was only
four points to two, to us. Shortly after half-time we lost Pascal through
injury after his jaw was broken in an off-the-ball incident. Enniskillen’s
Neil Cox was put off around the same time but they still kept driving
at us, and with ten minutes to go, they punched a ball to the net and the
sides were level. Our backs were really up against the wall at that stage;
they had the momentum and their crowd was roaring them on. But our
boys responded; they showed they had steel. Paul Horisk, who was
simply outstanding, came up the field and kicked a point. Then Enda
McGinley drilled over another. Then the whistle went.
While the rest of the place is ecstatic, I’m relieved as much as
anything. To me, winning Ulster was base line. Errigal have been
winning one in every two county titles this past decade. The county is
no longer anything that special. As Pascal Canavan said to Marian and
myself the night we won the county, ‘It’s in Ulster that you really earn
your stripes.’ I think we have and I think I have now. I’ve shown the
likes of ‘Concerned Tyrone Gael’ that I’m a decent club manager at
least.
Errigal Ciaran: J Devine; B O’Donnell, C McGinley, D Neill; Emmett McGinley;
P Horisk (0-1), D Harte; Pascal Canavan (0-4, all frees), P Loughran; Enda McGinley
(0-1), M Harte, A McGinley; R McCann (0-2), Peter Canavan, D Tierney.
Subs: S Mallon for D Harte (28 mins), E Gormley for Pascal Canavan (blood sub, 34
mins), E Gormley for A McGinley (44 mins).
18

Tuesday 3 December
I’ve spent the last day or two really absorbing what is the
achievement that is Errigal. There we were on Sunday, ready to fight
and die for each other out on that field in Clones, especially Paul
Horisk and Peter Canavan; there I was on the line, and Dermot
McCann, my selector and good friend, beside me. It’s amazing how
things have changed. Or amazing how things once were. Thirteen years
ago, there was no club called Errigal Ciaran. Thirteen years ago, Peter
Canavan was out of minor and had never played a competitive game of
underage club football in his life. Thirteen years ago his club was
Glencull. So was mine.
Glencull was born out of our old friend in the GAA – the split. Or
maybe it was born out of me. Back in the winter of 1982 it was decided
there should be a winter league to keep boys active in the off-season.
Although our parish was that of St Ciaran’s, Ballygawley, that parish
consisted of four church areas. Garvaghey had its own church and
school; so did Ballygawley, so did Dunmoyle, and so did we in
Glencull; so why not have our own teams for the winter as well?
I ended up being the Glencull manager, which meant right away I
had designs on winning this league. A lot of our fellas hadn’t played
football in some time, so I decided we’d put on the lights in our chapel
yard and for a few nights, run around and do a bit of ballwork there.
Our first game was against Dunmoyle. I didn’t start in it because my
knee was a bit sore but when the score was still only two points each
just after half-time I decided to put myself on to gee the whole thing
up. Looking back on it, I certainly did that.
About ten minutes later, by which time I had happened to set up a
few scores to put us two goals up, I went to fist a ball over the head of
Dermot McCann’s brother, Brendan. When I did though, Brendan
managed to get his hand to it and knock it up in the air. I went up to
punch it on again. Unfortunately it wasn’t the ball I made contact with;
it was poor Brendan’s chin. As I had caught his chin, Brendan caught
the ball. When he came down with it, he looked at me and then swung
at me. I ducked, causing Brendan to swing around so much, he fell to
19

the ground. When he did, I got on top of him with my knees and said
to Brendan, ‘I could bury you here, you know that?’ I didn’t but when
I got to my feet and then Brendan got to his, the referee put the two of
us off.
Later that week I was called up in front of the club committee and
told I had been suspended. I had no problem with being banned from
playing. What I had a problem was not being allowed to manage the
team. Because that’s effectively what they told me. I wasn’t going to be
allowed inside the wire for our next game. Our next game was in
Dunmoyle. If you were outside the wire in Dunmoyle, you were
standing in a bog; you had to be inside the wire or not be there at all
and our players wanted me there. To add insult to injury, that very same
night I was facing the committee, Brendan was allowed to represent the
club in an official GAA handball game. There was an obvious anomaly
there; if he was allowed to play handball, how come I couldn’t manage
our team? Several members of that committee were from Dunmoyle
and they asked Cathal McAnenly, who was from Glencull, to leave. We
felt we weren’t getting a fair hearing. So we pulled out of the
competition. Then we pulled out of the club. And then we decided we’d
start one of our own.
There was a precedent there. Danny Ball’s brother, Paddy, had
formed a breakaway club, Aughabrack, a few years earlier. The county
board had initially rejected their application but Paddy appealed the
decision to Ulster Council and Ulster Council recommended the board
revise their ruling. They did. We went the same route. The board shut
us down. Ulster Council recommended that decision should be
reversed but the board wouldn’t. The following year, about twenty of
us went to county convention, holding placards like ‘Affiliation now!’
Again they ignored us. At centenary convention, I decided enough was
enough. I went up to the table and asked for permission to speak to the
audience. I was told I couldn’t. I said I would any way. I went on to
explain to the delegates our position, that we hadn’t played any football
in over fifteen months and that we felt that should change. After about
ten minutes then, I thanked them, finished and walked out. No one said
a bad word. But it made no difference. For the next six years, Sean
20

Canavan, Peter Quinlivan and myself would go there and every time
the board would reject the recommendation of the Ulster Council. I
went up to Crossmolina to visit Dr Mick Loftus when he was GAA
president but again, he was powerless. The board were not going to
back down to these bearded rebels from Glencull.
We were like a club in every other way. We ran dances and
functions, clearing out garages and workshops like that belonging to
Eoin Gormley’s father, Harry. We bought a wee prefab building from
the YMCA building in Portadown which Harry and his men brought
back to Glencull with their cranes. In that prefab we held committee
meetings, fund-raising meetings, we held Irish-language classes;
events like any other clubhouse would do. We ran nine-a-side
tournaments on our own pitch. We coached underage teams, including
some handy young fellas like Eoin Gormley, Seamus Mallon and one
wee lad called Peter Canavan. Our adult team would go and play any
and every county in the rest of Ulster. We’d often play in Fermanagh,
Armagh and especially teams from south Derry. They played their
football hard up there. I remember going through with the ball one time
against the Loup when this boy slapped me on the head. I said to him,
‘Hey boy, that’s the ball there. Are you colour blind or something?’The
big country lad looked at me and said in his big country-boy drawl,
‘That’s one thing I’m not.’ I’ve heard a lot of lines in my footballing
life but I’ve never heard one as self-deprecating as that.
It wasn’t all fun though. After seven years we were getting tired.
One year I didn’t go to convention and the mood between the county
board and us became less confrontational. Brendan Harkin became
county chairman and we soon realised this was a man who realised we
weren’t renegades; we were good GAA men. Good GAA men have a
sense of place and they love either their football or their hurling.
Brendan helped put in place a spirit of reconciliation. So did the local
curate, Fr Sean Hegarty. He would tell us in Glencull that the rest of the
parish were ready to listen. He would then tell them that we were ready
to talk. Basically - and he’s very proud of this now – he told lies. But
it got us thinking, meeting and talking.
21

