AS A COACH, Rory Gallagher has always implemented the style of football to suit his players, and occasionally to counter their opponents.
With this Derry team, though, he has been able to get closest to the vision of football he promoted while still a player.
His last couple of seasons playing were spent at St Gall’s in Belfast, alongside his brother Ronan, who has worked as a goalkeeping coaching with him in Fermanagh and now Derry.
At the time, they were managed by Lenny Harbinson. The former Antrim player had found Gallagher to be a quiet figure in the dressing room until halfway through their first season, when he asked a question about how he felt the St Gall’s team were geared tactically.
With that invitation, Gallagher opened up on his masterplan, which was to defend less of the pitch by bringing in deep-lying wing-forwards and a sweeper. By St Patrick’s Day 2010, St Gall’s with Gallager at full-forward directing the attacking lines and Harbinson as manager, won the All-Ireland club title in the club’s centenary season.
His evolution as a coach has evolved to include lying deep as a low-block to frustrate the opposition attacks. Surrounding the ball carrier with meaningful tackling and double-teaming. Quick counter-attacks with the shape of an arrow head, players supporting the ball carrier but running angles all the time.
Occasionally, he is not adverse to the odd high ball in. And he is the first manager to put four, or even more, attackers in around the opposition square in order to open space up around the point-scoring zone around the ‘D’.
It’s a formula that has him targeting a second consecutive Ulster final when Derry face Monaghan in Omagh this Saturday evening.
His career can be mapped though in how he progressed from a player starting out, to setting a never-equalled scoring record in the Ulster championship, through to coaching and managing Donegal, Fermanagh and now Derry.
No opponents have been more familiar to him than Monaghan, and here we track the most notable times he has faced the Oriel county.
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All Ireland B Final
Monaghan 2-11 Fermanagh 0-13
23 November, 1998
Gallagher’s first notable game against Monaghan was in the All-Ireland B final, played in Scotstown.
A brief punch-up in the middle of the second half saw Fermanagh lose Kieran Gallagher and Raymond Johnston to red cards, while Monaghan’s Damien Freeman also saw red. A late goal from Darren Swift pushed the game beyond Fermanagh, with Gallagher registering 0-5 on the day.
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Ulster championship quarter-final
Fermanagh 3-12 Monaghan 1-10
14 May, 2000
The year before, Gallagher had a long-term injury that ruled him out of Fermanagh’s first win in the championship in seven years when they beat Monaghan.
In this game, they were hosting at a newly-revamped Brewster Park and Gallagher proved an excellent playmaker with grabbing 0-5, with two 45s and three frees.
After an incident between himself and Michael Slowey that ended with Gallagher on the ground, the Clones man was taken off and later tried to confront Gallagher outside the dressing rooms.
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Ulster championship quarter-final
Fermanagh 0-14 Monaghan 2-10
10 June, 2001
By this stage, Fermanagh were seen as favourites in these ties, but it was to prove fruitless when they found themselves eight points adrift at half-time.
With John Maughan managing, Gallagher featured at centre-forward and kicked 0-8, six from frees.
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Ulster championship quarter-final
Monaghan 2-11 Fermanagh 4-13
12 May, 2002
A day of days. Fermanagh were on top in all sectors but everyone recalls the record score of 3-9 that Gallagher helped himself to while playing at full-forward.
Two of the goals came from penalties, and the third arrived after a late delivery from Ronan McCabe had Gallagher rising over Gary McQuaid to punch the ball to the net to go along with his four frees and five points from play.
Once the referee Michael Monaghan of Kildare blew the final whistle, an umpire raced out from his post to hand Gallagher the matchday ball.
The tally equalled Dublin’s Johnny Joyce’s 5-3 against Longford in 1960. The record was broken in the Covid All-Ireland championship of 2020, when Mayo’s Cillian O’Connor struck for 4-9 against Tipperary in the All-Ireland semi-final, but Gallagher’s tally still stands as an Ulster Championship record.
It’s worth nothing that for three seasons, 2000, 2001 and 2002, Gallagher was the leading scorer in the provincial Championship despite not reaching a final, at a time when Peter Canavan, Oisin McConville and Paddy Bradley were operating. This was Gallagher’s last game for his county until brief returns in 2005 and 2010.
Incidentally, the record individual tally in an intercounty game belongs to Tyrone’s Frankie Donnelly, who scored 4-11 against Fermanagh in a Dr Lagan Cup game in 1957.
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Ulster championship semi-final
27 June, 2010
Monaghan 0-21 Fermanagh 2-8
Gallagher’s final game as a county footballer ended with Fermanagh biting off more than they could chew with Monaghan racing into an early lead and not showing any signs of letting up in Kingspan Breffni Park.
