A MINOR SURPRISE landed in the email boxes of GAA media last week with an invitation to a Donegal press event ahead of their meeting with Down in the Ulster senior quarter-final this weekend.
Surprising, because in recent times Ulster counties have largely done away with the concept of a media night ahead of their championship openers, most preferring instead to send a member of the backroom team to the Ulster Council launch.
Doubly surprising however, because this was Donegal doing it. Basketcase Donegal. Crisis-hit Donegal. Beleaguered Donegal. Besieged Donegal that lost a manager during the National league, a former Footballer of the Year as their Academy Director and were relegated from Division 1 with a game in hand.
What makes it impressive though, was how the present manager (interim? It’s fluid) Aidan O’Rourke deals with the numerous questions around the departure of Paddy Carr, and his subsequent appointment along with Paddy Bradley to steer the ship until the end of the season.
Which O’Rourke is not expecting for a good while, by the way.
But briefly to revisit that week in which Eoghan Bán Gallagher, Hugh McFadden and Paddy McBreaty met with Carr and he soon departed, how hard was it to decide that he would take on possibly one of the least desirable jobs in Gaelic games, given the circumstances?
“Paddy Carr probably dictated that, to be fair,” says O’Rourke.
“In some ways he is an extraordinary man in terms of how he feels very deeply about Donegal and the Donegal senior team. What was best for them. He felt that continuity was what the team needed at that moment.”
The days after they lost by 11 points to Mayo in Ballybofey and were relegated were fraught for the management team. After consulting with the players, Carr decided the job was not for him.
“I was talking to Paddy three or four times a day during that week. Around what’s best for the team and how do we keep them until the end of the week, never mind what’s next,” reveals O’Rourke.
“And then, there were a few more conversations post the Roscommon game around what’s best for Donegal senior team at that moment. I probably took my lead from Paddy in that.”
He continues, “I certainly didn’t envisage at the start of the year, taking on the responsibility I have now. But there are loads of good people around it. There are people who are carrying more burden than they possibly expected themselves.
“So it is a different challenge at the minute, but ultimately it is the same because it is about the players, what happens on the pitch and trying to maximise that.
“It wasn’t easy to get to where we are now. And it wouldn’t have happened if Paddy didn’t feel that it was the best way forward for the group.”
In his time, O’Rourke has been involved with many county panels from his playing days in Armagh when some prominent players felt strongly enough to make a move for Joe Kernan as manager to replace the two Brians, Canavan and McAlinden.
He was in Down last year when a spectacular row blew up with some senior players drinking on a training weekend which led to then manager James McCartan temporarily leaving his post.
While O’Rourke doesn’t consume much of the media, he can’t help but be aware of it all the same in the Donegal goldfish bowl and it’s negative effect on the playing panel.
“To be honest, I don’t hear a lot of that noise. I’m not on social media, I’m not in Donegal every day of the week. In some ways I’m insulated from all of that. My focus has been quite easy to maintain. There have been times when it might have distracted others,” he states.
“And anything that affects the squad, affects performance and how they train. And you can’t be stupid and ignore that. That would be stupid. There have been times some players have said they have been affected.
“I’ve never seen a county like Donegal in terms of the media interest. There are papers, websites, podcasts. And that’s great. But there is a downside to that too when things aren’t perfect. But I’d like to think there is a steel there now”.
This Sunday’s encounter in Newry has many layers of intrigue. How Donegal emerge from the spring and steady themselves is the chief concern.
O’Rourke himself had two spells in the Down management team, including that aforementioned eventful spell with James McCartan.
But Down also have a Donegal presence in their camp with Jim McGuinness apparently taking a greater role of late.
“I know the players responded well to Jim in the sessions,” O’Rourke revealed.
“He brought a different dynamic to the sessions he has taken, the players felt there was a lot of energy in those sessions and I think his messaging was building on what Conor was doing.
“I don’t necessarily think that it is anything different he is adding but he is adding percentages to what they are trying to do. Teams bring in coaches all the time to do things differently, freshen things up, add impetus.
“And I can understand where Conor was coming from with that one and I don’t necessarily know that it was because he was a Donegal man was any part of the reasoning, but he is one of the most respected coaches in the country and would add value wherever he went.”
Coaching and tactical approaches are one thing. This Donegal panel have stored up a world of hurt, perceived or otherwise and will feel that after making the heave against a manager, the pressure is on them now to deliver a performance.
“I can’t speak for the players, but the sense of the group is that performances are their responsibility now. And they have to put their best foot forward, and I am pretty sure they will do that,” adds O’Rourke.
“I think there is huge potential in the group. Yes, they have taken a bit of an emotional battering but they have the potential to really push on.”
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