While Brendan and Fr Sean were two key figures, there was a third. No
one in the parish had quite seen a footballer like Peter Canavan. The
old club, St Ciaran’s Ballygawley, had lost a county final in 1989 and
it would have dawned on them they’d probably have won it if a certain
eighteen-year-old had been playing. In 1990, we all came back
together. Errigal Ciaran was formed. Glencull were let enter a team as
Errigal B in the junior championship that year and then, after that,
Glencull became Errigal. That same year, along with two Dunmoyle
men called Francie Mulgrew and Mickey Mullin, I coached the under-
16s to the Grade One league title. By 1993 the seniors had reached the
county final. I was a sub that day but felt I could have some influence
so before the game I had a few words with one of our players. ‘Sixty-
one years without a county title coming back to this parish. It’s been
too long. Someone has to step up, someone has to make the difference.’
‘Aye,’Peter Canavan said, ‘we’ve got to play like wicked wee men.’
That day against Moortown, Peter played like Peter Canavan, we
won and the club hasn’t looked back since. We are all Errigal men, as
tight as any club in the country. Most of the new generation of Errigal
kids would never have even heard tell of the Glencull years. For those
of us who lived them, it’s still there. We’ll all look back at them in
different ways. For those who didn’t play, for those who weren’t
involved in the old St Ciaran’s club, it must have been great craic; the
rebel in Michaela sometimes says to me, ‘God, I’d love to have been
around back then.’ But I know there must be others who must feel they
lost more than they gained in those years. No one was pressurised into
staying, everyone only played for Glencull if they wanted to, but for
those like Stephen Canavan who wanted to play for Tyrone as well, it
must have been extremely hard.
I know. I was twenty-eight that day I went up for a ball with Dermot
McCann’s brother, Brendan. The next time I played a competitive
game of football, I was thirty-six. It finished my inter-county career.
But I can live with that. Because for what I lost on the field, I gained
more from what I learned off it. I learned how to lead, how to nurture
a cause. I learned that if you can create a win-win situation like the
birth of Errigal Ciaran, then that’s the way to do things. And I learned
22

that there’s a stubborn streak in me. That at times, you have to fight,
that at times, you have to be ‘wicked wee men’.
Last Sunday in the rain of Clones, in the cause of Errigal, the spirit
of Glencull was still there.
Sunday 15 December
Tyrone had a trial match today in Edendork, a county selection
against my alma mater, St Mary’s Training College, or the Ranch as
we’ve always known it. We had trials last weekend as well and we’ll
have another one next Sunday, but I have a good idea now what my
panel will be. I’m going to call Frank McGuigan junior up to the panel.
He’s twenty-four or so now but he’s one of the best scoring forwards in
Tyrone club football and he’s done enough these past two weekends to
suggest he can score at county level too. Today he scored five points in
our 2-20 to 1-15 win, and always looked a threat.
I’m going to call up his Ardboe clubmate, Gavin Devlin, as well. I
was a bit concerned that Gavin might have been out of shape, having
been left off the 2002 panel, but these trials have suggested to me he’s
still the same Horse Devlin that was the pivot of our defence in the
2001 under-21 team. He’s still a superb reader of the game, he’s still
constantly an outlet and he still constantly encourages teammates. I
don’t think any Tyrone team should be without him and I know no
Mickey Harte team will.
Wednesday 18 December
Pascal Canavan indicated to me today that he won’t be playing for
Tyrone next year. I met him at the Glencull primary school Christmas
play where his children go and where I’ve been the video man for that
play for nearly fifteen years. I said to him, ‘How do you feel about the
coming year with Tyrone?’ He said he wasn’t sure. I think I might have
caught him on a bad day because his broken jaw is still at him but I still
got the impression that it’s something he’s thought about. He doesn’t
23

think he’s prepared to make the commitment and I’ve pretty much told
him that I need a commitment soon.
I can see where he’s coming from; Pascal must be thirty-four now,
he’s married with kids and he’s given a lot of years to Tyrone as it is.
I’d prefer if he stayed on. He brings great stability and security to a
team; he can play that role of a holding or sweeping midfielder and he
always makes himself an outlet when the pressure is on. He’d be a
great man to have with five or ten minutes to go in Clones or Croke
Park. But we’re finishing up our trials on Sunday and I’ll have to cut
some boys who were definitely prepared to give the commitment.
Today it appears Pascal has cut himself.
Sunday 29 December
Errigal were back training today, our first session together since the
win over Enniskillen. I think giving the boys a break, especially in the
run up to Christmas, was the right thing to do. We’re going to be
playing Nemo Rangers from Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final. I’ve
noticed that they take a similar approach these past few years and it
seems to have worked for them. I remember reading something around
the time of their semi-final against O’Hanrahan’s of Carlow in the 2001
semi-final. The Nemo boys were allowed take a break, head off to the
gym on their own if they liked; the Carlow boys kept training together
three or four times a week all through December. If we’re to beat
Nemo, we have to meet their freshness. Who knows how that game
will go. Who knows how 2003 will go?
I already know how I’ll be bringing in the New Year. Myself and
Marian will go over to her parents’ house five miles down the road in
Sixmilecross, just as we have nearly every New Year since we’ve been
married. I’d imagine Mattie will come over with us to Pat and Nan’s,
but it looks like Michaela will give it a skip this year, and instead head
into Omagh with her friends; it’s her nineteenth birthday that night as
well.
It should be a nice, quiet night. Life has been very good to us in
24

