NO matter what way you dress it up, bottom line, Cathal McShane’s apparently imminent departure to the AFL is a body blow for all involved in the Tyrone senior team.
McShane was, without, doubt the stand-out positive note in 2019.
When Mickey Harte spoke in the bowels of Croke Park of the positive steps and improvements made in the year, McShane’s role was presumably the primary thing that the manager was referring to.
Three goals and 32 points registered across the six Championship games he played last year in the All-Ireland series shows his scoring impact, but he brought much more than that.
He allowed Tyrone to have a clear attacking direction and, for the first time in several years, gave opponents something to really think about and fear when matching up to Tyrone’s forward division.
Harte has always been steadfast in his criticism of the GAA’s ongoing flirtation with the AFL.
Having already lost out on getting to work with one of the county's generational stars in Conor McKenna, he is now being robbed of Cathal McShane, just as the player himself had come into his own.
Ironically, McShane had just spent the past season making himself indispensible. He had proven himself capable of the sort of consistent and unique play that allows a manager to change his game plan and build it around a specific player.
Think back to the previous year, before the Owen Roes man's deployment at full-forward. Mark Bradley toiled manfully against Dublin in the All-Ireland final but never appeared able to carry a threat on his own to ruffle Dublin's feathers.
The impact of McShane and the change to Tyrone’s style of play, which his form very much facilitated, was transformative.
He did, of course, benefit from the close mentorship of Stevie O’Neill and it is the ultimate compliment that he became, like his master, an at-times unmarkable, ball-winning and free-scoring machine in the Tyrone inside line.
For Harte, to have worked several years to get that particular piece of the jigsaw working only to lose it again will be the most bitter of pills to swallow.
I imagine, and certainly hope, that his loss to the Brisbane Lions has not happened lightly. My understanding is that Harte has been meeting him regularly since the threat became clear and has put the case to him for staying.
For the player though, if this is something that appealed to him, it was always going to be hard to say no. Particularly if his Australian suitors did indeed redouble their efforts (and offers) to get their man, as rumours suggest.
It is a major decision for anyone and one that would, quite rightly, rarely be based on football alone. Relationship status, family and career stage would all come into the reckoning as much as the sporting side. McShane had trained to be a teacher at St Mary's in Belfast but had taken up a role working as sales executive with the Donnelly Group several months ago. It might be fair to surmise then that his long-term career plans had yet to take a firm course. If the others were at a green light stage and the offer from Oz is appealing, then anyone can understand the pull to turn pro in AFL.
On the GAA side of things, McShane looked set for a challenging year. The standards he had set himself last year, when his performance level and influence were such that he was a nailed on Allstar, were always going to be very hard to match. He was going to be targeted like never before and, rather than the surprise he was able to be last year, he was now an expected and consequently planned for threat.
The new forward mark rules may have looked tailor-made for him but that was obviously not enough to sway him to stay.
Dublin’s dominance and Kerry’s emergence certainly do not do much to kindle hopes in pragmatic hearts.
McShane’s decision does perhaps reflect a deep-down lack of belief that Tyrone can get to the top of the pile.
Harte will fervently say not but it’s hard to imagine McShane departing if he truly believed Tyrone were likely to reach the summit next year.
While against the GAA’s ethos, many will ask was there an attempted package put in place to try to keep McShane on these shores? In Kerry, having lost Tadgh Kennelly, Tommy Walsh and Mark O’Connor among others over the years, I have no doubt that significant moves were made to ensure their brightest star, David Clifford, did not return the calls from Australian Rules. Even though the Fossa man never looked to be in any way interested in a career Down Under, I still imagine an arrangement ensuring he was not left distinctly worse off for remaining in the Kerry green and gold was made.
The question is whether there is enough of that type of support surrounding Tyrone seniors at present? It may or may not have had a role in this case, and certainly the moral or ethical side of it in our association is open to even greater question, but is the option even there if those other two issues were met?
Add McShane’s loss to Mattie Donnelly’s injury, Connor McAliskey’s opt-out and the departures of Stevie O’Neill and Peter Donnelly from the backroom and it has been a tough winter for Tyrone. If any man will remain undaunted by it all, however, it is Mickey Harte. His belief in moving forward and seeing problems as merely challenges to be taken on and enjoyed merges with pure intransigence to be defeated at times like this.
Harte’s initial feelings will likely be of disappointment at the player’s decision and anger at the role of the GAA in facilitating a relationship with the AFL, but from there he will look for the opportunities and options which now must be explored.
To keep things in perspective, he will know better than anyone that the success of McShane at full-forward last year was not guaranteed to be repeated this season. Loss of form, injury or moves by opponents to negate his influence all would have led to diminished returns.
As such, Harte would already have been thinking of improvements or alternatives to McShane’s role. Mark Bradley's return is a positive but Harte will also need some of the next generation of Tyrone forwards to step up and avail of the opportunity.
The option of using the full-forward berth to release Pete Harte from the suffocating man-marking methods that have negated his influence in the middle third in big games will certainly be considered.
No matter what way you spin it, though, a relatively light area of the Tyrone squad has just got weaker. As a Tyrone man you can but wish Cathal the very best of luck if he does decide to follow through with his Australian plans.
New Year or not, optimism is thin on the ground regarding Tyrone’s chances, but, as with the new rules, you just have to get on with it. Excuses are never a currency to deal in.
