It’s all about summer for Donegal supremo

A testing National League campaign looms for Donegal with Tyrone, Kerry, Derry and Dublin all lying in wait. However, while new Tir Chonaill boss John Joe Doherty would appreciate a decent run in Division One, it’s the thought of Championship football which truly gets his dander up. Seamus Maloney writes...

The difficulty of Division One means that, while every team’s goal will simply be survival, achieving that might not leave them far off a final spot.
“Everybody will go out to win their games regardless, but if you can get enough points to stay up, that’s the goal,” said Doherty. “But there’s a thin line between staying up and being involved in the final. I would imagine that every manager really just wants to have a clear idea of his Championship team by the time the National League is over.”
By the time the National League is over, Doherty will certainly have a clearer idea of what life as an inter-county manager is like. The controversy that surrounded his appointment, and saw Charlie Mulgrew and Declan Bonner take a case against the Donegal County Board to the Disputes Resolution Authority, meant Doherty’s position was one of the most discussed in the country before he was even able to oversee a training session.
The new year and Dr McKenna Cup finally brought Doherty the opportunity to get down to work as county boss after what has been a fairly meteoric rise.
Doherty managed his club team, Naomh Columba, Glencolmcille, while he was still playing and, after moving to Annagry in the north west of the county, took over the local Naomh Mhuire club, which he guided to county junior and All-Ireland Gaeltacht titles. He also served as a county selector under Mickey Moran in 2001, but admits it was never a long-held goal to manage Donegal.
“It’s only this last couple of years that I really got into it,” he said. “I was playing away at club football until a couple of years ago, and while that was going on I didn’t really have any interest.
“Although I managed the club team during that time, I didn’t really think about it as something I always wanted to do. It’s only when you give up the football completely that you realise you miss the buzz of the dressing room.”
The buzz was picked up in a career that saw him win All-Ireland titles at U21 and Vocational Schools level and Ulster senior medals in 1990 and 1992. It’s hardly a big omission that he never won a National League title, especially as, in 1993, the year he came closest, he won an Allstar at corner-back.
He captained Donegal in the 1998 Ulster final when they lost to a last minute Joe Brolly goal and he also won a county title with his club in 1990.
In 1992, he came into the All-Ireland final team for the injured Martin Shovlin in the week before the final win over Dublin and played a key role in Donegal’s finest hour.
Doherty was part of a generation of Donegal footballers that have cast a shadow over all Donegal teams since.
The perception of Donegal outside the county is of talented footballers who have, especially in the last couple of years, underachieved. It’s getting on to 20 years since Donegal have won even a provincial title. The National League was won in 2007, but that season is remembered for the hammering against Tyrone in the Ulster semi-final. The Championship is the be-all and end-all.
Doherty doesn’t think there’s much point dwelling on past achievements.
“The only thing I would say about Donegal’s All-Ireland win is that they spent a long, long time trying to win it with a good team,” he said.
“Apart from a few younger fellas, myself included, who came into the team in later years, there was a whole generation of players that were coming near the end of their careers when they won that All-Ireland.
“So, if it’s any consolation for any team from this county or any other county, you just keep plodding away and if you get the rub of the green, that can make the difference. Cavan could have beaten that Donegal team in the first round and there wouldn’t be a word about them. That’s the reality of it.”
The reality of top flight county management will certainly hit Doherty when he takes his team to face Kerry in the Division One opener, even if the “real” game is still a springtime away.