2002, especially me. The only downer all year from a football
perspective really was when the reserves lost their county semi-final by
a point. St Ciaran’s won the under-16 and under-18 All-Ireland
vocational schools titles. The county under-21 team retained the Ulster
title even though we didn’t have nearly as much talent as the previous
two teams. Then with Errigal, the seniors won the county league and
championship and the Ulster club. The under-21s won their county
championship. And the reserves won their league, going unbeaten in all
seventeen games. When I look back on it, it has been an incredible
year.
And yet I’m aware 2003 has to be better.
25

26

2
HARTE ACHES
If you expect to achieve results that you never in your past
accomplished, then you must expect to employ yourself at a level never
before attempted. People keep looking for the secret of success. The
secret lies in the mirror!
George Zalucki
I don’t want to be a great captain; I want to be captain of a great team.
Peter Canavan
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an
invincible summer.
Camus
27

Friday 3 January
Our county board really want Sam Maguire. Today confirmed that
for me. There are two types of county boards in our sport. One kind
says to a management team, “Whatever you want’; the other says,
‘Why would you want that?’ Our board’s attitude is very much the
former.
It was in Kelly’s Inn, this meeting between the board’s officers, Fr
Gerard, Paddy, myself and Seamus Cassidy. Seamus is my brother-in-
law and the team doctor. Today we spoke to the board about this system
called Nerve-Express he’s interested in buying from the States. Paul
Doris, the former county chairman, told him about it after hearing
about it from his Dungannon clubmate, David Heffernan, the dentist.
It’s something the old Soviet Union invented to measure the fitness of
their Olympic athletes and whether their system instinctively responds
to stress in a positive or negative manner.
The way it works is this. A chest-strap sensor is attached to a player
so his heart-rate variability is picked up by a special microphone. The
impulses from that microphone are then sent to the computer to assess
the impact of that heart-rate variability on the autonomic nervous
system. The player lies down for a few minutes. Then, after the
computer beeps, he stands up for another three or four minutes. Ten
minutes or so after that, a read-out is compiled with a co-ordinate.
Along the x-axis are thirteen gradations of the possible functioning
levels of your physiological systems; along the y-axis are seven levels
of the adaptation reserves of that player’s heart. In other words, that
read-out can tell you whether a player’s problem is physical or non-
physical; whether he’s emotionally stressed or possibly physically
over-trained. 13-7 is the worst you can get; 1-1 is the optimum.
We feel it’ll be very useful in gauging a player’s fitness, mentally
and physically. If he’s struggling, we’ll be able to confirm our own
suspicions whether it is training-related or not. As Seamus puts it, ‘It’s
a way of addressing issues which are otherwise difficult to address.’
The board are favourable to it. It costs over two thousand pounds but
28

HARTE ACHES
they realise it has an application beyond just this team and this year.
We then spoke of another piece of equipment which would help our
cause. My friend Peter Quinlivan, who’s married to Peter Canavan’s
sister, Agnes, has recently bought that Focus X2 performance-analysis
video software that Denise Martin showed us in Errigal in the lead-up
to a few of the Ulster club games. Peter will be doing a lot of work
with it for us in the season ahead so I was hoping the board might be
able to compensate him somewhat for that purchase. Again they
agreed; Peter is the county hurling manager as well so they know
they’re dealing with a solid citizen.
Speaking of solid citizens, Peter Doherty, the county under-21
manager, called over to the house the other day. We talked about the
three players that are on both our panels. The fact the seniors will be
training together only one night a week for another three months will
help Peter. I know from having managed at that level myself the
importance of your senior players attending training. Peter’s sessions
will be better sessions when Sean Cavanagh, John Devine and Dermot
Carlin are there. When he has an important game coming up, he can
have the players that week; when we have one, we’re to have them.
There shouldn’t be any problems on that front. Like the board we’re
both seeing the bigger picture. It’s all about what’s best for Tyrone.
Saturday 4 January
I don’t know Frank ‘Pancho’ Martin and I doubt whether he knows
me, but something that American horse trainer once said struck a
chord with me. ‘My horses get the best hay in the country,’ he
proclaimed. ‘It is grown specially and vanned across the country to my
barn. My horses are bedded down in the best straw money can buy. If
I have a stakes horse running anywhere but at Belmont, I take him to
the rack in a private van. Why should I spend months working on a
horse, then load him into a van with a lot of other horses and run the
risk that he will be kicked?’
I’d like to think I have a similar attitude. The welfare of the
29

thoroughbreds that are our players are paramount to me. Which is why
we did what we did today. Those members of our panel who weren’t
over in the Canaries with the 2002 panel underwent a medical
interview and physio check-up. We conducted it in the practice of my
local GP, Dr David McCord, hiring out his premises in Aughnacloy for
six hours. Each player was booked in with another for a half-hour slot.
While Seamus was checking the health of one player, I talked to the
other about the season ahead. I told each of them he was on the panel
because he was a quality act but that the whole panel was made up of
quality. The only guarantee was that they’d have to fight extremely
hard if they were to win a spot on the team.
The check-up was a statement. It let each fella know this was a fresh
start; that Seamus and myself wouldn’t be assuming anything. It also
let each player know he is valued as both a person and as an athlete.
How many of them routinely go to their local GPs? And how many of
their local GPs differentiate between them and Joe Soap off the street?
Today Seamus did. He was looking out for little things about their
health that they mightn’t have been aware of, so we could pre-empt
rather than react to a potential problem. The players now know they
can come forward later in the year without fear if they have any
difficulty. They won’t be imposing on us; we’re there to help them.
I think today worked very well. Seamus learned a lot from it, most
notably that we have quite a few asthmatics on the team and that some
others have greater flexibility problems than we envisaged. It’s
important that Fr Gerard, myself and particularly Paddy knew about
those. It’s important we know about the state of the boys in the
Canaries too before they even start training, let alone near
championship time. Dr McCord’s practice will be hired out for another
six hours next Saturday.
I got a phonecall while we were there. Tomorrow’s Dr McKenna
Cup game against Fermanagh is off; Brewster Park is frozen. That suits
me grand. A lot of our panel were only getting back from the Canaries
tonight. I had a fair idea which of them I could have used after a week’s
holidays and those that I couldn’t but now I’ve been saved that bother.
The game’s been fixed for next Sunday week.
30

