YOU know it’s not a good thing when forwarded WhatsApps start landing late on a Saturday night, with claims of inter-county managers walking away from their jobs over the head of stuff far from the football field.
No sooner had messages dropped than they were being dismissed as phony, overblown nonsense. James McCartan wasn’t going anywhere. Nothing to see here, move on with your lives.
But, as days passed, it became the story that wouldn’t go away for followers of Down football – a fire eventually raging out from behind the bellowing smoke.
The context - for those blissfully living their best life away from it all, or who inhabit a Nirvana where you excitedly anticipate the start of your county’s Championship campaign – is thus.
In Dublin on a training camp over the weekend, things got out of hand. Even with a Championship game three weeks away, it is not unusual for county players to sink a few pints when told they can do so – on the strict understanding that trust works both ways.
McCartan comes from an era where group bonding sessions played a part in some of the best days Down supporters have ever seen. Sadly they are so long ago that most of the current panel probably have little or no recollection.
Then as now, though, there is a line. Given what subsequently unfolded, that line was clearly crossed on Saturday, and liberties taken.
Annoyed, some members of the Down party headed straight up the road rather than stay overnight as planned. McCartan, meanwhile, is understood to have informed county officials he no longer wished to carry on, prompting days’ worth of ‘will he, won’t he’ speculation as intensive efforts hurriedly got under way to talk him around.
Tellingly, the first forwarded message to arrive with me – y’know, the one everybody in the country got - was at 10.24pm on Saturday night. Others likely got it much earlier. More arrived in the days after too.
With so many leaks in the vessel, it was only a matter of time until it capsized.
It must be a source of frustration for management too that, in terms of disciplinary action or sending a message, their hands are largely tied. This was not a few players going off on a solo run, but upwards of 20 panel members.
Already relegated from Division Two after picking up just one point from seven games, Down face Monaghan in the Ulster Championship on April 30 – what are you going to do? Cut the majority of a panel that has already lost the likes of Liam Kerr, Finn McElroy, Anthony Morgan, Jerome Johnston and Ceilum Doherty since the League ended, and leave yourself wide open against one of the favourites for the Anglo-Celt?
Talk about Hobson’s choice.
McCartan had every right to feel undermined – and nobody could have blamed him had he decided to call time on the role he only took on at the end of November.
Let’s not forget that, after the Jim McGuinness debacle left Down hurtling towards winter without a manager - despite Paddy Tally exiting at the start of July - McCartan stepped up when it would have been far easier to duck the head.
Perhaps glimpses of gallows humour when appointed – “I've been involved at numerous levels for numerous years and sometimes when they [the county board] come and ask me to do something I put my head in my hands and sink to my knees but I usually end up trying not to let them down” – failed to chime with some at the beginning of a new regime, but it is hard to question his commitment to the cause.
And in accepting the post, especially so late in the day, McCartan knew how tough a gig it was, without things like this added to his plate.
He has agreed to continue with the job at hand and, alongside assistant Aidan O’Rourke, is expected to take training tonight. As things stand, the players have held up their hands and admitted they were in the wrong.
County chairman Jack Devaney, to his eternal credit, didn’t try and BS his way around the situation when making public comment. Many others in his shoes would, and have done, exactly that.
A line has been drawn in the sand – for now. And who knows, perhaps this whole sorry episode will lead to the hatches being battened down and a performance to be proud of against Monaghan? The Farneymen don’t always wear the favourites tag well after all, and they can seldom have been as short odds as they will be that day.
In many ways, though, what actually transpires in Clones isn’t of enormous significance. Not in the greater scheme of things. The revolving door over the years, allied to incidents like that which occurred last weekend, are emblematic of a culture crisis that threatens to inhibit future progress.
Several younger players, some from last year’s Ulster title-winning U20 side, have come onboard this year. What kind of message does it send to them? And where are the leaders stepping in to stop it getting to a point where management are ready to walk away?
Down’s difficulties run deeper still, no doubt, but that doesn’t mean a blind eye should be turned. Even the most loyal supporters are losing interest. The scattering of filled seats across the stand on the final League weekend against Clare is one thing but, a few weeks earlier, when Down faced a must-win Saturday night clash with Offaly, attendance wasn’t a whole lot better.
That could have been Down’s biggest game of the year, yet such apathy served only as further evidence of a growing disconnect.
These kind of issues are not exclusive to the Mourne County, of course. Far from it.
Armagh struggled badly with player turnover during the early part of Kieran McGeeney’s tenure. For years Donegal couldn’t nail down a consistent panel, and were dogged by disciplinary issues. Derry too drifted along for far too long, players coming in and out, seemingly unable to get their house in order.
That both managed to steady the ship shows, at least, that it can be done. Backboned by strong minor and U21 sides, Donegal came good under Jim McGuinness in spectacular fashion. Although not quite reaching those heady heights since, the Tir Chonaill are consistently in the mix at provincial and national level.
Derry too are building from the roots up, and look to have a platform for years to come. Outside of last year’s promising U20 side, Down have had little underage success to shout about in recent decades, but a competitive club scene boasting the reigning All-Ireland champions, Kilcoo, shows talent is there.
Clearly, though, something needs to change. The occasional one-off runs like 2010, or the Ulster final appearance in 2017, cannot be good enough. Down desperately need continuity and stability of personnel, both at playing and managerial level, if the current cycle is to be broken.