He hit 1-2, his goal arriving in the 60th minute, to go along with a point from play and a 45.
Ulster championship final
Donegal 0-7 Monaghan 0-13
21 July, 2013
The next time Gallagher renewed acquaintances with Monaghan came with him dressed in a tracksuit as assistant manager to Jim McGuinness.
Donegal were defending the Ulster and All-Ireland titles and came up against Monaghan in the decider, who had spent the league in division 3 under Malachy O’Rourke.
His former Fermanagh team mate turned the tables in a controversial final in which Mark McHugh was dealt a heavy blow causing a tear in his quad.
Less than a fortnight later and with Laois beaten in a fiery qualifier in which Gallagher and McGuinness were caught up in a brief sideline wrestling contest against the opposing management of Justin McNulty and Fergal Byron, Gallagher granted an interview to The Irish News and his printed comments held that Mayo and Monaghan had ‘colluded’ with each other on how to beat Donegal.
The comments subsequently soured the relationship with McGuinness and they soon parted ways in the middle of September.
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Ulster championship final
Donegal 0-10 Monaghan 0-11
19 July, 2015
By now, Gallagher had succeeded McGuinness, who had left the post of Donegal manager after losing the 2014 All-Ireland final.
The campaign began with a spite-ridden win over Tyrone in Ballybofey, and then they swamped Armagh in the Athletic Grounds with a series of high balls towards Paddy McBrearty and Neil Gallagher.
The Ulster final would be a game of chess however and Monaghan would chalk up eight of their 11 points in the second and third quarters with Vinny Corey blotting out Michael Murphy again in an Ulster final.
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Ulster championship semi-final
Donegal 1-11 Monaghan 0-14
Donegal 0-17 Monaghan 2-10
25 June, 2016, 2 July 2016
A two-part epic in Breffni Park, both sides leaving every ounce of themselves on the pitch.
In both games, the gap never opened significantly but Donegal were in control of the first half of the replay, leading 0-10 to 2-2 by half time, one of Monaghan’s penalties coming through a Conor McManus penalty.
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Ulster championship semi-final
Fermanagh 1-8 Monaghan 0-10
3 June, 2018
Gallagher finished up his time with Donegal and his native county sprung a surprise when they announced a couple of months later that he would succeed Pete McGrath as manager.
That spring they embarked on a transformation that would for a time make them one of the meanest defences in the game and Gallagher’s ability to prepare them for games is still talked about by the remaining players on the panel.
Gallagher modelled a counter-attacking side in the purest sense, surrendering the short kickout to Monaghan but then tackling in the middle third with a manic intensity. They went in at the break 0-6 to 0-4 ahead, despite having also shot seven wides in the same period.
Monaghan got to grips however and on the hour mark Drew Wylie nudged them in front for the first time.
There was time for one more tactical ploy however and Gallagher placed captain Eoin Donnelly at the edge of the square for a late flurry. A high ball was sent in with Darren Hughes and Rory Beggan for company, but the Coa man connected and sent the ball to the net.
All this despite their star attacker Seamus Quigley – man of the match in the previous round win over Armagh – left on the bench for a breach of discipline.
“We love Seamie,” said Gallagher afterwards.
“He has been brilliant for us all year. There was a little incident, you know, last week and we had to put the team first. I thought the best thing to do was for him to sit this one out. He is a great lad and he will be raring to go for the final.”
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All-Ireland qualifiers Rd1
Monaghan 1-10 Fermanagh 1-6
9 June, 2019
The end of Gallagher’s two-year spell with his home county and early on it looked set up for another big shock as they led 1-2 to 0-1 with an early goal from Ryan Lyons.
Seven unanswered points either side of the break had Monaghan back in control but they also had luck on their side when Lee Cullen was dismissed in the 55th minute and Sean Quigley’s penalty was saved by Rory Beggan.
There was only one point in it when Conor McCarthy pounced for a goal five minutes into time added on, sparking a row which left Fermanagh reduced to just 12 men.
Asked afterwards if he would continue on in his role, Gallagher said, “We’ll have to talk.”
By the following month, he had stood down.
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Ulster championship semi-final
Derry 3-12 Monaghan 0-17
15 May, 2022
Another ambush of Monaghan, and again in the happy hunting ground that Gallagher enjoys in Omagh, this time in a Derry hoodie on the line.
An early goal from Gareth McKinless set the tone here and by the break they were 2-7 to 0-6 up.
While there was an inevitable dip in performance with Monaghan scoring half a dozen consecutive points, another Benny Heron goal in the second half pushed them through to their first Ulster final since 2011 and, eventually, their first title since 1998.
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