Inside Track: Harte on the move again. Will Devlin be with him?
Inside Track with Joe Carroll
Mickey Harte has made many moves in his managerial career, not all of them guaranteed to bring him the success he enjoyed in his native Tyrone.
He had All-Ireland victories to his credit at underage level when he took charge of his county’s seniors in 2002, but it wasn’t a given that more big wins would follow in the higher grade.
Tyrone, after all, had never won the Sam Maguire. They’d been Ulster champions on nine occasions, the second of them coming in 1957, weeks before they were beaten by Louth in the All-Ireland semi-final.
A breakthrough had come in 1986 when, after beating Galway, the O’Neill County were in the All-Ireland final for the first time.
Facing Kerry, who were on to a hat-trick, Tyrone might have done better than go down to a 2-15 to 1-12 defeat had they taken more than a point from a second half penalty. At the time they were in front.
Tyrone were next in the final in 1995, taking on Dublin. Art McRory and Eugene McKenna were sharing managerial duties, and they must have thought at times that this was to be their day. But it ended in another defeat, Dublin showing just a point in front when it mattered.
Peter Canavan, twice an All-Ireland winner at minor level, played that day. One of the best to have worn the Red Hand, the man sometimes known as ‘God’ among the faithful, would have been one of Harte’s first picks when Harte took over.
But there were others the Errigal Ciarán clubman would have had in mind when. There were some of those he had guided at minor and under-21 level.
Still, the glass ceiling had to be broken, a task that hadn’t been made any easier with neighbours and bitter rivals, Armagh, winning the Sam Maguire just before he had taken over.
It took Tyrone just one further championship to win their place among the elite, however. They were declared All-Ireland champions for the first time in 2003, and while that alone would have given them immense satisfaction, the fact that it was Armagh that they beat in the final added considerably to the celebrations.
You could say it got easier for Harte after that. He had his team playing to a system, which didn’t meet with widespread approval, but it had major victories, another All-Ireland in 2005, followed by a third three years later.
There was a barren period after that, at least in terms of All-Irelands. Still, Harte could stay as long as he wanted, having brought his county unprecedented success. Or so it seemed.
Seeking just one further year in charge, his name came before the County Board for ratification at a 2019 meeting, but to his disappointment and the surprise of outsiders, his request wasn’t granted. Surely a case of eaten bread being soon forgotten.
If there was no real jeopardy in Harte’s Tyrone appointment 17 years earlier, it was laden with it when he took over in this county.
Acceding to a request from the then-County Board chairman, Peter Fitzpatrick, he stepped in as Wayne McKeever’s successor, a little under a fortnight after he’d been rejected by his native county.
To say there was surprise, not only in Louth, but throughout the country, would be wildly off the mark. This was what someone described at the time as, ‘a move of monumental proportions’, something akin to Gordon Banks, turning out for a Cork team in the League of Ireland after he’d won the World Cup.
Louth were in Division Four of the league after yo-yo-ing in the post-2010 Leinster final era. It could only be upwards, and it was, Harte overseeing promotion, and then repeated the feat the following year, giving his team a Division Two status that’s been successfully defended each year since.
Maintaining a tried and trusted partnership with coach Gavin Devlin, Harte also guided Louth to a Leinster championship final, it 2023.
However, just months after the defeat by Dublin, himself and Devlin were gone, crossing back over the frontier, this time to take up the reins in Derry.
Making a move that could be described as ‘safe’, but savagely criticised, particularly by former Derry and Tyrone players, the duo won a National League title with Derry. It was, however, championship success they were looking for down by the Foyle, and when it hadn’t been delivered at the first time of asking, the lads were gone.
Devlin had reacquainted with Louth, overseeing underage and schools football, and is now senior team manager. But maintaining his talent to shock, Harte took off to the midlands to form a partnership with Offaly manager, Declan Kelly. This was a switch that had ‘success not guaranteed’ hung around its neck.
There was a win of sorts – promotion from one of the league’s lower divisions. But no progress in two championship campaigns, one of them ending with a first round defeat by Louth. Harte and Kelly quit last July.
Harte done with in management? Not a word about it. He’s back in club football for the first time in over 20 years, looking after multiple Down champions, Kilcoo.
Kilcoo had no equals in the Mourne County until this year. They got to the semi-final, but bowed to Burren. An untimely end for the side that had won 13 of the previous 14 finals, and after winning provincial honours in 2022 going on to beat Kilmacud Crokes in the All-Ireland final.
This, you’d have to say, is not the toughest challenge Harte has had to face. The nucleus of the 2022 team is still available, and the odds on Magpies regaining the title will be short when the betting opens.
Harte has yet to name his support team. It will be watched with interest in this county to see if includes Gavin Devlin, described by Harte at the get-together Louth had in Darver prior to this year’s All-Ireland semi-final as ‘the best coach in Ireland’.