HARTE ACHES
Monday 6 January
Tonight I believe was a historic night for Tyrone football. Tonight
at Quinn’s Corner our panel met for the first time. Quinn’s is known
as Paudge Quinn’s, the name of its owner. Paudge is the only Tyrone
man to score a goal in an All-Ireland senior final. Tonight the boys
basically decided that it’s time another man joined him. We are going
all out to reach that final and win that final. That mood didn’t emanate
just from me or from management; it was the overriding sentiment of
everyone who formed the circle tonight.
Willie John Dolan, our team sponsor, was invited into that circle but
couldn’t make it because of illness. Thankfully, Liam Nelis, the county
chairman, could. I told everyone that Liam and the county board were
in the circle, not outside it; that there would be no ‘us-versus-them’
scenario as is too common in our sport. Mickey Moynagh and Francie
Goulding, our equipment men, were in it. So was Jim Curran and
Frank Campbell, our liaison men. So was Seamus and our physios,
Siobhan McGuinness and Sharon McCann. And, of course, so were
the thirty players. We pointed out that everyone in the circle was
important because everyone in that circle would be doing his or her
utmost to bring that All Ireland to Tyrone.
We spoke regularly about bringing things ‘to another level’; about
doing things differently. ‘If you keep doing the same things,’ I said,
‘you’ll keep getting the same results.’We gave them an outline of how
we’d be approaching the year. That we’d be out to win every game, be
it Dr McKenna Cup, league or championship. That we’d be using
video and statistical analysis endlessly. That we’d be training only
once a week collectively until the end of March but that each player
would have to workout individually twice a week to a strength and
conditioning programme devised by Paddy. Tonight was the first time
most of them would have come across Paddy. They must have been
impressed. He’s only twenty-nine, which means he’s younger than
some of them, but I don’t think any of them can doubt that he knows
what he’s talking about. They can’t doubt his conviction either.
Tonight he told them, ‘I’m not going to make you sprinters, distance
31

runners or weightlifters; my job is to make you the best Gaelic football
athlete you can be.’ He talked in technical but understandable terms
about diet and hydration. They were to eat, or ‘reload’ as he put it,
within two hours of working out; there’s a window there when your
metabolism is working hard to break down any carbohydrates you
have, so the sooner you eat, the sooner that food is broken down and
the recovery process starts. The days of steak and chips are out; eating
white meat, baked potatoes, fish and pasta is in. So is plenty of water.
They’re to drink a minimum of two litres a day now, and coming up to
a game, three litres. Then towards the end I declared that Peter Canavan
will be Tyrone captain for 2003. He re-affirmed just why when he was
given the floor. He didn’t speak for long but what he said made the
hairs of my neck, for one, stand. ‘I don’t want to be a great captain,’ he
declared, ‘I want to be a captain of a great team.’ The power of that for
me isn’t in what he’s saying but in what he’s asking. He’s asking these
players to be great players. He’s saying, ‘I’ve had my day of doing
everything and I’ve done it as long as I can. It has to change. I’ll be
doing my best but don’t expect me to carry you again; it’s up to you to
make this work.’ He’s thrown out a challenge to everyone who was in
that room tonight.
‘I don’t want to be a great captain; I want to be a captain of a great
team.’ That could be quoted again this year.
Thursday 9 January
Tonight the hard work started. In Augher, in the cold, under the
lights. Ulster and All Irelands can be won and lost on nights like these.
Men like Mickey Moynagh and Francie Goulding will do their best to
make sure they’re not lost. I know that from tonight. Some players
despise nights like this one; Francie and Mickey seem to relish them.
Francie is our ice man. While the team were out training tonight, he
filled with water these tubs which can hold two or three men. Then
when we had about fifteen minutes left in our session, he carried these
buckets of ice into the dressing room and loaded them into the tubs.
When the players walked into the dressing room, their first exercise
32

HARTE ACHES
was to jump into those tubs for thirty seconds, step out, head into the
shower for another thirty and then back into the ice for thirty. By the
end of the exercise, they had been in both the ice and the showers
three times. It helps reduce lactic acid and speeds up their recovery
time. That was the drill tonight and it’ll be the drill after every session
from here on. For big Francie will be there, with his big smile. He’s
just so glad to be back with the boys of ’97.
I haven’t worked directly with Mickey Moynagh before but I know
him; he told me last year about a cleaners in Omagh which cleans the
jerseys at a very reasonable price. I also know previous Tyrone senior
management teams appreciated him. Wherever the next station the
boys are going to be at for a drill, he makes sure the water bottles are
there. He makes sure we have 15 footballs there. He makes sure the
cones that Paddy and myself put out are taken away. He makes sure
the boys have energy drinks when they hit the dressing room because
he pours those drinks into a beaker for every one of them. Mickey
must be about my age and must be more folically-challenged than
Peter or myself but he’s as energetic and enthusiastic as a teenager.
Any man who respects and values his Tyrone jersey respects and
values Mickey Moynagh. In fact, I believe the two are inter-linked.
In our dressing room on match day, your jersey is on the table,
folded with the number out. If you’re our first-choice goalkeeper, your
name and number is the first that is called out. You collect your jersey,
everybody else observes and you walk back to your place. It’s the
same drill if you’re number thirty. Then when everyone has a jersey
they put their two arms into it. They don’t pull it over their head yet.
They only do that together, simultaneously. Those are just jerseys and
they’re just individuals until that point. But when they pull those
jerseys over their heads, they do so as a team. It is an act of unity, an
act of a team.
After the game, the same principles apply. I don’t care if we’ve won
or lost, whether you were substituted, sent off or scored 2-8, you treat
the jersey with respect. We say, ‘Right, boys, we’re going to lift the
jerseys.’ That means you fold it and when your number is called, you
leave it back as close as possible to how you found it, folded with the
33

