Today’s Hospital Pass explores how Mickey Harte’s unorthodox methods paid off for Sean Cavanagh and Sean Óg’s attempts to keep the feet of Galway hurling supporters firmly on the ground.
Harte’s unorthodox methods pay dividends for Cavanagh
The current Tyrone team mightn’t quite live up to the standards set by their predecessors in the first decade of the new millennium, but then they had a pretty hard act to follow.
The team of Dooher, Jordan, Canavan and a few members of the current crop was probably the most driven and determined group of men ever to win the Sam Maguire and they were marshalled by probably the greatest manager of the current era, Mickey Harte.
Harte has carved out a well-earned reputation for being a tactical innovator and is known to be a man devoted to meticulous preparation and the depths of the detail he goes into were revealed by Sean Cavanagh earlier this week.
Despite being ruled out for the season as a result of a shoulder injury sustained in May, Cavanagh made a surprise return to action for his club, Moy, in an Intermediate Championship clash with Derrytresk over the weekend and typically, made a defining impact after coming off the bench to kick a spectacular long-range winner.
Cavanagh’s ability to kick such a score after a long lay-off may have surprised a few, but hardly Mickey Harte, who found something for Cavanagh to do at county training sessions even when his lame arm was lying limp by his side.
Cavanagh, who said that he returned to action a mere “seven or eight weeks” before schedule, credited Harte with the match-winning point and is quoted on the Hogan Stand website as saying: “Whenever I was out injured with the shoulder, Mickey had me kicking balls from the sidelines and kicking balls from frees for three or four weeks and I suppose that accuracy came in handy.”
Most injured GAA players will get away with showing their face at training for ten minutes before heading away again, but not in Tyrone it seems. Given what Harte has achieved over the years, expect rival managers to adopt a similar approach in the near future.
It’s not sour grapes but…
If Galway hurling folk needed grounding after Sunday, then they could do worse than read quotes attributed to Sean Óg Ó hAilpín in the Irish Daily Star today.
The quality of Galway’s performances in the Championship to date has left many tipping them to secure their first Liam MacCarthy Cup since the late ?80s and although the memes and celebratory posters that greeted their victory over Kilkenny have been absent this week, the dangers of getting a little carried away still persist.
Not if Ó hAilpín has anything to do with it, as the Rebel legend appears to be already writing off Galway’s chances in the final even before the other semi-final has taken place.
“I actually feel the winners from this Sunday will win the All-Ireland,” Ó hAilpín said.
“It’s not sour grapes for Galway beating us. I just think that whoever wins this Sunday will win the All-Ireland. If I was to make a call on it, it would be close but I think that Kilkenny are more proven than Tipp.”
Such an influential and highly respected figure like Sean Óg obviously has his reasons for doubting Galway’s capacity to triumph, but a cynic might interpret his comments along the lines of: “It’s not sour grapes, but you’re definitely not going to win the final. Na-na-na-na-na.”
We’ll see if the Tribesmen can prove him wrong.
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