Football

'Seldom in life does one of the best football coaches in Ireland become available at a time when you want him'

Monaghan boss Seamus McEnaney has shaken up his backroom team ahead of the 2021 campaign, bringing in respected coach Donie Buckley and strength and conditioning coach Jonny Davis following the departure of Peter Donnelly. Picture by Philip Walsh
Monaghan boss Seamus McEnaney has shaken up his backroom team ahead of the 2021 campaign, bringing in respected coach Donie Buckley and strength and conditioning coach Jonny Davis following the departure of Peter Donnelly. Picture by Philip Walsh Monaghan boss Seamus McEnaney has shaken up his backroom team ahead of the 2021 campaign, bringing in respected coach Donie Buckley and strength and conditioning coach Jonny Davis following the departure of Peter Donnelly. Picture by Philip Walsh

WHEN the whispers started to grow louder, he knew. By the time Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher were confirmed as Tyrone’s new management team, Peter Donnelly was all but signed, sealed and delivered as an integral part of their new-look backroom team.

Just a year earlier it was Seamus McEnaney who had done the sweet talking, luring the Coalisland man away from the Red Hand set-up to join his Monaghan mission. It was a major coup.

But, as McEnaney well knows, there are some calls that simply cannot be turned down.

“When Mickey Harte left Tyrone and Feargal Logan came in… Feargal would originally have taken Peter Donnelly [back to Tyrone] from Cavan. I know Feargal really well and I know the way he operates – he’d want the best people to be around him.

“So when Peter Donnelly came to me to go back to Tyrone, I understood. When those things arrive at my door, I try as best I can to sit in that person’s seat. It’s no different than in business if someone’s leaving you to open a nightclub down the road, or going to work for the opposition.

“If I was with Wexford and my own county came calling to do the job, you would have to give it serious consideration. So I understood where Peter Donnelly was coming from. At that time I didn’t want to lose Peter Donnelly for loads of reasons, but I totally understood.”

The challenge McEnaney faced then was covering Donnelly’s coaching and strength and conditioning bases. In came Jonny Davis, the former Ulster Rugby head of athletic performance who had worked with Tyrone as a replacement for Donnelly during Mickey Harte’s final year in charge.

Most intriguing, though, was the capture of highly-regarded coach Donie Buckley.

The Kerry native played a key role in Mayo’s rise as challengers-in-chief to Dublin’s throne during Stephen Rochford’s time at the helm, and there were murmurs of discontent after Buckley was controversially jettisoned by Peter Keane’s Kerry last March, despite being a much-respected figure among the playing squad.

Having never coached in Ulster before, the challenge was clear – and McEnaney hopes the Castleisland man, who is based in Ennis, can prove the missing piece of the jgsaw.

“I felt we needed a really good football coach to add to our team, I scanned the country and felt Donie Buckley is one of the best football coaches in Ireland. When you talk to players he has coached and they have a serious high opinion of him – it was the same with Jonny Davis too.

“In every walk of life, I work on a basis that there’s nothing that can’t be done. There’s nothing that can’t happen. No matter what scenario you’re in, there’s always a way. When did Peter Fitzpatrick sit down and say ‘we could get Mickey Harte to manage Louth?’

“It was an ambitious call he made and ended up with the result he wanted, and I suppose it was an ambitious call of mine to contact Donie Buckley. I’d have met him at some games and know his history… I’ll be honest, I was actually taken back. He eats and sleeps football. I thought I did until I got talking to him.

“It took me some time, there were a few obstacles in the way, but the very fact he was available after his difference of opinion in Kerry… seldom in life does one of the best football coaches in Ireland become available at a time when you want him.”

Buckley is perhaps best renowned for his work on the defensive side of the game and tackle technique, but McEnaney isn’t expecting wholesale changes to the style of Monaghan’s play once football eventually returns.

“I love the way his teams play, and I would always be of the opinion as well that management teams always need freshened up. I’d always have done that.

“That’s the great thing about working with the Monaghan County Board – they want the best that’s available for their players.”

And the Farney boss believes that, until counties get a full season under their belts, it will be tough to tell exactly where they stand.

“Last year needs to be taken in isolation - maybe this year needs to be taken in isolation too because until we get back to a structure where the National League begins in January and you get a full run at the job, you don’t know what this year’s going to bring. Will there be another lockdown in the middle of it? We don’t know.

“We’re pushed back another month already, we’re in so much uncertainty, so it’s very hard to judge. Monaghan are in a good place in relation to the support team that’s there, but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.”