number out. Any Tyrone team I’ve coached has done the same since
1991. It has nothing to do with putting fellas down or having an
authority over them. I just can’t abide by the notion that you just fling
your jersey somewhere and someone else picks it up for you. What
right have you to do that? That jersey has to be looked after and
prepared for the next game; the best way you can have that is to leave
it in an organised and presentable fashion. I know. I was the bagman
for eight years with the Tyrone minors. I put away those jerseys and
gave them to Marian every time we played. If you throw your jersey on
the ground, you’re disrespecting people like my wife. And Mickey
Moynagh.
In my eyes, no star out there tonight was bigger than him or Francie
Goulding.
Sunday 12 January
Tyrone 1-13 Fermanagh 1-11
The kind of start we wanted to get off to – a winning one. A game
like today’s was worth four challenge games. If we were seven down
shortly before half-time in a challenge game, we wouldn’t have fought
back. But today we did. It was a competitive game and for all our
flaws, we were certainly that – competitive.
Conditions were treacherous; it was like skating on ice in the first
half. Both teams were there though and you sensed that the players
wanted to play. Fermanagh’s certainly did. They had more than three
thousand people shouting for them in Brewster Park today and they
were out to impress them. After we scored the game’s first two points,
Fermanagh scored the next 1-6, with Raymie Gallagher and Ciaran
Donnelly particularly rampant. Just before half-time though we picked
off a few scores, including a wondrous one from Cormac McAnallen.
It gave us a real lift coming into the dressing room and within five
minutes of leaving it again, we were ahead through a penalty from
Mark Harte.
34

HARTE ACHES
Overall, I’m quite pleased. We were without Peter, who’s away
with the All Stars in San Diego. The five lads who were making their
debuts with Tyrone all did very well. Gavin Devlin and Paul Horisk
impressed in the half-back line. Mark scored 1-3, Frank McGuigan
scored four points, while possibly our best player of the lot was Ryan
Mellon, who won, carried and laid off so much ball. Collectively we
weren’t great but that’s something another McKenna Cup game next
week gives us a chance to work on.
Tyrone: John Devine; C Gormley, C McGinley, M McGee; P Horisk, G Devlin, P
Jordan; C McAnallen (0-2), P Loughran (0-1); O Mulligan (0-1), M Harte (1-3, 1-1
frees), S O’Neill (0-1); F McGuigan (0-4), R Mellon, S Cavanagh.
Subs: B McGuigan (0-1) for Mulligan, G Cavlan for Cavanagh, R McMenamin for
McGinley, C Holmes for Gormley.
Wednesday 15 January
A very strange thing happened last night. It must have been about
one o’clock when the phone rang. I answered it, thinking it might be
one of the children in Belfast. It wasn’t.
‘Mickey Harte?!’
‘Yes?’
‘There’s something I want to say to you! There’s a few people who
should be on that panel of yours who aren’t!’
Now, I had two options here. I could tell him to get lost, end up in
a slanging match and hang up, or I could tell him that I respected his
opinion but he had to respect mine. Marian beside me felt I should
have gone for the former but I went for the latter. I said there were a
lot of very good footballers in Tyrone but that I could only pick thirty
for the panel; that if I afforded him the courtesy of suggesting his
opinion, he must expect the same of mine. I could tell from the tone of
his voice that he was surprised, and then, that he had mellowed. He
started saying things like, ‘Well, that’s fair enough.’ He then put me on
to his friend, who sounded like he was in some bar or niteclub with
him. He started off quite assertively too, but again he began to warm
to my courtesy. I began to warm to their audacity. I asked them where
35

they were. They were out in Belfast. I asked them was their night spot
any good. They said it was fine. I then asked who they were.
‘Sure,’ says the second one, ‘you can call us the Midnight Callers.’
And at that, we left it.
As I say, a strange one.
Saturday 18 January
I don’t like challenge games. I particularly didn’t like the one
Errigal had against St Mary’s today. It ended up a mess.
We were without the two Canavans with Peter being away with the
All Stars and Pascal still out with his broken jaw, while at half-time I
decided to take off Mark Harte, Paul Horisk and Enda McGinley. I felt
it was only fair. Tyrone are playing tomorrow and those three players
deserve some minutes in that game if they’re to push for a spot on the
county team. They had already given half an hour to their club; now we
owed it to them to rest up for their game with the county. We were
certainly weaker without them though and a few of the other lads ended
up coming off with injuries. After being level at half-time we ended up
losing by five points. I’m sure we’ll be ready for Nemo in a month’s
time but today didn’t really help us in our preparations for it.
Sunday 19 January
Tyrone 3-16 Antrim 2-8
I was pleased with our first-half performance today in Coalisland. I
wasn’t so mad about the second half. I told the players at the break that
it was nil-all again yet Antrim came out and scored the first three
points. In the last minute Kevin Brady found the net, which meant they
outscored us 2-5 to 1-7 after the break. I heard Philip Jordan say to
reporters afterwards that he was disappointed that Antrim won the
second half. That he wasn’t happy means I am.
I was also pleased to hear Gavin Devlin shout to his team-mates
after Antrim’s quick burst early in the second half, ‘For God’s sake,
36

HARTE ACHES
raise it, boys – we’re three-nil down!’ Not only did it show the
standards he aspires to but it was a collective criticism. I’ve already
spoken to the lads about how personalised verbal abuse is not
acceptable on this team. Like everyone else I admire Roy Keane but I
don’t admire how he scowls at team-mates, especially the Nevilles. I
don’t think it helps their game or their confidence one bit, being
admonished like that. Fear leads to more mistakes, not less. I don’t
think Roy Keane, Peter Canavan or anybody has the right to do that. If
they want to help a team-mate, bad-mouthing them won’t do it.
There was little reason to bad-mouth any of our boys in the first half.
Especially Owen Mulligan. Within three minutes he had scored two
goals. Within another twenty, he had added three points before going
off with a slight knock. By then the whole team was buzzing. It was
foggy if sunny from the line today but it didn’t seem foggy to the lads;
they combined brilliantly in those first thirty minutes. In truth, the
game was over at half-time. We didn’t play so great afterwards but
there’s a lesson to be learned from that. The lads now know I don’t just
say ‘The best way to defend a lead is to attack it’ for the craic. If we
didn’t keep pushing forward today, scoring that 1-7 after half-time, we
could have been in trouble.
Tyrone: P McConnell; R McMenamin, C Holmes, M McGee; P Horisk, G Devlin, P
Jordan (0-1); C McAnallen, K Hughes (0-2); E McGinley (0-1), B McGuigan (0-1),
R Mellon (0-1); M Harte (0-5, three frees), O Mulligan (2-3), F McGuigan.
Subs: S Cavanagh (1-2) for Mulligan (injured), P Loughran for McAnallen, C
Gormley for Hughes, B Robinson for Horisk.
Thursday 23 January
We had a pharmacist from Aughnacloy called Brendan McSorley in
to talk to the Tyrone boys after training in Augher tonight. We felt it
was vital that the boys knew early on what exactly is on and isn’t on
the IOC-banned substances list and which medications they can and
cannot take. Just to put the boys’ minds at ease, they were all handed a
kit containing some basic – and totally legal – remedies. If they’re to
take anything that isn’t in that little kit bag, they’re to call Seamus or
37

