Sideline View - It's time to club together
LAST Wednesday night Glenullin were at home to Swatragh. A huge game for both clubs. Conor McAtamney put in a horser of a performance.
It made you wonder about his innocuous tussle with Tom Parsons that warranted a black card in Derry’s defeat to Mayo. Had he stayed on, would Derry have been playing Clare last weekend?
What ifs. Sport is littered with them. It will never change. In a way that’s the appeal, the chance to debate.
Before Damian Harkin had even threw in the ball last Wednesday night, two men leaning over the wire in front of me had a debate of their own.
“I see Barton is away,” one man stated.
“Aye, but sure who would want that job,” bounced the immediate answer.
In an article last week, Cahair O’Kane compiled his shortlist - Paul McIver, Damian McErlain, Johnny McBride, Liam Bradley, Mickey Moran and Malachy O’Rourke. The speculation will start to escalate.
But it will be the clubs who will decide. In 38 different committee rooms all around the county, club secretaries will read out the county board email.
“Derry county board are seeking nominations for the position of senior football manager. Well, who are we are going to nominate?”
There will be a silence. Many won’t have a clue.
Like appointing a club manager, some will have an agenda already mapped out.
“Well, is this man definitely standing for the job?” will be the simple first question.
“Yes.”
A case will be made, the name will be proposed and seconded. One half of the club will be happy they got their man, the other faction won’t - but that’s the democracy. They’ll just have to suck it up and prepare for the season ahead.
Appointing Damian Barton’s successor won’t be an easy task. Division three football isn’t very appealing. Will players walk away from the panel? Who will commit to the cause? It is a poisoned chalice.
MEDIATION
In the early 1990s, Armagh’s Fr Sean Hegarty was appointed as manager. He was more than a manager, he was more of a mediator, to bring together differing factions. It was the first step on the road to Sam. Eamon Coleman came in the following year and the rest is history.
This time is no different. There is an apathy towards the county team lingering in the air above county Derry. Like a dark cloud almost.
Former Derry player and manager Damian Cassidy had a tweet last week, appealing for players to take a stronger stance.
Picking the next manager is a democracy, but Derry county board should have adopted a stronger stance. I feel they needed to survey the scene, see what the county needs, then go out there and pick a manager.
It was their opportunity to put their neck on the line and make a call. After all, they will have to meet the financial terms and commitments of the new boss. It will be them who are dealing with requests for training weekends and changes to club fixtures.
But as it stands, the ball is in the clubs’ court. Now that it is, it is paramount that the gaels of Derry find out exactly what they want. If it is going to be democratic there is a need to trawl the eventualities to the nth degree.
When the 38 club secretaries read out the email, rather than looking for a name. I think, they should dedicate 60 minutes of soul searching.
It needs to be prompt. Not rushed. But prompt. In an ideal world the new management team will be in place by the time the club championship hurtles into action on Friday, August 11. But the GAA winds of change are traditionally slow.
Invest the 60 minutes wisely. Clubs need to consult with their current and past county players. Get their opinions. These are the men who will be putting their lives on hold to bring Derry football forward. Ask them what they feel is needed to bring this sleeping giant out of the wilderness.
It is a starting point. These issues need communicated, along with a nomination, back to Owenbeg and so the process begins.
CLUB VERSUS COUNTY
I feel the level of preparations has almost maxed out. It is more than a game but to keep up with the Jones’, you need to match that level. Whether we like it or not, playing county football is now like a second job. It is not the two nights a week and a game at the weekend. Ambitious club teams are even out more than that.
With Derry players constantly dropping out of panels, it is a major situation that needs addressed by the next regime.
A player will give up club league games to completely row in behind the county team if they are a regular. That’s easy. They are getting regular football and their sacrifice is worth it.
Niall Loughlin started all 15 of Derry’s games this year. Emmett McGuckin played in them all. They are regulars.
Take Charlie Kielt for example. He joined the panel late in the season, had one substitute appearance against Galway in Tuam. He is the captain of Kilrea and can’t afford to me missing chunks of club activity – if he is not getting games for the county.
I feel the new management needs to treat regulars and everyone else differently when it comes to releasing them for club duty. I know it is a difficult concept but it needs to be addressed to keep an entire panel of players pulling with you.
Collie McGurk opted for such an approach with the hurlers. It was about bringing as many along as possible. Next year in the Christy Ring Cup, with the stakes higher, McGurk’s plan will change somewhat. He said as much.
But back to the football situation. Until the GAA decide to split the season into county and club – two separate seasons, we simply need to make the current system work.
The senior county manager needs to release players not getting regular county games back to their clubs for all games.
When a manager turns to the stand and looks for a substitute to pull his side over the line, that man needs to have match sharpness. In house training games will only bring you so far. In a club game a county player will always be marked, and sometimes double marked, by the best players.
Yes, there is a risk to injury, but it’s a risk that needs taken. What good is a player who isn’t ready for battle?
Does a player released back to club duty feel he is outside the first team? Does it sub consciously split the panel in two? Maybe. But it will be worse if players can’t get regular games.
He will go home from Derry training and listen to the murmurs at the club of ‘you’re wasting your time up there’ and it seeps into the psyche. It chips away and away until that player decides to pull the pin.
This is the type of scenario that needs to be totally addressed before any potential managers’ names are scrolled down on a piece of paper.
Of the 15 of Damian Barton’s Derry selections in 2017, Conor McAtamney was listed on 12 of them. He didn’t play in the first game of the season versus Armagh and came on as a sub in two other McKenna Cup games. He was a regular.
The two Swatragh men hanging over the wire last Wednesday night could see why. His performance was inspirational.
Back to their conversation about the Derry next boss.
“Aye, but sure who would want that job.”
More important than that. What do the people of Derry, all parties, really want from their county team?
If all factions aren’t rowing in the same direction, it’s time to find out why. Maybe it’s time for a Sean Hegarty type mediator to step in, for some initial gnashing of teeth.
The storm before the calm.