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Ciaran McBride gives his well rounded view on Tyrone stars

Monaghan U21 manager Ciaran McBride played for Tyrone in the 1990s  
Monaghan U21 manager Ciaran McBride played for Tyrone in the 1990s   Monaghan U21 manager Ciaran McBride played for Tyrone in the 1990s  

MANY questions remain unanswered around the merits of the recently-crowned Ulster champions as they take their leave of the provincial arena to step onto the national stage.

Former Tyrone attacker Ciaran McBride has a unique perspective on the team that takes on Mayo in Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-final. He has studied the Red Hands’ progress from every possible angle. A county footballer at all grades back in the 1990s, McBride has coached many of the current players at college, club and county development squad levels.

He also set himself up against his native county as manager of the Monaghan team who defeated Tyrone in this year’s Ulster U21 Championship final. The Omagh CBS schoolteacher has seen it all during a career immersed in the development and implementation of coaching strategies with college, club and county.

But he admits he has rarely been so excited as he is about the potential of a group of players as he looks ahead to this weekend’s Croke Park eliminator: “In my opinion, it’s a very exciting time," McBride said. 

"The Ulster final win, although the match itself wasn’t the spectacle that, in previous generations, it could have been, showed us that the youth have blended very nicely with some of the more experienced players in the team. And I think that’s very significant for Tyrone because a lot of these young players don’t know what it is to lose.

“They’re always reaching for the highest levels and that’s a great thing to have, especially at a young age. I would sincerely say, from an elder statesman’s point of view, looking at some of the older players coming towards the precipice, are very exciting. Because suddenly, the gaps that have existed over the last five or six years, since the greatest Tyrone team that we have ever produced, broke up, those gaps have been filled.

“We probably don’t have some of the individual brilliance that we had between 2003 and 2008, or in previous years, in the '80s and the '90s, but the system of play that Tyrone have at the minute suits those young lads. I believe Mickey has got the absolute maximum out of everybody there in the system that they’re playing at the minute. They’re breathtaking at times.”

Many players from the west of the county developed their footballing skills at the Kevlin Road in Omagh, under the watchful eye of McBride, who guided the CBS to Hogan Cup success in 2007. Ronan McNabb and a youthful Peter Harte were stars of the team who brought an All-Ireland title back to the county town.

“You have Ronan McNabb, who was, at schools' level, the best pound-for-pound defender," McBride added.

“Peter Harte was actually only a fifth year, but he was the only fifth year that we had that was good enough to play in that team. Harte and McNabb would have marked each other at training and Petey would have given him his fill of it, even at 15, 16 years-of-age.”

Many others came through the system on their path to the inter-county scene, working their way from colleges, to minor, through U21 to senior: “You have watched them grow and blossom, people like Harte, McNabb, Ronan O’Neill, players who I have seen coming through the system and they’re doing fantastically well," McBride said.

“Tiernan McCann and Conall McCann also came through the school system, as did Conor Meyler. Justin McMahon was on one of the first teams I ever took and he was as pure as the driven snow. He probably is the gel that Mickey was looking for in that defence to hold it together, despite the fact that there are a lot of miles in the legs. And then you’re watching players that I had at development level, when I took the Tyrone squads, like Johnny Munroe, Darren McCurry, those type of players.”

As a group of exciting youngsters grows in maturity and experience, forming deep and instinctive understandings with established stars and household names, McBride is enthused by the outworkings of a youth programme in which he himself has invested heavily.

“The work that has gone on at U21 and minor level in Tyrone over the past five or six years is starting to come through at senior level," he said.

“If you look back at all the successful Tyrone senior teams, you can trace back and see that there has been a success at minor or U21. And you look at the current crop of players now that are established, people like Mattie Donnelly, for example, who won his All-Ireland minor medal in 2008. Then, you look at the 2010 minor team, those boys now should be coming into their prime.

“And you can see it and right in behind that, you have the U21 All-Ireland success of last year. That success last year, at U21, cannot be underestimated. I can’t exude enough respect for what was achieved last year.”

Monaghan’s Ulster U21 triumph back in April of this year should have been his finest hour, but it was one of the most disturbing. As Farney manager, McBride was faced with the traumatic task of plotting the downfall of his native county, the All-Ireland champions, who were managed by three dear friends and former team-mates - Feargal Logan, Brian Dooher and Peter Canavan.

“It was exceptionally painful. Obviously, I had a job to do and I was blessed that the Monaghan county board gave me the opportunity," McBride said.

“Had I played any other team in the final, I would have been delighted. But I was devastated when it was Tyrone that got to the final because that changed things. That’s why I didn’t celebrate, I went straight down the tunnel after the game was over.

“I know where I’m from and what I believe in, but it was a great achievement for Monaghan, they thoroughly deserved their result. The game itself was a great reflection of what Ulster youth football is about, end-to-end stuff, very exciting between the two counties and not a bad word said between the players.

“But it was very difficult for me, especially with the three amigos 10 or 15-feet down the line. But you have a job to do and you do it.”