They have talented players who would walk onto most county teams, but Damian Cassidy believes that Derry sides in recent years have lacked the mental strength to compete with and beat the top teams in the country at Championship level. The new Derry manager tells Kenny Archer how he wants to instil a new attitude in the reigning NFL champions...
THE physical aspects of gaelic football, both in terms of contact on the pitch and preparation off it, have been major talking points so far this year. Yet new Derry manager Damian Cassidy believes that mental strength will be what matters most – from his players and himself.
The late great Eamon Coleman brought Cassidy into the world of management as an Oak Leaf selector for three seasons from 2000 onwards, just after his successful playing career with Bellaghy and Derry came to an end.
‘Cass’ could have talked all day about Coleman, but what he recalled most was “a particularly good ability to make his teams so much more mentally tough and able to absorb the pressure and blossom in that type of environment where Derry teams had faltered.”
That environment was, and is, the Championship, specifically Ulster.
More than a decade has passed since Derry took provincial senior honours, although they have reached two All-Ireland semi-finals in that time. There’s no false modesty from Cassidy about the talent available to him.
“I feel Derry have players who can produce at Championship level. The great puzzle is why we haven’t been more competitive in the Ulster Championship than what we have been,” he said.
“When we have a group of players that won the National League but haven’t produced the level of competitiveness you would expect from a Championship team, people keep asking the question ‘Why? Why? Why?’.
“It’s not about ‘Do we have good players?’ It’s never about that.
“It’s always about ‘Do we have players who have got the capacity to play in that type of situation and conditions?’
That’s what we’re working towards, getting players to play in those type of conditions. If they’re doing the things required at that level, success will be the result of all those pieces working.”
Achieving that will take time, though, even for the Bellaghy clubman, who has a record of rapid returns at club level, notably last year in leading Clonoe to the Tyrone SFC title.
“The League is going to be important for us in respect of building the type of football we want to play.
“It’s going to give us very competitive games that are the testing ground for that type of football. We’re also going to be looking at a few players...
“We’ll set out to try and win the games set in front of us – but it will be purely with the Championship in mind.”
The new man in charge is well aware that support for the Oak Leafers can be limited – and fickle.
“Derry won the National League last year and a number of people were backing the county, that’s important to recognise, because those people are important to our team.
“But there’s still this group of people that are waiting for something to go wrong, as opposed to coming with their heart on their sleeve saying ‘We’re going to support Derry come high or low water. This is our team and we love our team’.”
The 43-year-old’s time as a club manager in Tyrone, especially with Loughmacrory in 2003, showed him a stark contrast to the club-county divide in Derry.
“It was really driven home to me how absolutely fanatical Tyrone is as a county about football, the
passion those people have for their county team as well as their club teams.
“Then you look back into your own county and there’s this massive passion for club football in Derry, but we don’t get the same amount of following going to county games on such a consistent basis.
“Tyrone had not yet won the All-Ireland, it was that particular year. People were fit to mix their passion for their county perfectly with the club setting.
“It wasn’t a case of club versus county, it was our club and our county. Let’s enjoy both those
situations, both can live quite comfortably together.”
Yet the O’Neill County also demonstrated to Cassidy the need for his own mental strength, to deal with the inevitable critics:
“Regardless of it being right or wrong, a certain amount of flak comes with the job.
“Mickey Harte is a perfect example. Me, in comparison to what Mickey’s achieved, I’m just a wee minnow in the big, big ocean and he’s the killer whale. I’m the food for a man of that calibre.
“This man had won two All-Irelands, U21s, and Minor, yet you had people in that county asking for his head!
“If that can happen to Mickey in Tyrone, make no mistake about it, it can happen to Damian in Derry very easily.”
Asked if he had thick enough skin for the barbs, Cassidy displayed a Colemanesque attitude, responding: “What I have learned in life, never mind in football, is that you’ve got to do things your way.
“Because when you walk away you’ve got to know you did it your way, that you’re not looking over your shoulder thinking ‘If this...’ and ‘If that...’.
“There are variables I don’t have control over... but the bottom line is you have to be true to your heart.”
As with most new Derry managers, he’s been appointed for a three-year period, but that’s subject to an annual review.
In any case, he points out: “I’ll do my own analysis at the end of the year on my own performance.”
