THE master versus the apprentice. Raymond Galligan, in his first game as a senior county manager, up against Mickey Harte, in the first game of his 23rd season.
Harte’s Derry came out on top by two points at Kingspan Breffni and Galligan – who took over as his county’s manager after retiring as a player at the end of last season – says he doesn’t concern himself with who’s in the other dugout.
It’s what’s happening on the field that matters to him.
“Mickey is a legend in his own right when you look at all the accolades and medals that he’s won but I wouldn’t care if it was Jurgen Klopp down there, I have my own job to do,” he said.
“I have to look after Cavan and lead them and this was all about Cavan and for us to put in a performance, that was the most important thing.”
The former Breffni county skipper – an Ulster Championship winner in 2020 – has had to make the change from player to manager and says that “from day one” former team-mates understood that he was coming in to do what he felt was best for Cavan.
“There’s been no pally conversations, it’s all been business,” he said.
“We’ve had a good buy-in from the lads so it’s been quite enjoyable to date. It’s more hours but it’s definitely more enjoyable and when you’ve the best players in the county (Gearoid McKiernan is one notable absentee) putting their hand up for selection it’s heart-warming to know that you’ve the best possible chance to progress and improve.
“We’ve noticed over the last few weeks that lads have been buying into our style of play and it has been very enjoyable.”
Mickey Graham stepped away at the end of last year and that coincided with Galligan’s decision to retire which was prompted by increasing struggles with ankle and shoulder injuries.
“I’ve been patching along there over the last year or two so I had my mind made up after last year that the body just was not able to keep going,” he explained.
“There’s only so many injections you can get! When the opportunity came (to be manager) to stand up and hopefully be able to lead in a different way I put my hand up and I’m here now today.”
He said there was “great excitement” for his family when he was named Cavan manager but stressed that his focus is on bringing sustained success to the county.
“I’m not in it for pats on the back, it’s not all about fun, it’s a results business,” he said.
“Tonight showed that we put in a really good performance for large degrees but, at the end of the day, we lost. We’re going into Division Two where it’s cutthroat and we need to be able to improve and continue to impress and hopefully those losses and harsh lessons like we’ve learned tonight will turn into positive results as the League progresses.”
Showing a willingness to kick the ball long and get forward in support, Cavan battled back from behind to take a second half lead but were pipped at the post by Derry on Wednesday night.
Galligan said there were “lots of learnings” from his managerial debut and he gave debuts to Cormac McKeogh, Liam Fay, Mark Magee, Jack Tully, Emmanuel Shehu and Peter Smith.
“It’s great to see six guys getting their debut and I suppose for them to step into the heat of the battle when it was a one or two-point game and know they have the work done over the last few weeks and were able to keep that momentum going was comforting,” he said.
“Their buy-in has been rewarded with getting that opportunity.
“Derry are a very seasoned team and albeit they are missing a number of players due to different commitments but Derry club football is so healthy that anyone who plays for Derry is a great footballer and we were tested by a very good team there.
“What we learned there was we can’t give the ball away cheaply, possession is key. Derry were very economical with their balls and missed very few opportunities and the takeaway is we need to be a little more careful in possession and in transition from defence to attack.
“But definitely the honesty of effort from our lads was quite reassuring.”