Brendan. Brendan also gave them some tablets as part of a ten-day
detox programme. This is as good a time of the year as any to clean
out the system.
Saturday 25 January
Today Errigal had what is known in the modern era as one of those
team-bonding days. We went down to Sligo where we played some
pitch and putt, then stopped off in Bundoran for some indoor bowling
before having a team meeting in Kelly’s. No one came out and said it
straight but I sensed from some of the senior players that they feel that
Errigal aren’t getting enough attention or focus from those of us
involved in the Tyrone set-up. They’re obviously not happy with how
the game against St Mary’s last week panned out but I think their
reservations are misplaced. I think it’s better for our seven county
players to be available to play in Tyrone’s first two league games and
travel to the third one in Dublin. Playing for the county will sharpen up
their game more than a series of challenge games will. I spoke to Peter
Canavan about this a while back and he agreed. I must speak to those
seven county players after Tyrone’s McKenna Cup semi-final in
Breffni Park tomorrow.
Sunday 26 January
Tyrone 2-11 Cavan 0-10
Peter played his first game for us today. What a difference he makes.
He was winning frees, putting them over himself, setting up scores for
others; Cavan couldn’t live with him. The wheels started to come off
our wagon just before half-time though and with fifteen minutes to go
Cavan had closed it back to within a point of us. I wasn’t happy about
it and had to make some changes. Peter Loughran hasn’t been able to
do much collective training with us in recent weeks with the opening
of his new bar and it showed. Not long after I had brought him on, I
38

HARTE ACHES
took him off again. It was a tough decision but he wasn’t doing himself
or the team any favours. The move worked. Stephen O’Neill came in
and kicked two wonderful points. Ryan Mellon switched from the wing
to midfield where he thrived, scoring a late goal to ensure the win for
us. I’m happy. We’ve now won three games from three, we’re through
to the McKenna Cup final and we enter the league next week with our
confidence high.
I called the Errigal boys together when we were dropped off on the
bus back. I told them that I’d be hoping to pick some of them to start
against Roscommon next week, that they’d be togged out for the
Galway game in Pomeroy even though I’d hope not to have to play
them, and that they’d travel down to the Dublin game the week before
Errigal’s semi-final against Nemo. I also said that they could make
county training for the next two Thursday nights; it would be good for
Tyrone if they were there. The boys are to think about it over the
coming days as will I.
Tyrone: P McConnell; C Gormley, C McGinley, M McGee; R McMenamin (0-1), G
Devlin, P Jordan; C Holmes, K Hughes (0-1); E McGinley, B McGuigan (0-2), R
Mellon (1-1); F McGuigan, S Cavanagh (1-1), P Canavan (0-3, two frees).
Subs: P Loughran for E McGinley, S O’Neill (0-2) for Loughran, B Robinson for
McGee, B Dooher for Cavanagh.
Thursday 30 January
We trained without the Errigal boys tonight. After some
consideration the boys feel they have to focus totally on Errigal until
the club championship campaign is over. I have a feeling reports from
Dunloy, where their hurlers are out something like four or five nights a
week ahead of their semi-final against Mount Sion are impacting on the
thinking within our own club. Obviously up there they feel more is
better. I personally don’t subscribe to that school of thought but it’s
clear some of the boys now do after the St Mary’s game. I can see
where they’re coming from. There’s a lot of pressure coming from
within the whole club. The worst thing that can be said about a player,
39

even if he’s an All Star, is for a clubmate to be able to say, ‘Ah, but
what did he do for the club that year?’ We lost to Nemo at the same
stage nine years ago; the lads won’t have it said that we lost to them
again without having given it everything. And if that’s how the boys
feel about it, I have to go with it. The group ethos is often more
important than personal preference. Twenty years ago, I’d probably
have said, ‘Feck ye all; it’s my way, simple as that.’ But I’ve matured.
I realise that sometimes you have to compromise in the short term for
the long-term good. This compromise is for the long-term good. If I
was to stick to my guns, there would be disunity in the club and we’d
have no chance against Nemo.
Tyrone could be down more than just the Errigal boys heading
to Roscommon. Gerald Cavlan, Declan McCrossan, Chris Lawn,
Seamus Mulgrew and Dermot Carlin are all carrying knocks and will
have to undergo fitness tests on Saturday. We could be down to as few
as twenty players heading to Hyde Park. I think I’ll have to call up a
few lads from outside the panel, like Mickey Coleman, Peter Donnelly
and Ciaran McRory. I’m somewhat helped by the fact John Devine has
volunteered to travel as back-up to Pascal McConnell. It wouldn’t have
been fair on Peter Ward to ask him to go all the way to Roscommon just
to sit on the bench and then be dropped off the panel again. I’m grateful
to John for this display of commitment to myself and Tyrone.
Sunday 2 February
Roscommon 0-11 Tyrone 0-10
This was the last thing I wanted. I don’t like losing the first of
anything, especially a first national league game as Tyrone senior
manager. Now we’re under pressure right away. Roscommon are
perceived as the weakest team in this division; Tyrone and themselves
are the only teams in our section who didn’t make last year’s All-
Ireland quarter-finals. Already we’re playing catch up with the rest.
We weren’t helped by some injuries. On top of those we had by
40

