Mickey Harte joins the Irish News

[full back]

you got it,questioning the gaa for making time for the international rules and his new pet project the martin donnelly inter-provincial tournament.

I still reckon Harte is giving Mr Donnelly an awful lot of publicity
Wonder is he getting anything in return? 

I hope the IN arent paying MH too much, because it is so tedious & mind-numbingly repetitive it would be a severe waste of cash

[020304 Tir Eoghain]

Dont like Spillane in the Sunday Worst either, but just dont bother reading his column any more. You could try the same with Hartes column in the IN.
Its easy, once you get the hang of it

[JMohan]

Martin Donnelly and Mickey Hartes connection is through some of the boxers that Martin Donnelly 'supports' - one of which Mickey Harte is a 'life coach'/psychologist for.
Harte is a huge boxing fan as is Donnelly.

[Radioulster]

I am from Tyrone and would have to agree with the majority, the column is terrible same old drivel every week the IN must be dissapointed. Their own fault though as they should have known better than recruiting a current manager to do it. Fair play to Mickey tell them nothing

[yellowcard]

yawn, yawn. This has to be the most boring column going at the minute. Same old repetitive drivel that doesn't even stand up. Face up to it Mickey, the Railway Cup is a relic from the past which the GAA frantically tried to promote in Dublin schools some years ago giving out free passes for children etc. The result was a 10,000 attendance a load of money spent on promoting and advertising and a hefty tab to pick up which resulted in a loss to GAA coffers. People just aren't interested in this competition anymore.

Martin Donnelly must be the only man who actually thinks his column is interesting. He seems to want to write about any issue except on the games and topical issues of today.

[Sandy Hill]

you got it,questioning the gaa for making time for the international rules and his new pet project the martin donnelly inter-provincial tournament.

I still reckon Harte is giving Mr Donnelly an awful lot of publicity
Wonder is he getting anything in return? 

I hope the IN arent paying MH too much, because it is so tedious & mind-numbingly repetitive it would be a severe waste of cash

..........  as well as O'Neill's and TC Autos!
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[DennistheMenace]

Repetitive, boring, tedious, terrible readings. Don't read it anymore myself.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

What a rock of sense...


The new days can be just as good as the old ones
Mickey Harte

In recent years, Kerry and Tyrone have provided the benchmark for excellence in gaelic football.

A trip to the Ulster Council website gave me the lead for this week's column.

Earlier in the summer, Ulster Council secretary Danny Murphy enlisted the skills of Jerome Quinn to cover gaelic games in our province in a previously untapped way. The Ulster Council have been very much to the fore in branding the 125 celebrations and this initiative certainly enhanced that objective. Jerome has captured some unique sideline footage from the Ulster Championship games and has interviewed many significant personalities, often not before the camera to this extent previously.

Footage of the primary schools half-time exhibition games, along with coverage of the ladies' football and camogie finals, have ensured that all GAA activities are receiving appropriate attention this special year. My browsing took me to a link covering interviews and reflections from individuals involved in the historic breakthrough by Down in the 1960s. While the Ulster Council footage was celebrating innovation and embracing the current advances surrounding our games, such sentiments were not reflected by these now elder statesmen of the GAA.

I think it's a pity that many of these great players of previous eras have difficulty accepting the excellence that prevails today. I have always acknowledged the standards set by Down in the '60s and the confidence that gave to Ulster players. Likewise, I marvelled at the new heights Kerry and Dublin brought to the '70s and early '80s.

In the late '80s, Meath and Cork were the dominant forces who gave us the highest standards of the day. Down gave Ulster the lead again in the '90s, which contributed to Donegal (1992) and Derry (1993), having breakthrough years as they won their first All-Irelands at senior level. The current decade brought breakthroughs for Armagh and Tyrone, with Kerry ever-present to ensure only the best would be good enough.

However, I found the general views, coming from these innovators of their day, somewhat narrow. We are invariably reminded of the perceived death of high fielding and long kicking. As I have stated before, the initial flaw in this myth is that, because of the current nature of the game, it is impossible to compare like with like. Isn't it only natural that if the predominant style of that era was to kick the ball as far as high and as long as you could there would be more opportunity for high fielding?

Secondly, does the fact that these long kicks invariably resulted in a lottery for retaining possession make them a lost attribute? I think not. Other negative vibes prevalent in the interviews suggested tactics were all about being destructive and solely about stopping others playing football.

A glance at some of the high-scoring games in this year's Championship negates that argument. In the case of Tyrone, we have been fortunate enough to have been involved in 23 games (League and Championship) at Croke Park since 2003 and have averaged 17.6 points per game – hardly the return of negative footballers.