When the prospect of a long time in post is put to him, he responds: “Well, if I’m in this job for five, six, seven years, in Derry – and I’m emphasising in Derry [he laughs] – I will put that down as one absolutely massive success story. We will have had massive success for that to have occurred.”
That will come down to the team he sends out, and Cassidy concludes: “I think there are enough players in Derry with ambition to make a difference to what we have achieved in the past.”
As long as he gets his players to believe that can be done then half the battle is won.
FOOTBALL LEAGUE FORM 1998/99-2008
THE VERDICT
An easy judgement to reach is that, compared to last year, Derry will have a worse League campaign but a better Championship. The hard bit is for the Oak Leafers to actually achieve that second element.
They’d be hard-pressed to do better in the League, unless they win all their matches, and even though their Division One programme is easier this season, on paper, that isn’t going to happen.
Having four matches at home should go a long way towards securing their top flight status, which is all Damian Cassidy will really want as he seeks to make his mark on the team, but they could run the risk of relegation.
Derry’s League hopes won’t be helped by injuries that rule out key players, including Mark Lynch, Kevin McCloy, Niall McCusker, and Enda Muldoon for at least the early games, with Paddy Bradley and Gerard O’Kane also short of match fitness after being in Australia.
Cassidy will seek to get his side playing to his system, system, system, which will take time to translate from whiteboard to green pitch.
Key elements are greater pace at the back and in the hard-working wing-forward roles.
The talent in Derry is abundant and undeniable, but too often they’ve been closer to a collection of individuals than a true team. The new boss will aim to instil greater discipline on and off the pitch. If they play to his plan Derry can be a danger to anyone.
What matters most is the Championship, of course, and, if patience rather than panic is the reaction to any adverse results in the League, Cassidy can make Derry more competitive in that arena.
The Oak Leafers should avoid a third consecutive Championship defeat by Monaghan – but then they must overcome either Tyrone or Armagh to reach their first Ulster final since 2000.
They’re capable of doing so and even if they don’t they should go further in the Qualifiers, as long as they get a little luck in the draw.
2009 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PANEL
NFL panel and captain to be confirmed: Niall Bradley, Patsy Bradley, Paul Bradley, Seamus Bradley, Eoghan Brown, Paul Cartin, Mark Craig, Collie Devlin, Joe Diver (right), Michael Drumm, Enda Lynn, Brian Og McAlary, Aidan McAlynn, Dermot McBride, Mickey McBride, PJ McCloskey, Shane McGuckin, Chris McKaigue, Cathal McKeever, Gavin McShane, Brian Mullan, Ciaran Mullan, Kevin O’Connor, Eunan O’Kane, Michael O’Kane, Tony Walls, Paul Young.
THE NEW BREED
Plenty of players were given their chance to impress in the McKenna Cup and they now await the verdict of the new management team, along with other contenders who were in action with their universities.
Chris McKaigue made a substitute appearance in last year’s Championship, coming in for Liam Hinphey in the Qualifier defeat against Monaghan, and, with the latter off to Australia, he could replace him as an option in the half-back line. McKaigue himself has attracted interest Down Under from the AFL, but is sticking with gaelic football. McKaigue’s Slaughtneil colleague Barry McGuigan may also be added to Derry’s defensive ranks after, at last, responding to overtures to try out with the county.
Further forward, the lively Enda Lynn (pictured), of Greenlough, has probably done enough to stay in the squad and should be joined by James Kielt. The Kilrea lad, who captained Derry to the 2007 All-Ireland minor final and graduated to the U21s last year, has also attracted serious attention from Australian Rules sides, but played in the McKenna Cup with Queen’s.
As did Sean Leo McGoldrick, of Coleraine, and both will among a few Derrymen who could give Cassidy and his selectors something to think about in tomorrow night’s semi-final for the Malone Road men against holders Down.
Sunday, February 1: v Mayo (a)
Saturday, February 14: v Westmeath (h)
Saturday, March 7: v Kerry (h)
Saturday, March 14: v Dublin (a)
Saturday, March 21: v Galway (h)
Saturday, March 28: v Tyrone (a)
Sunday, April 12: v Donegal (h)
Ulster Senior Football Championship Quarter-final
Sunday, May 24: v Monaghan (TBC)
Now it’s all about belief for men from Oak Leaf 
Antrim
Armagh
Cavan
Derry
Donegal
Down
Fermanagh
Monaghan
Tyrone
