Club football action was poor but Harte's positivity shone like a beacon
By Kevin Egan
Such was the poor quality of last weekend’s action in the Offaly SFC, it feels important to stress that when this reporter got the chance to sit down with Mickey Harte, Declan Kelly and Michael Duignan, it was just before Sunday’s games, rather than afterwards.
When we consider the desperately poor shooting in the Ferbane vs Edenderry game, the dull, low-scoring nature of the contest between Tullamore and Rhode, and then how a host of county hurlers played a key role in Durrow’s win over Shamrocks, it’s hard not to wonder if Harte’s first impression of Offaly club football might have dampened down his enthusiasm for his new role as joint manager of the Faithful County’s senior footballers.
And yet, at the same time, there was a sincerity to Harte’s positive energy earlier that day. The Errigal Ciarán club man and three-time All-Ireland SFC winning manager may have artfully sidestepped a mischievous question about why he chose Offaly as opposed to following up on rumoured approaches from Westmeath, but his belief in the project that he and Declan Kelly are about to undertake was unmistakable.
“You’re looking at the level that the team plays at right at the minute, and you figure out can they be better than that? And I think we know from looking at them that they could,” he said.
“The league is a great measure of the potential of a team, and being in Division Three, it was the same question I asked myself when I went to Louth in Division Four. I knew from watching football and watching Louth over the years that they were better than that, and I know from watching Offaly that they’re better than that too.
“But that isn’t to say that… because you believe it, you will become better. Working with those players, working with Declan and with everybody in the county, to see how we make the team better in terms of the self-belief that they have, in terms of what’s required to get to a higher level, then take the action necessary to make that happen. It’s not about just talking about it, if you want to get a different outcome, you have to do something different.”
And therein lies the rub. The morning after Harte’s appointment to the managerial ticket was announced, Nigel Dunne spoke on the Off the Ball radio show, citing his excitement, and how every player in Offaly will want to be part of the squad next year.
Without getting into specifics, Harte’s thoughts on Sunday indicated that playing senior football for Offaly in 2025 will require a step up in buy-in and commitment from what has gone before.
“What we’re looking at is people who are out to give the best version of themselves. We have to let them understand what it takes to do that,” was his view.
“It’s a kind of an unwritten contract that people have, if you want to be better and you want to make things better – and they do – then this is the price you pay, so to speak. And if you’re prepared to pay that price and pay it in full, then there can be good outcomes from that. And the good outcomes will be growth, progress, better people, better footballers, better representatives for the county and their clubs, that’s what we want. Not to say that what you were doing wasn’t good, but why not stretch yourself? We want everybody to stretch themselves as much as they can to create something better.”
And would that include some players who, over the course of 2024, had their own personal issues with this year’s senior management team? To those players, he offered hope.
“I’ve an absolutely open mind, that’s why I’ve come here. I want to see who’s here and what they’re about and what their attitude is. All of those things, their skill set, their commitment, it’s the package we need to see; and I have to find out for myself about certain players.”
One thing is obvious – both Harte and Kelly are embracing the higher expectations that have immediately followed last week’s announcement.
“I think expectation is a good thing. I would rather have expectation on your shoulders than no hope. And if you haven’t got expectation, you’re kind of a no-hoper, and I don’t believe in that. I believe we should create an expectancy. That’s doesn’t mean you get what you would like as soon as you would want it, but there has to be signs that progress is being made and you’re heading in the right direction. That’s a pressure I would live with all day, it’s a pressure that I want, and I’m sure Declan’s the same.”
Even when it came to Offaly’s dismal track record in second chance competitions, and how improving the team’s record in the Tailteann Cup would be a big first step, Harte’s response would warm the cockles of traditionalists all across the county.
“Would it not be right, if you top Division Three, you might be playing in the All-Ireland series?” he posited. “That’s the first place I’d look.”
“This is one of the truly dual counties and there’s not many of them that have significant teams in both codes. It’s good to be in a place like that where the GAA is very meaningful to the people.
“It’s refreshing, it’s a different scene, different people. I enjoyed the Offaly victories back in the '70s and '80s, I was at those games and you always associated Offaly with a serious edge. There was a drive in them, a competitive edge, something about them that you’d have to be on your game to beat them. That’s good, maybe we could hope to harness that again and put some more stuff to it.”
So does that mean more physical football? More defensive football, or perhaps moving back towards the expansive, attacking football employed by Declan Kelly’s U-20 side of three years ago?
“Winning football,” he says with a smile.
Even after the poor fare that was produced last Sunday, positivity like that is hard to forget.