IN MANY WAYS, they made it look too easy. And then they made it look very, very hard indeed. Or was it the other way around?
It was only on 25 November, 2020 when Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher were confirmed as the Tyrone management to take over from Mickey Harte’s 18 seasons in charge.
They did so in the midst of the Covid pandemic that forced the National leagues to take on a regional shape. Tyrone overcame the opening loss to Donegal to beat Armagh before drawing with Monaghan.
They qualified for the league semi-final by virtue of score difference over Armagh. But as the goals rained in against Kerry in Killarney for the semi-final, they might have wished it wasn’t so.
6-15 to 1-14 was the final score but by half-time, Tyrone’s defence had been breached for five goals.
“It was as bad a beating as you’d want to take,” said Brian Dooher afterwards.
“But you have to hold your hands up to Kerry. They were awesome. I don’t think we are as bad as that but we definitely have a lot of work to do over the next three or four weeks to be ready for the championship.”
And the championship came, a straight knockout throwback for old times’ sake.
And they won the Ulster title beating Monaghan.
And they had a strain of Covid in the camp, seeking and getting by the grace of Kerry, an extension before their semi-final.
And they beat Kerry, and Mayo to land the county’s fourth Sam Maguire.
Along the way, the team that leaked five goals in one half, conceded only one goal in their five championship games, a rocket from Eoghan Bán Gallagher in the Ulster semi-final against Donegal.
They had it cracked. And then the pressure of bring champions broke them. 2022 was a pig of a year. Logan and Dooher wore it all year.
“You get the highs and you get the lows,” Logan says with a philosophical bent before a candid admission.
“And maybe there was a little over-excess on the highs. You have got to expect the lows then.
“There were a couple of cuffings last year and then we notice the surrounding commentary. Let’s just hope we are on an even keel now and the players are training hard, working hard and let’s see what the next few months bring.”
Perspective is easily achievable for Logan. Running a busy legal practise across two sites at opposite ends of Tyrone, it has a sizeable family law caseload.
All of society’s issues are contained in his work and while he has enjoyed an impressive track record of delivering success in his management roles, he can’t help himself being drawn to talk about the pastoral side of leading a sizeable group of young men.
“There’s a lot of it and at our stage of the game, you find yourself dealing with people at all stages of life. Some good times, some bad,” he explains.
“In terms of basic life events, building houses, getting married, there’s always an amount of that going on with guys in their mid to late 20s, which can knock you sideways and knock players’ focus on stuff.
“It’s an amateur sport and you have to accommodate everything that goes around it.”
He continues, “And listen, I’ve said it recently and maybe it is unfair of me saying it. Intercounty football is a harsh environment, for players.
“Athletically, you need to be capable of it. You need to have a burning desire to stay with it and there is some pastoral care, I am not so sure how good we are at it in the Tyrone camp, but we live in a tricky world at the minute.
“You tend to forget these young lads are still in their 20s because you have seen them for years on a TV screen and you think they are bulletproof.
“We try to do our best, but they express themselves well in their football. It’s a great distraction for them, it’s a great commitment and it’s a great way to set yourself up for life in terms of resilience and all the things that people need in the current world.
“Injuries can invade players. All sorts of life events can invade players. You have to be in the moment and it is a selfish feeling from a manager, but you just want the best out of a player on the give day and to get the result so that at least the team is progressing.”
For a start, it’s Monaghan in Omagh this Sunday. Under Logan and Dooher, they have met Monaghan four times, wins in the 2021 Ulster final played in Croke Park and the league this year in Clones, with draws in the 2021 and 2022 league campaigns.
What has been a subtle facet of Tyrone’s dismal 2022 and the growing optimism of 2023 has been the fresh lick of paint applied to the team that won the All-Ireland.
Gone are the likes of Tiernan McCann, Rory Brennan, Conor McKenna, Ronan O’Neill and others. Cathal McShane has been scratching around for a bit of form this season too.
But others have muscled their way into the team, including Cormac Quinn and Niall Kerr in defence. Joe Oguz has given even more height to a well-equipped middle eight sector, while Ruairí Canavan and Michael McGleenan have experienced significant gametime.
Don’t call it a ‘transition’, though.
“It’s a word that has been in my head for a couple of months now, but I have not articulated it. But again, there’s not a lot of forgiveness out there in the world and ‘transition’ can sound like an excuse,” states Logan.
“Excuses don’t take you very far in most things and they don’t take you very far in county football.
“But we are lucky and blessed in Tyrone that we have a serious club structure, we have a serious school’s structure.”
He refers to the All-Ireland winning schools at ‘A’ level in Omagh CBS and St Joseph’s Donaghmore. The under-20 team that won an All-Ireland last year. The club scene that is ultra-competitive in every sense.
“Whether it is called ‘transition’ or whether it is called ‘development’, the bottom line is that football panels are revolving doors and that’s right up to before matches and after matches,” adds Logan.
“Because there are life issues with players, there are things going on. The happy situation is you would love everybody available every day of the week and fit, but it is not that straight a line.
“We have managed to get a couple of players and play them this league and let’s see how they go.”
Season Three of this Succession is about to hit the big plot twists.
Get instant updates on the Allianz Football and Hurling Leagues on The42 app. Brought to you by Allianz Insurance, proud sponsors of the Allianz Leagues for over 30 years.