Other interpretations suggested that coaches have tried to take the risk out of football and, as a result, diminished the product. The first part of this inference contains a certain truth insofar as any competent coach will certainly want to work towards improved odds, but this does not necessarily imply that uniqueness and flair should not be allowed to prevail. Yet another contributor declared that, in the current game, it is too easy to retain possession.

Quite the opposite is the case, as never before has there been so much emphasis placed on disciplined individual and collective tackling. In previous eras, your direct opponent was the only one likely to challenge for your possession. In the modern game, tackles can come from any angle and from players wearing any number. Does that make possession easier to retain?

As I see it, accepting the greatness of the past is right and proper. The best in any given era is exactly that – the best. We will always appreciate great feats of the past, but we also need to acknowledge that innovation and progress is a fact of life and that current best practise deserves similar recognition.

A motoring analogy can help put some perspective on this view.

There was a time when a Vauxhall Victor or a Ford Cortina were the last word in driving comfort. They had the latest technology with regard to ease of starting, better springs (as it was in those days) and more elaborate instrument gauges. Engines ran smoother than previous models and fourth was top gear.

Fast forward to the present era and the instrument dash is more akin to that which would have served an aircraft pilot in the past. We have air conditioning, digital read-outs to tell us distance travelled on each trip, average speed in mph or kph as the case might be, fuel consumption details and cruise control functions.Top gear has moved through fifth and is sixth in many models. Hydraulic systems have become much more sophisticated, as have safety features.

Quiet diesel engines have become almost as prolific as petrol vehicles. And, of course, there is satnav. Were the Victors and Cortinas great in their own era? Yes they were. Would you still want to be driving around in one today? I think not. I rest my case.

Great days at Campa Chormaic

Campa Chormaic continues to go from strength to strength as over 230 young people from both Armagh and Tyrone converged on the Brantry Bard Centre and Eglish playing fields to enhance their command of Gaeilge and improve their playing skills in football, hurling and camogie. In week one, over 110 8-12 year-olds took part, while in week two there were over 125 12-16 year-olds participating.

Monday and Wednesday afternoons were given over to hurling and camogie, while Tuesdays and Thursdays were devoted to football skills. Friday's sporting activities were devoted to blitzes, which proved to be the highlight of the sporting week.

During the course of the camp, Tipperary hurling star Eoin Kelly made a guest appearance, as did Tyrone's Joe McMahon, Armagh's Charlie Vernon and members of the Lory Meagher Cup-winning Tyrone hurling team. I was delighted to assist with prize-giving on the final day of the camp and the atmosphere generated through Campa Chormaic was a fitting legacy of Cormac's example as a sporting gentleman.

This year, the camp extended to Castlewellan, Co Down, and plans are afoot to extend to Co Antrim next year.

Comhgairdeas to all concerned.

[ONeill]

Good man Mickey. That's as close to hard hitting as he'll go but good to see it. Stick that in yer pipe ye Mournites. 

[omagh_gael]

a lot more enjoyable this week, keep er lit Mick!

[020304 Tir Eoghain]

Repetitive, boring, tedious, terrible readings. Don't read it anymore myself.

Yep, easy enough to do, or not as the case may be

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Is there no end to the erudition of this man? 



Provincial champions will welcome push for change

I was delighted to read this week that Croke Park's Director of Games, Pat Daly, believes the structure of the football Championship needs to change.

In the current format, with the provincial champions not being afforded the same opportunity as all other teams – a second chance – such a title is immediately devalued. Evidence since the inception of the Qualifier system in 2001 is quite compelling. Half of the All-Ireland champions in that eight-year period have achieved the ultimate success through the so-called scenic route.

The inference here – and indeed reality too – is that you have an equal chance of winning the Sam Maguire if you lose in the provincial series. The fact that the four best Qualifiers end up in the quarter-finals, effectively acquiring equal status with the provincial champions, only serves to endorse this view. Indeed there is a case to suggest that the teams from the Qualifiers can actually be in a superior position because of the widely accepted fact that regular competitive games, as opposed to sitting in wait for anything up to five weeks, advances the competitive edge.

Of course, there is an element of gamble in entering the Qualifiers – especially in the early rounds – as two 'big hitters' might draw each other. However, apart from that potential pitfall, the odds are too favourably stacked in favour of the Qualifier teams. Historically, even the beaten provincial finalists were at a distinct disadvantage since they often had to deal with their disappointment and face a resurgent Qualifier within six days.

My argument is not in any way anti the Qualifier system; in fact, I believe it has proven to be one of the most exciting innovations on the playing front since the inception of the GAA. There are numerous examples of provincial sides gaining national recognition (Sligo 2002,Fermanagh 2004, Wexford 2008 and Wicklow 2009) in ways not possible through the traditional system.