HARTE ACHES
Thursday night, Cormac McAnallen and Kevin Hughes had to cry off.
That meant we had to assemble a new midfield by moving Ryan
Mellon and Collie Holmes there and risking Chris Lawn at full back.
The latter part of that move didn’t come off. Chris had to come off at
half-time with a recurrence of his groin injury. In other circumstances
we wouldn’t have risked him.
For all that, we played well in the first half. We were eight points to
four up by half-time and looking comfortable. In truth, we should have
been much further ahead, but we shot eight wides with the wind.
Roscommon were all out to impress Tommy Carr, their new manager.
When they were reduced to fourteen men, it seemed to inspire them
even more. The crowd got behind them and it became a real battle.
Referee Pat Foxe, I have to say, hardly gave us anything after
putting off Jonathon Dunning in the fifteenth minute. He continuously
let them away with what might be described as over-zealous tackling.
We fought hard but so did Roscommon. We were three up with twelve
minutes to go but they clawed their way back and in the closing
seconds Gerry Lohan pointed a free from fifty metres out. We must
now win next Sunday against Galway. We simply have to.
Tyrone: P McConnell; C Gormley, C Lawn, M McGee; R McMenamin, G Devlin, P
Jordan; R Mellon (0-3), C Holmes; B Dooher, B McGuigan (0-1), S O’Neill (0-2); F
McGuigan, S Cavanagh, O Mulligan (0-4, all frees).
Subs: B Robinson for Lawn (injured, half-time), P Donnelly for F McGuigan (52
mins), D McCrossan for McMenamin (59 mins).
Wednesday 5 February
Tonight was a good workout for Errigal. We beat Sligo IT under
their lights, 2-9 to 0-10. It was considerably more beneficial than the
challenge game we had against the Donegal under-21s in Letterkenny
on Saturday. That was a waste of time; we blew them away. We’ve
another game fixed for Saturday against the Tyrone under-21s. It’s all
in keeping with this ‘More is better’ thinking that’s come in since the
game against the Ranch. I personally would be in favour of only one,
41

not three, challenge games, but this Sligo game was worthwhile.
On the way to the game I put on a video of the 1994 semi-final
between Errigal and Nemo. I wanted to remind the players of the thin
line and yet the world of difference there is between victory and defeat.
It’s something we’ve emphasised before. In the lead-up to the county
final against Killyclogher last September, I showed the lads the scene
after the 2000 final when they beat Carrickmore and then the scene
after they had lost the 2001 decider. The difference between celebration
and devastation was up to them.
I also wanted them to realise just how devastating one of their future
opponents would be. When that 1994 semi-final in Newbridge entered
injury time, we were two points up. Most of our supporters were
whistling for full time; the rest of them were making their way down to
the wire, ready to invade that pitch. But they never did. First Colin
Corkery stepped up to take a fifty-five-metre free out on the left wing;
then, from the kickout, he pointed a free from beyond the forty-five-
metre line. In extra time he scored the game’s only goal and Nemo
ended up winning by five. Nine years later Corkery is still with Nemo
and the pain of that day is still with Errigal. We can make it go away.
But we mustn’t give away any soft frees.
Thursday 6 February
Tonight in training we worked very hard on breaking the tackle and
supporting the man on the ball. Peter Quinlivan and myself went
through the video of the Roscommon game several times earlier in the
week. A few things struck us. We were caught out too often by their re-
starts; they were able to find free men who then had time and space on
the ball. But the thing that jumped out at us most of all was that our
players repeatedly went into a crowd of Roscommon players and were
pushed back too easily. And when they were, they were looking to
offload to someone else. To make it even worse, that someone else
wasn’t coming off the shoulder with authority or pace.
We set up drills tonight to address the problem. While we like our
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HARTE ACHES
players to have a range of evasive skills, they also need to deal with
the discomfort of severe tackling. The reality is that referees don’t
strictly implement the rules of our game. You’re meant to tackle with
the open hand but defenders are repeatedly allowed to use their fist.
But you have to cope with it. If you get the ball and there’s people
hanging off you, knocking you back, you have to make a decision.
‘Am I going to be knocked back or am I going to get through that?’
You have to go out there, feel what it’s like and know you’re capable
of getting over that discomfort.
Tonight we got our players to pass the ball to someone and look for
the return. When they did, they were met with resistance right away.
They had to use their strength, their arms, their determination just to
get past their marker and go for that return. When they did get that
return pass, they then had to bring the ball across a thirty-metre
channel, with men still hanging off them, before they were allowed to
release the ball. We wanted the defenders applying that pressure, that
torture without fouling, without rugby-tackling. We don’t want people
doing things that they’re not going to get away with in games; we want
them taking it to the limit of the rules. Because we want our players
when they’re in possession to know what it’s like to deal with that
close attention. Are you going to be turned back or are you going to
break through? Because as I said to them, ‘If you turn back easily,
you’ll be turned back every time.’
I think the signs were encouraging tonight that they won’t. They’ve
bought into the whole mentality of attacking that first tackle. And if by
chance it isn’t on, they have someone coming off their shoulder
steaming through at pace. We plan to show the Roscommon video on
Saturday evening to hammer home the point.
Someone else has been hammering home another point. Kevin
Hughes, a local writer, seems to have nothing else to do up here but
pick holes in the Tyrone county board and the Tyrone management in
particular. He was casting aspersions on the idea of the Errigal men not
being in Hyde Park and what would happen whenever they came back;
would we turf out the men who were there at the minute? Another
local reporter believes that last Sunday’s performance was ‘a
43

disgrace’. I once again think to myself the luxury of these people who
have nothing else to think about. I’m coaching Errigal each Monday,
Wednesday and Friday night; I’m coaching two school teams for Ulster
semi-finals; I’m training Tyrone; I’m doing youth work three nights a
week; I have a business to run; and, of course, I have a family. I’m very
thankful and grateful that my wife and family are very supportive and
so immersed in the football ethic but you want to spend time with them
too. And I do. I think I’m maintaining a good balance. You can’t be
exclusive to one thing and I think I’ve responded well in keeping all
those things going.
But then, when you lose, you’re criticised. I should expect such
remarks by this stage.
Saturday 8 February
If the word I used for the Errigal workout against Sligo was ‘useful’,
I’d have to describe the one today against the county under-21s as
‘lively’. Tempers were frayed and I have to say, on the line I was
thinking, ‘This isn’t a bad way to have things; this is quite
competitive.’ We ended up winning 0-13 to 0-5 which means we’ve
won our last three challenge games heading into the Nemo game in a
fortnight’s time.
The Tyrone panel met at five o’clock in Paudge Quinn’s. We went
through a good deal of the Roscommon video so they could see for
themselves what we were talking to them about on Thursday night.
That should reinforce the point. Martin McHugh certainly thinks we’ll
need whatever little edge we can get before tomorrow’s game. He’s
tipped Galway as this year’s All-Ireland champions on the basis of
them stuffing Donegal last Sunday. Well, we’ll see.
44

