Mickey has a change of 'Harte'
Tommy Morris will be hoping that Four Roads can successfully defend their senior hurling title on Sunday next. See below for prediction. Picture: Gerard O'Loughlin
There will be only one show in town when the provincial football championships come around in 2024, and that festival of fun will be up north.
If the arrival of Jim McGuinness back in the Donegal hot seat wasn’t enough to stir the pot, the shock arrival of Mickey Harte to Derry has set pulses racing. It’s a train not too many people saw coming down the track until it arrived at the Oak Leaf County station last week.
Harte took Louth from Division Four to Division Two and kept the Wee County in the second tier of the league for 2024. They reached last season’s Leinster SFC final and gave both Cork and Mayo massive games in the round robin format for the Sam Maguire Cup. It appeared that the former Tyrone manager was happy in his new home for another winter.
Outside of Dublin and Kerry, Derry have moved swiftly through the gears as the back-to-back Ulster champions will play Division One football next season. Over the past two years, they have evolved into an excellent side and will fancy their chances of having a serious crack at winning the 2024 All-Ireland title. Now they have turned to three-time All-Ireland winning senior manager, Mickey Harte, as the man they believe can get them over the line.
Harte is not afraid of a challenge. He left Tyrone and took over a team in Division Four. He has now managed in all four divisions of the league.
Derry club football is on a high, the county team are settled with loads of talent and old wounds between club and county have been healed, leaving the Ulster champions in a great position to go for the jewel in the crown — the Sam Maguire Cup.
In the current climate, what manager would turn down the Derry job? It was a no brainer for Mickey Harte to accept the invitation to join a team on the rise. Leaving Louth would have tugged at his heart-strings because he was doing a brilliant job, taking them from the bottom rung of the ladder to Division Two.
It will be interesting to see who Louth go after to fill the vacant shoes. But Chairperson Peter Fitzpatrick pulled Mickey Harte from the hat three years ago, so he is capable of something similar on this occasion as Louth is an attractive job for an ambitious coach.
In taking on the Derry job, however, Mickey Harte will have weighed up the possibility of a first round Ulster championship clash against his native Tyrone or the prospect of an Ulster final meeting with the Red Hand County. All these balls would have been juggling in the mind of one of the most successful managers of the past 25 years.
Mickey Harte’s return will increase the 2024 Ulster SFC shares on the stock exchange. There will be three All-Ireland winning managers in the field — Mickey Harte, Jim McGuinness and Fergal Logan/Brian Dooher in Tyrone alongside an All-Ireland winning captain in Kieran McGeeney steering the Armagh ship. Not forgetting that you have the great party poopers from Monaghan. Such a fertile landscape adds up to mystery, intrigue and banter, even before a ball has been kicked up north.
Could lightning strike twice as the first league game Mickey Harte played as Tyrone manager was against Roscommon in Dr. Hyde Park. As the new sheriff in Derry, could the Rossies be the team’s first Division One League opponent?
It’s a brave move by Derry and a big call by Mickey Harte to say yes. It’s a marriage that will be watched closely but it could have a happy ending as Harte is a ruthless operator.
The Roscommon club football championship is coming up the home straight with the welcome prospect of games back in Dr. Hyde Park. But one familiar face will be missing — the late Maura Allen who sadly passed away last week.
Maura and Maureen Sharkey were a wonderful, kind partnership on match days in the Hyde as they chatted, entertained and fed the press with such good humour. They left no one with an empty stomach. Maura’s husband Christy was also part of the team and, in recent times, they were joined by Teresa McCormack.
Mrs Doyle in Father Ted wasn’t a patch on these tea ladies. It will not be the same without Maura when we return to the Hyde. It will also be as hard for her loyal friend Maureen Sharkey as they were a fabulous duet that made everyone feel so welcome.
The late Maura Allen had more hats than a Tommy Cooper show from her days as a PE teacher in the Convent of Mercy Secondary School in Roscommon Town to being an athletics coach. She was also involved in the Roscommon Sport Partnership Board, the new community sports park, the Brothers of Charity, Roscommon Special Olympics and was a church usher during Covid 19 in Roscommon Town.
Maura Allen gave everything she had as a volunteer back to the community after she retired from teaching. A wonderful wife, mother, friend and sporting volunteer was sadly laid to rest last Thursday but she has left a lasting legacy that Christy, John, Paul and her extended family can be so proud of.
I was looking for a solid netminder between the posts last week and my Tuesday Teaser gang didn’t let me down.
Can you name the goalkeeper who played in a three-in-a-row All-Ireland winning football team without conceding a goal in the three finals? It was Johnny Geraghty for Galway who kept three clean sheets in the 1964, 1965 and 1966 All-Ireland SFC finals.
QPR, Frenchpark, took charge of his goalmouth with the same authority, with Michael Scally, Ballaghaderreen; John Croghan, Bundoran; Brian Stenson, Castlerea; Murt Hunt, Ballyhaunis; Gerry Gacquin, Athleague; Liam Dooley, Ballyhaunis; Paddy Duignan, Castlerea; Martin Walshe, Carrowbehy; Pat Higgins, Ballaghaderreen; Eamon Campion, Castlerea; Joe Coyne, Tremane; Mary Gilfillan, Kilmore; Paddy Conlon, Taughmaconnell; Pat Deane, Williamstown; Chris Giblin, Dublin; Bernrad Duffy, Longford/Loughglynn; Mick Fetherston; David Callaghan, Castlerea; Luigi, Ballyhaunis; John McQuaid, Maynooth; Larry Cunningham, Glinsk; Michael Finneran, London; Paddy Boland, Youghal; Mary McCarthy, Holloway; Seán Toolan, Heston; Alan Corcoran, Ahascragh; Kevin Flanagan, Dartford, and Michael Kearns, Clapham, also displaying a safe pair of hands.
Answers by e-mail to willieefc@gmail.com or by text to 086 8356227. This week’s Teaser comes from Dublin.
Star pupil: Ben O’Carroll who scored 4-3 during St. Brigid’s facile senior football championship quarter-final victory over North Roscommon.
Crucial win for: Boyle as they produced an outstanding second-half performance to beat Clann na nGael in the SFC quarter-final.
Much do better: Clann na nGael will be disappointed with their limp exit from last Sunday’s senior football championship.
Spot of bother: Penalty heartbreak for Oran as they lost out to Roscommon Gaels in the spot kick lottery.
Weekend highlight: Everton being on first during Match of the Day last Saturday night — it was a rare luxury that had to be enjoyed.
What a cracker: In atrocious weather conditions, Roscommon Gaels and Oran served up an enthralling, compelling and dramatic SFC quarter-final encounter that went all the way to penalties.
“Your smile is your logo. Your personality is your business card, and the way you make others feel is your trademark.”
On Sunday, Four Roads will be trying to win their 36th Roscommon senior hurling championship title. Athleague are chasing their 21st.
Congratulations to Roscommon Herald Sports Editor, Ian Cooney, on his prestigious award as Local Ireland Sports Journalist of the Year — a marvellous achievement.
