A cool head behind the brawn

THE 30 minutes spent in the company of Drum joint manager Kieran O’Kane is one of the reasons why we love this job.  Honest, to the point and inspirational.   It is no wonder Drum’s fortunes have been transformed.

“There is a story to tell down here,” uttered O’Kane.  “They would’ve finished bottom of division three (in 2013) other than a last minute goal by Donal Brolly to beat Doire Colmcille,” added O’Kane.

“Struggling to get 15 players on the field, they needed chairman Barney Hasson and he was on the wrong side of 40.  He filled in the gap for the final game of the season.” It was time to act.

Drum enlisted former Foreglen captain O’Kane, joining Jason Hazlett to form a management duo. “We have known each other from the age of 12.  I met Jason at the Slaughtneil disco.  He was a bit older than me, looked out for me and we always got on very well.” It was time to start at the very beginning and the process of door stepping the Drum area.

“We went around houses trying to get men out.  A couple of lads were reneging but when they saw how things were going, they came and joined it,” explained O’Kane.

“Simple things like taking boys away on trips down to Letterkenny paint balling.  Football is there to win, but not everybody is going to win.  There were six teams (in the finals) that started training in January and luckily we are one of the six.

“You have to enjoy it.  It is not the be all and end all if you don’t win a game.  There is more to life and I have noticed it in the last month more so than anything.” O’Kane captained Foreglen for 12 years and he brings that drive to management.

Behind the ‘blood and thunder’ there is a calculated side, the one nobody sees.  In mid-sentence, with no stats sheets to hand, O’Kane rhymed off Drum’s track record over the three seasons - 57 games played, 43 wins, 5 draws and 9 defeats.

The home record sits well.  Limavady this year and Moneymore in 2014 were the only teams to leave Gortnahey with both points.  Slowly but surely Drum begin to climb the mountain.

SILVERWARE

Next season Drum are 80-years-old and O’Kane is glad to have kept the promise to ‘deliver silverware’ in the form of a league title.  That’s one achievement. “If we win the county final, it’s not about Kieran O’Kane and Jason Hazlett.  It’s really not.  It’s about that group of players, this team and this club.”

In year one Moneymore stopped them. “We had a great game with them in the semi-final,” explained O’Kane.  “We were on their tails all year.  They surpassed us in the semi-final and they went on to win the treble that year – they were a great side.

“In the second year, the sleeping giant of Faughanvale came down.  We had a great battle with them, they nipped us to the league by a point or two.  “We are very proud of the fact that Faughanvale never lost a game in junior football – apart from Ulster champions Rockcorry and Drum.  We beat them on this pitch by 10 points,” O’Kane highlighted.

One of the five draws referenced was a 0-7 all battle with the ‘Vale in last year’s final.  The replay was ‘heart-breaking’ as Joe Gray’s side left Owenbeg with the cup.

“As Jason would say, the best way to get over a defeat is not to let it happen again. We are going in the right direction.  We have won the county league hitting a wee purple patch near the end of it.  We were a bit tired but it’s a long season.”

As O’Kane acknowledged, winning a league title requires a team to ‘be up’ every single Sunday. “The best team doesn’t always win the championship, but the best team always wins the league.  Consistency - week in, week out. “When it comes to championship football, nothing counts.  It’s like a lottery, everyone knows that.  It’s about who is hungry, who wants it more.”

RESPECT

Football is one thing but last season Drum’s senior panel took on a different kind of venture.  It was about giving something back.  O’Kane takes up the story. “Last year we raised £8,500 and gave it to charities and schools - those dealing with disability, dementia and Down’s Syndrome.  They walked every road in Derry in 23 days,” explained O’Kane, who led the project.

“Football is taking more focus now but it will only be a matter of time before we release something else that will do the same again.” It demonstrates a pride of place and the power GAA has in society.  A heart-warming story. O’Kane in his days for Foreglen would have been playing against the some of the current Drum squad.  Paddy Moore, Donal Brolly, Kevin and Rory O’Reilly - but there was only one thing their new manager wanted.

“Respect.  As a man from a different club the one thing I asked for was respect.  The respect this club has shown me and the committee – anything you ask for is there. They never step in your way, it’s just a pleasure to be part of it.” As a player O’Kane walked the walk and he asks plenty from his team now that he is a manager.

“I can say anything to them and many a time I have done it and never a bite back.  Respect is everything.  You are on about the passion, it wouldn’t matter who I am playing against for that 60 minutes, I switch on and sometimes people think ‘that man is nuts’.” If Drum win on Sunday O’Kane confessed he would be on cloud nine.

“I watched Jim Gavin win an All-Ireland and he just looked across at his assistant and he didn’t even put a smile on.  What’s the point in being there?  I mean come on – what is the point in being there? “If the final whistle blows on Sunday and we have won the championship it will be great, it will be great for the club. It will be great for the players and Magilligan will be thinking the same as well,” O’Kane said.

“It’s a big thing for Magilligan – it’s 30 years since they have been to a final.  They’ll be putting everything into it.  The first thing I’d say, good luck to them in the final.  You have to have respect for the opposition which we will have. ”They’ll play it sporting, hit hard and whatever – but it is football.  Magilligan have had a tough few years as well as everyone knows.  Football is there to unite men as well.”

MANAGEMENT

And football management, how is O’Kane finding it? “It is people skills – somebody that is hard to work with you have to be able to put that arm around the shoulder. Tell him to calm down and that it will work out.  The man that is not playing that well, tell him it’s not the end of the world.

“I just love working with different people.  It’s like work.  When you go to work on a building site you have to have a mannerism, how you deal with different people.  That helps you as a football manager as well. “You are going to make mistakes and you go home and you play the game in your head but what you do is make sure you don’t make it again,” explains O’Kane.

NEARLY GONE

Drum’s season nearly fell off the rails.  Ogra Colmcille and Sean Dolans put them to the pin of their collar.  There was also a spate of injuries. “I thought there was a hoodoo against us. Damien Brolly and McCartney (James) split each other one night at training.  Next thing we had hamstrings - then you had Alex Moore.”

Moore is cut from the same cloth as O’Kane.  He can relate to him, that old school mentality. “The man fractured his fibula.  When I first came down here I gave him the nickname ‘machine’ a typical farmer, built like a tank.

“Boys nowadays, that would be them finished for the rest of the season – but Moore, five weeks later he is back playing in the championship – that’s hunger to succeed.”

On Sunday the Joe Brolly Cup will be waiting for his destination for the next 12 months.  O’Kane knew in the middle of the season that Magilligan would be there.  He knows his football inside out.  It was up to Drum to get there.  Dolans, Limavady and Ogra have all tested their character – games that hung in the melting pot.

All through the interview O’Kane drops in references to his football experience, littered with examples from the past. “What we have tried to install in these boys was from the Meath team on the 1980s.  They were never beat until the last minute.  These boys (Drum) will never be beat until the last minute.”

On Sunday O’Kane will hope his side are on the right side of the result.  If they are – don’t expect a Jim Gavin style reaction.  Years on from their first meeting at Slaughtneil disco – expect O’Kane and Hazlett to show their emotions.