KEVIN Madden felt “honoured and privileged” to be asked to become part of Mickey Harte’s backroom team next season - but says he wasn’t going to Tyrone on work experience.
The former Antrim forward took roughly 30 minutes to decide to accept Harte’s invitation as the veteran manager sets about replacing Peter Donnelly and Stevie O’Neill who both left at the end of the season.
Madden, who just completed four years with Creggan Kickhams, says Harte’s call couldn’t have been better timed.
“I was surprised and obviously delighted to get a phone call from one of the best managers the game has seen - not just thrilled about that, but Mickey has been 16 years in [senior] management and has never had a football coach from outside the county,” Madden said.
“So I felt very privileged and honoured about getting involved in the set-up.”
The Portglenone native added: “It’s a great opportunity for me to grow and develop even further as a coach but at the same time I’m not going on work experience.
Joking, Madden added: “A friend of mine said the other day: ‘What’s Mickey Harte going to say when you tell him you’re picking the team?’
“I know from my own experience nobody wants a ‘Yes’ man working in their management team. You want people in there that can bring innovative ideas, implement them, and raise standards. Otherwise, what would be the point in having a backroom team?”
“If that was the case I wouldn’t be doing the players, supporters, Mickey or myself justice.”
Madden had a couple of conversations with Harte and met him and his assistant Gavin Devlin earlier this week.
“I tend to be quite clinical in weighing things up,” Madden said.
“I tend to go with my gut. I had things to consider, but in all honesty, I didn’t have to think about Mickey’s offer for too long; after maybe a half an hour I had my mind made up and I obviously felt it was the right move for me at this time.”
Madden will help develop Tyrone’s game-plan and believes there is already solid foundations in place from what he saw in 2019.
Tyrone looked as though they would make back-to-back All-Ireland finals this year after they led Kerry 0-9 to 0-5 at the interval of their semi-final clash, but the Red Hands posted a hugely disappointing second half display and lost by three.
“In terms of Championship football and even League football, Tyrone have produced an incredible level of consistency over the past number of years and getting into All-Ireland semi-finals and finals has been very good.
“In the season just passed they had shown signs of evolving; they were kicking the ball more and playing a much more direct game. Although they reached the All-Ireland final in 2018, I felt they took more of a step forward this year in terms of getting closer to what’s required to win an All-Ireland."
Highly-rated on the club circuit, Madden added: “We’d a good chat about gameplans and I spoke about some of my ideas around where I think Tyrone could improve and evolve even further. My remit will be very much coaching and developing the overall plan along with ‘Horse’ [Gavin Devlin] and that’s what I’m really looking forward to.
“There is this myth out there that the likes of Tyrone play defensive football and Dublin play this out-and-out swashbuckling attacking football. That’s certainly not the case. At county level most teams play with lots of men behind the ball when out of possession; but it’s whenever they’re transitioning to attack and their ability to do this effectively is where the difference lies.
"I suppose, even when they have 13, 14 and sometimes 15 men behind the ball, Dublin stretch that blanket very quickly and get players into attacking positions quicker than most teams. All people tend to look at is the last phase of the attack and not the defensive structure that led to the ball being turned over.
"I feel Tyrone have started to do that better, but there is more work to do. There’s definitely scope for improvement.”
Regarded as one of the best forwards to come out of Antrim, Madden was the county’s chief marksman soon after making a goal-scoring Championship debut against Donegal in 1997.
Injuries brought a premature end to his county career in 2005 but team-mates and managers he played under weren’t surprised when he moved into coaching.
He assisted Liam ‘Baker’ Bradley when Glenullin won a Derry senior county title in 2007. He took the reins in 2008 and guided Glenullin to a Division One title before being recruited as Damian Cassidy’s right-hand man with the Derry seniors in 2009 and 2010.
He stayed on the Derry club circuit, spending three years with Loup and a further two with Dungiven.
In 2018, he guided Creggan Kickhams to their first county final in 41 years but they suffered an agonising one-point loss to neighbours Erin’s Own Cargin. During his four years he raised standards at the Kickhams club and the team never finished outside the top two, winning the club their first every Division One league title in 2018.
“The Creggan Kickhams club were a pleasure to work with throughout the time I was there," he said. "In terms of the players, they were an absolute dream to coach and a really committed bunch of lads. I have no doubt that with more hard work they will get that Senior Championship in the not too distant future.”
Meanwhile, Creggan Kickhams football captain and county hurling captain Conor McCann paid a glowing tribute to Madden's work at the club.
"In 2015 when Kevin arrived, our seniors were overall a comfortable Division One side; inconsistent against the top teams and some distance off properly competing for trophies," McCann said.
"Fast-forward to now, we have had three first-place league finishes (two of which we missed out on winning the League on score difference), our first league title in decades came last year, on the same year we bridged a 41-year gap to reach the Antrim SFC final and unfortunately were defeated by a single point...
"The biggest and most under-rated contribution and achievement he will leave as his legacy at Creggan will be the belief he instilled, not only through the players but through the community, that when we perform, we are one of the best teams in Antrim."
Correction: Contrary to our report in Tuesday’s edition (Tyrone Co Focus, page 68), Tyrone midfielder Collie Cavanagh has not announced his retirement from the inter-county scene. The Moy man has not made a decision on his future with Tyrone. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and are happy to set the record straight.
