Michael McMullan (Gaelic Life)
From Derry v Dublin NFL Programme - Saturday, March 4, 2023
Today is Rory Gallagher’s 40th game as Derry manager and it’s fitting to see the Dubs rolling into town, one of the biggest names in the game.
Dublin
have set a benchmark for counties like Derry to gaze at from afar. If they are
serious, the margin can be closed. Otherwise, it’s just about rolling out
excuses about funding or paying homage to jewellery you can’t afford.
Derry
under Rory Gallagher are well and truly in the serious category with a 73 per
cent win rate in league and championship before Sean Hurson tosses the leather
into Derry air this evening.
“The
first reaction would be disappointment,” were the first words of Gallagher’s
first post-game interview as Derry manager a 1-17 to 0-14 McKenna Cup defeat
against Monaghan at the heel of 2019, after going 1-3 to 0-0 behind early
doors.
Derry
fought themselves back into the game until Monaghan’s stopping of the runners
halted energetic red and white clad young guns.
“They
showed a lot of knowhow and Division One knowhow,” Gallagher said of the Farney
mentality on that December Sunday in Inniskeen. “We are very naïve and that was
reflective, but for 40 odd minutes of that game, I thought we were outstanding.”
Next
came another defeat McKenna Cup, this time to Donegal on a midweek night when
Gallagher expressed his frustration at the Oakleafers’ preparations on home
soil when he felt their opponents' “culture” was on a different level.
"I
would have been very unhappy with it…and that is something we have got to learn
sharp,” he told the assembled press of Derry’s pre-game protocols and
timekeeping, while also commenting how some players outside the matchday squad
sat in the stand in their club gear instead of being with the
squad.
"You have to give every game its respect. Donegal arrived here, as one, on a bus, well fed and well prepared with their brief team meeting and they move on. I don't think we had that.”
A week later, Derry had victory over Down in their sights under the Páirc Esler lights until substitutes Pat Havern and Sean Dornan got a late grip at midfield to squeeze away any realistic promotion hopes.
When Derry came out of Covid with a streamlined squad and management team, they should’ve chinned Armagh in the 2020 championship only for a lacklustre start.
"That's
the challenge now for us, to commit to each other to be better over the next 10
to 12 weeks,” Gallagher said minutes after stepping through the championship
exit door.
“I know from living in Donegal and having been involved with Donegal, the effort that they give to each other. We have been short of that but that's the way we need to go about it.”
Since then, only Galway (twice) have beat Derry in league or championship. In an interview on the cusp of promotion from Division Three, Gallagher expressed how the Oakleaf squad must start beating teams they’d not have been expected to beat if they were to step up the ladder.
It was a directed at a Derry camp with a youthful injection, giving players the chance to grow into the jersey and become the next generation.
Take Paul Cassidy. Since making his debut 33 games ago as someone many in the county felt wasn’t cutting the mustard, he hasn’t missed a game and kicked his entire 2-23 tally from play. He’s now what every successful team needs - a link man who can score. Paudi McGrogan is another player Gallagher won’t go into war without, two men who sum up the Derry progress.
Shane McGuigan, who Gallagher mentioned didn’t capitalise on a half goal chance in their 2020 defeat to Down, now knows the importance of being both sided as opposed to both footed - another nugget offered and taken. It’s the variation of the turn that asks defenders a more difficult question, helped with hours of lockdown kicking against the gable wall, 100 per day, with his right peg.
From outside the bubble, the hallmark of Gallagher is the unrelenting bellowing of instructions along the sideline. He bucks the trend. Despite being full engrossed in a game and without wearing an earpiece or linking in with any sort of stats output before a post-game interview, he unbelievably shoots off stats and key moments with ease.
Another thing is evident. He rarely - if ever - says maybe. I remember a query on Brendan Rogers’ fitness ahead of the 2021 championship being greeted with “Mal…Brendan won’t be available for selection….Brendan will be playing full back”. A very definite response in relation to a hamstring injury that saw Rogers sit out a league final as a precaution.
It helps paint a picture of a very definitive individual steering the Oakleaf ship, a dressing room devoid of ambiguity.
There are also the media interviews littered with references to a host of sports. A fanatical Liverpool fan, Gallagher often offers examples from the Red’s style of play to annotate an example.
Before the All-Ireland semi-final with Galway, he fielded a question about shot selection. Without batting an eyelid, he used Golden State Warriors basketball star Steph Curry’s ability to get into the area for a three-point shot as a reference point.
“The Warriors create a situation where is on his own, one on one, taking those shots and has a high percentage,” Gallagher replied, comparing him to Ciaran Kilkenny, Con O’Callaghan and David Clifford in the GAA arena. “It’s the intelligence behind the way who those teams attack that I think is brilliant.”
At the same press conference, there was a witty reply when asked if he was frustrated when labelled as a one-dimensional coach.
He wasn’t, pointing to how football is played in waves. The Ireland cricket team was discussed, outlining how bowlers need to be able to bat and batters must be able to field.
“You have to change...like newspapers,” he told a scrum of reporters. “If they stayed old school, they’d have to fight for survival. You have to go online and be different. You don’t want to be different for the sake of it.”
Rory Gallagher’s win rate as Derry manager
