Backstage work is what makes Harte’s Tyrone

Against the Breeze
By Paddy Heaney

First Published 27/01/2009

While the Dublin fans will pack out Croke Park on Saturday night, the focus of the attention will be on the visiting All-Ireland champions. And two of the eyes fixed on Tyrone will belong to Kerry manager Jack O’Connor. Jack might be sitting in the Cusack or the Hogan. Or he might watching at home in south Kerry. But he will be watching. We know that for sure.

Unlike other Kerry managers, Jack openly acknowledged that the Kingdom’s footballers could learn a lot from their northern cousins. One of the first things he did when taking over as Kerry manager was to arrange a meeting with an unnamed Ulster coach. Having watched Armagh and Tyrone get the better of Kerry in 2002 and 2003, O’Connor had identified a major weakness in the armoury of the Kingdom’s footballers.

They couldn’t tackle. Well, they couldn’t tackle as well as Tyrone and Armagh. O’Connor wanted to know that he could overcome this major deficiency.

In his book Keys to the Kingdom, O’Connor revealed that he hooked up with a collaborator from the north (who remains at large) who taught him specific coaching methods. Jack returned to Kerry with a smile on his face and a dossier of drills under his arm.

But that was back in 2003 and Mickey Harte is now entering his seventh year as Tyrone senior manager. Truth be told, neither Jack O’Connor nor anyone else will learn a whole lot new when watching Tyrone during Saturday night’s league opener in Croke Park.

By this stage, we are all too familiar with the Tyrone model. Harte will be on the sideline, motionless and pensive. Tony Donnelly, the trusted advisor and good friend, will be standing at his side. The Tyrone subs will be listed alphabetically, showing the absence of a hierarchy among the squad. The Tyrone team will not bear much similarity to the one that lined out at the same venue in September, but they will play to a similar style and pattern.

How do they do it? How can Harte’s teams keep winning with new faces and different gameplans?
The answer will not be found by watching video tapes of Tyrone in action. Rather, by this stage, it’s abundantly clear that the real secret to Tyrone’s success lies in what is done off the field.

Communication is central to Harte’s masterly management. Typically of the man, he’s never made any great secret of his methods.

After lifting Sam in 2003, Harte revealed in Knocking Down Heaven’s Door that he had been in frequent contact with Bart McEnroe. McEnroe is often described as a ‘motivational speaker’, but this is wholly inaccurate and misleading. Having spoken to other people who have sought out McEnroe’s services, the feedback is pretty much the same. Effective communication lies at the heart of McEnroe’s tutorials.

Getting the 30-odd players in the room to understand exactly what you want and how you want to achieve it is the key challenge facing any manager. Harte has identified this challenge as his primary task in the Tyrone management structure. He wants Tyrone to play to a certain system, but without being slaves to that system.
Harte preaches best practice, but doesn’t demand rigid adherence. This explains why his captain Dooher knows he has the liberty to take off on an 70-metre solo run, beat two men, and thump the ball over the bar with the outside of his boot in an All-Ireland final.

It’s a testament to Harte’s faith in the skill and intelligence of his own players that he allows them to operate within these parameters.
Many other managers, including professionals, often demand absolute obedience to the system... when you get to here, you kick the ball there, and so on. They trust the system, not the player. Harte is different. He trusts the players to work the system.

Sean Cavanagh is the best example. Last year Cavanagh was listed at full-forward, but he had the freedom to go where he pleased within about a 50-metre range of the goals. Sometimes Cavanagh stood on the square. At others times, he would be among the half-forwards, or even further back. It was up to Cavanagh to play where he felt the team needed him.
Few managers would give a player such a broad canvas – but then few managers have someone like Caroline Currid in their backroom team.

Last year, Currid’s role in the Tyrone backroom team was defined as ‘performance manager’. Again, the title offers no real clue towards her real brief.
The Sligo woman was recruited by Harte because he had identified a weakness in his own management techniques.

Although excellent at communicating with the media, Harte could often be detached and even introverted with his players.
He could be thinking about them. He could be impressed by them. He could be disappointed in them. Often, though, they’d be none the wiser.

Currid acted as conduit between the players and the management. Through her, they could provide negative and positive feedback. They were guaranteed anonymity while she couched the responses in a manner that reduced the possibility of any tension developing.
By providing an outlet for his players to communicate to him, and by being seen to act on that information, Harte probably increased the likelihood of the players acting on the instructions that he gave them.

Kerry manager Pat O’Shea didn’t enjoy the same bond with his players. When Paul Galvin slapped the book from referee Paddy Russell’s hand, he was doing his own thing. There was no system. No code of conduct. The same could be said for the three yellow cards issued to the Kerry players before half-time in the All-Ireland final.

Meanwhile, Harte brings in Stephen O’Neill from the cold without any dissent. He drops Ciaran Gourley for the final and there is no hassle. Brian McGuigan is happy not to start.
The members of the Tyrone camp understand what is happening and why it is being done. There are channels of communication and everyone appreciates the bigger picture.

Jack O’Connor has issues to address with the Kerry players. He has already taught them how to tackle. Now they must learn the necessity of discipline and why they must work to their system.
But if Jack wants to mimic Mickey Harte, he’ll not find any answers by watching Tyrone on Saturday night. By the time the ball is thrown in, most of Harte’s work has been done.