This has all been very positive for those teams who have suffered defeats and were able to deal with the loss and recover in a relatively short time frame. No such luxury currently exists for the provincial champions. The good news is – and I have alluded to it before in this column – there is a very simple and effective solution to restore the balance in favour of the provincial winners.

The four champions would play off in a traditional semi-final style with the two winners qualifying for the semi-finals proper and the two losers having the chance to be drawn against the two best Qualifiers. This one departure ticks all the necessary boxes insofar as it affords the winners a place in the semi-finals where their provincial titles would have traditionally taken them, and allows the two other champions that precious second chance. At the same time, this adds a much higher degree of difficulty to delivering the ultimate success through the back door and would undoubtedly heighten the intensity in the provincial series.

Some of our more eminent pundits (Joe Brolly and Colm O'Rourke) have in recent years (and weeks) been promoting radical changes to our long-established systems. I feel this is a little like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. One suggestion was to play the provincial Championship alongside a new League/Championship format, with the provincial series having no connection with the All-Ireland series. The analogy is made that this would be akin to the Premiership and the FA Cup competitions in England, running concurrently, and by some magical marketing feat, the now meaningless provincial series would excite us.

Sounds like a Tommy Murphy Cup opportunity for each province and we know how popular that was with the Division Four teams when it excluded them from a second chance in the All-Ireland series. The early season subsidiary competitions would fall victim to these proposed sweeping changes, with somewhat dubious arguments to justify their removal.

To suggest that they eat into club time (remember they are currently played in the month of January) is not true as general club activity seldom starts before the end of March or early April. The attendance figures at a time when the weather is often most uninviting would seem to contradict the argument espoused that these competitions are rubbish anyway.Those who tend to decry the value of long-established competitions might do well to embrace Wayne Dyer's philosophy: "Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change."

There is always room for improvement and it's healthy to embrace change, but suggestions that would effectively spell the end of all our competitions as we know them in one fell swoop seems just a little extreme. I think it's more a case of let's not reinvent the wheel, just work at refining it.

Hopefully, Pat Daly's chisel will do the trick and Joe can hold on to the axe for another while.

Glenavon session a midweek treat

Our All-Ireland semi-final with Cork has been the subject of much debate throughout the various media circles in recent weeks and days.

The level of interest and sense of anticipation was brought home to me on Wednesday night at the Glenavon House Hotel, Cookstown, where upwards of 300 people turned up to partake in a question and answer session promoted by the Ulster Bank Group, one of the chief GAA Football Championship sponsors.

Given the horrible weather conditions that prevailed, I was amazed at the long queue awaiting entry at 6.30pm for a function billed for 7pm.

Myself, Peter Canavan and Seamus 'Banty' McEnaney were on stage and Adrian Logan conducted affairs in his own inimitable and professional way. The night was most enjoyable, with in-depth analysis of the perceived strengths and weaknesses of ourselves and Cork addressed.

Banty gave us some first hand insights into the Cork side, having beaten them in Scotstown earlier in the League and falling victim to their power in the League final in Croke Park. Logie had to call on all his vast experience and media skills to keep ahead of Peter Canavan, who is fast becoming as adept in this domain as he was on the playing field.

Ulster Bank are to be complimented for the way they marketed this event and indeed their visual promotion of their link with the GAA during the season. To be able to initiate this degree of interest in a chat show on a very wet August evening in advance of the All-Ireland semi-final merely serves to indicate the potential (given the proper promotion) of some of our so-described ailing competitions – think the Martin Donnelly Railway Cup.

[BennyHarp]

I thnk that his proposal is a good, simple solution to the problem of a devalued provinicial championships, i also like the idea of making it  a little more difficult for the qualifiers to get back on an even footing with the provinicial champions - Another common sense article in my opinion! (not the most exciting in the world though!)

[Zulu]

I wouldn't have too many issues with his view but I still think one of the biggest problems facing us is the fact that most of our IC games are glorified challenge matches. The McKenna/O'Byrne etc. cups and the leagues are, in reality,  little more than challenge games. Even the provincial championships are now viewed as seperate, secondary, competitions from the AI series, so why not make them so? And the qualifier system plays havoc with the club scene and makes it nigh on impossible to run a structured club championship.

If you link the league and championship, the league games all become more important, one issue solved. Then seed teams and run the AI series on a knockout basis you will have a structure to the year that can allow CB's set and stick to club fixtures. I know many on here come from strong single code counties but in some of the counties I've lived in there is barely a club championship worthy of the name.

[Mike Sheehy]

I cant wait to read Mickeys Column next week