HARTE ACHES
Sunday 9 February
Tyrone 1-13 Galway 0-11
There were stages where I feared this could be Hyde Park all over
again. Once more we were jinxed with injury, Stephen O’Neill and
Ryan McMenamin both having to come off within twenty-five
minutes of the start. And once more we were 0-8 to 0-4 up at half-time.
When Galway came back to within two points of us with about twelve
minutes to go, I was going, ‘This can’t happen again.’ The lads made
sure it didn’t. Kevin Hughes caught a kickout, put it out to Philip
Jordan, who in turn put it down the line to Owen Mulligan. Owen had
been skinning Kieran Fitzgerald all day and this time he did so again.
Brian Dooher at this stage was streaming through the middle and
screaming for the ball, so Owen gave it to him. Brian duly stepped
inside the goalie and kicked into an empty net. It was a great score and
a real cushion. We scored the next four points after that before Galway
kicked a few consolation points towards the end.
It was a brilliant performance as well as a brilliant win. There was
a marked improvement in the areas we highlighted during the week.
Galway found it much harder than Roscommon to pick out men from
free kicks. We also broke more tackles. There was a greater sense of
purpose about the team. There were plenty of individual displays to be
excited about as well. Frank McGuigan kicked four points from play.
Mulligan scored four as well; that kind of inside scoring power wasn’t
evident in Hyde Park. Ciaran Gourley went in at corner back for Ryan
McMenamin and snuffed Derek Savage out of it. Kevin Hughes and
Ryan Mellon ran midfield, Brian McGuigan destroyed John Divilly,
Seamus Mulgrew won a lot of ball even if he was occasionally jittery
on it, while Brian Dooher was Brian Dooher; simply everywhere.
If we had lost our first two games, we were looking at a fight
against relegation, not one for a semi-final spot. We are a more
confident team tonight than the one we were this morning.
45

Tyrone: P McConnell; R McMenamin, C Holmes, C Gormley, P Jordan, G Devlin,
D McCrossan; R Mellon, K Hughes (0-1); B Dooher (1-1), B McGuigan (0-1), S
O'Neill (0-2, both frees); F McGuigan (0-4), O Mulligan (0-4, one free), S Cavanagh.
Substitutes: : S Mulgrew for O'Neill (injured, 19 mins), C Gourley for McMenamin
(injured, 25 mins), C Lawn for McCrossan (52 mins), M Coleman for B McGuigan
(62 mins), D Carlin for Gourley (70 mins).
Friday 14 February
We had a good session with Errigal tonight. And on Monday and
Wednesday. You can already see the benefits of the explosive weights
work Paddy Tally introduced them to in a session in the Altamuskin
weights room a few weeks ago; I felt why confine that expertise to just
the county team? Our lads look strong, they’re moving well and they’re
very keen.
One thing concerns me. Are they too keen, too consumed by this
match? We had our press night tonight. There wasn’t a huge number of
media men at it but it’s nearly a good thing there weren’t. Most of our
players shunned the few journalists that were there. I like my players
talking to the press. It’s a sign they’re not inhibited. It’s all very fine to
talk about how focused you are but it doesn’t mean you can’t open your
mind and mouth to speak to everyone else. Mention of the press, those
local guys suddenly think everything is rosy in the garden again.
Tyrone aren’t missing the Errigal boys and the depth of talent we have
is frightening.
Sunday 16 February
Dublin 0-12 Tyrone 0-11
Another one-point loss. That’s a bad habit we’re getting into. If we
work as hard as we did in Parnell Park today though, we won’t end up
on the wrong side of many more. Dublin had virtually a full-strength
team out. Paddy Christie, Ciaran Whelan, Alan Brogan, Coman
Goggins, Collie Moran, Stephen Cluxton; they were all there. The only
certain championship starter missing was Ray Cosgrove. We shot
46

HARTE ACHES
fourteen wides, missed a penalty, kicked the ball into Cluxton’s arms
three times, yet still only lost by a point. In fact, we had a perfectly
good point which the umpire was about to put his flag up for; then for
some strange reason he changed his mind and signalled a square ball.
It turned out to be a crucial decision.
I was thrilled with the way we played against the breeze. It was
score-for-score in the first fifteen minutes, and when Dublin pulled
three points ahead just before the break, we responded with two of our
own. Our spirit was epitomised by Sean Cavanagh. There was an
instance in that first half when he tracked back forty yards from corner
forward to dispossess a Dublin player. That set in motion a lovely
piece of combined play which ended with Brian McGuigan pointing a
beauty from out on the right wing.
Amazingly, the breeze had died down by the time we came out for
the second half. That, along with Stephen O’Neill’s late withdrawal,
Declan McCrossan having to go off and that disallowed point, seemed
to suggest the gods really were conspiring against us. It didn’t affect
the lads. Within a few minutes we won a penalty. Mulligan and
McGuigan looked at each other, neither of them rushing to take it. In
the end Owen reluctantly stepped up. It was a good save by Cluxton
but Owen knows he could have made him work harder for it. From the
rebound, Dublin went up the field and scored a point. Instead of being
two up, we were two down. We’d actually come back to go two up
ourselves but in the end, Dublin made some good plays to sneak it.
Ryan McMenamin and Conor Gormley had great games in the
corners. Gavin Devlin is thriving at this level. Colin Holmes is a
serious option at full back for the championship. Dermot Carlin, who
is still only nineteen, came on for Declan and wasn’t out of his depth
at all. Neither was Seamus Mulgrew. Upfront, Owen had the better of
Paddy Christie; the pity was that his shooting was off. But the team as
a whole were wayward in their shooting. It was about the only fault I
can have with them. I’m angry with the result. But that’s because I’m
pleased with the performance. It could and should have been rewarded
with two points.
47

Mickey Harte Kicking Down Heavens Door 2003

Mickey Harte Kicking Down Heavens Door 2003

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Mickey Harte Kicking Down Heavens Door 2003