Football

The making of Owen Roe's blue-collar hero Cathal McShane

Brendan Crossan delves into the career of the Championship's top scorer and man of the moment Cathal McShane and his astonishing rise to prominence at the head of the Red Hand attack...

Tyrone's Cathal McShane has morphed into an outstanding full-forward as the Red Hands pursue another All-Ireland crown Picture by Philip Walsh
Tyrone's Cathal McShane has morphed into an outstanding full-forward as the Red Hands pursue another All-Ireland crown Picture by Philip Walsh Tyrone's Cathal McShane has morphed into an outstanding full-forward as the Red Hands pursue another All-Ireland crown Picture by Philip Walsh

ANY time Michael McShane ran into ‘Duck’ McCay he’d roll his eyes in mock dismay. One look from Michael was enough to tell ‘Duck’ that another piece of guttering at the top of his house had taken a battering.

It was there where Michael’s son Cathal honed his kicking and catching skills.

‘Duck’ was one of the Owen Roe O’Neill’s coaches that planted the seed in young McShane.

“Cathal’s father used to complain to me because he’d kick the ball up on the roof and he’d catch it coming down,” says ‘Duck’, now vice-chairman of the west Tyrone intermediate club.

“Occasionally the spouting would come off. Cathal did that constantly, practising catching the ball using both feet.”

Gerard Porter introduced the skinny flame-haired kid to senior football in August 2012, coming off the bench in the club’s junior championship defeat to Brackaville.

A few weeks later, the wide-eyed 17-year-old earned his first start for the Owen Roe seniors, scoring in a convincing nine-point win over Glenelly.

“What he had over the rest of the players of his age was he listened,” recalls Porter, who enjoyed two managerial spells with his club.

“Cathal would have sat on the changing room floor with his legs crossed because there were no seats. He’d look up at that white board and he listened.”

McShane became involved in Tyrone’s development squads from 2009 before graduating to Mickey Donnelly’s minor team in 2013 where he earned a reputation for being a great impact sub.

“He actually would have made it as a goalkeeper,” insists ‘Duck’, who nurtured the vast majority of the youth around Owen Roe’s.

“He kept goal for us in the minor championship final when he was only 14. The first time he went to trials for county minors I wanted him to go as a goalkeeper because I thought he would have made it as a goalkeeper, but he wanted to make it out the field.”

For a time during his early teens it wasn't certain McShane would throw his lot in with Tyrone.

A fine soccer player, he played in the Milk Cup for Co Tyrone in 2012 and scored one of the goals that saw the Red Hands topple the mighty Manchester United, the first time in the competition's 30-year history that the Old Trafford club lost to a county side.

But once he turned down a soccer scholarship in America it was clear where McShane’s heart lay.

During the early years, McShane and Owen Roe's experienced enough near-misses to last them a life-time, losing an U16 Grade Three league final in 2010 and the Grade Two decider the following year.

Also in 2010 he picked up another runners-up medal - as the goalkeeper 'Duck' always imagined him to be - at minor level.

The following year he finally got his hands on a winner's medal in a Grade Three League final against Aghaloo, the-then 16-year-old hitting five points in the decider.

Cathal McShane (centre) keeping his eye on the ball against Aghyaran U13s
Cathal McShane (centre) keeping his eye on the ball against Aghyaran U13s Cathal McShane (centre) keeping his eye on the ball against Aghyaran U13s

Saturday July 6 2019: All-Ireland Round Three Qualifier: Cavan 0-7 Tyrone 1-20

RAPTUROUS applause rang out from the Gerry Arthurs stand as Cathal McShane was called ashore by Mickey Harte in the second half, with a place in the All-Ireland Super 8s already secured.

Tyrone’s re-designed full-forward didn’t have many possessions in the game but when he did Cavan couldn’t contain him.

Porter was, quite literally, bursting with pride as he watched the player he gave his senior debut to seven years earlier.

The wiry kid from Sigerson country, with the unrecognisable physique and explosive pace, ripping up the Championship.

“I was down in Clones and I was sitting with my wife and my wee boy and I was just admiring him," says Porter.

"I was just thinking: ‘Jeez, fair play to you...’

“When you hear people around you talking about him – you obviously don’t get involved in the conversation – but you’re listening to it and thinking: ‘Little do they know how close I was to that young fella.’"

Here he was, young Cathal, thriving on the big stage, carrying the flag for Owen Roe’s and following in the footsteps of clubmen Declan McCrossan and Brendan Boggs who also graduated to the Tyrone seniors during the ‘Noughties’.

With a sardonic grin, ‘Duck’ adds: “At Owen Roe’s we’re inclined to come in ones.”

McShane's two second-half points against Cavan were outrageous, accepting a kick pass both times, one each from Peter Harte and Kieran McGeary before turning and firing over the bar.

“Paudie Faulkner is one of the strongest full-backs in the game and Cathal was shrugging him off as if he wasn’t there," says former Tyrone great Peter Canavan, who guided the Owen Roe's man to the U21 All-Ireland title in 2015.

"Cathal wouldn’t have done that two years ago. His first touch and handling have improved and also his decision-making. Over the past couple of years he was taking shots when there were other options. He’s not as shot-happy; he’s shooting when it’s the right time to shoot."

Canavan, Fergal Logan and Brian Dooher were the men behind the class of 2015. After edging out Tipperary in a memorable U21 All-Ireland final in Parnell Park, man-of-the-match McShane was one of the first Harte called upon for senior duty.

A couple of months later McShane was thrown in at the deep for Tyrone's ill-fated Ulster preliminary round defeat to Donegal in rainy Ballybofey.

It didn't go well, but the experience was banked all the same.

“Cathal was probably thrown into the team a bit quicker than Mickey would normally do because Tyrone were really searching for forwards around that time and needed a lead attacker," says Tyrone's three-time All-Ireland winner Philip Jordan.

McShane was raw as ropes, but he would come again. He'd too much natural ability and athleticism not to carve out a decent inter-county career for himself.

“At U21," Canavan explains, "we played him primarily at midfield because he had good hands, he was well able to win his own ball, he could get up and down the pitch and he could score. As far as we were concerned he was another Sean Cavanagh in our team. He loved taking men on and loved to score...

“At the start of each year, Tyrone would meet up and I remember Art McRory would gather the squad round and he'd tell the new recruits the only thing he could guarantee them was pain.

"Pain of losing, because it was inevitable we’d lose games, pain in terms of injuries, pain in terms of the sacrifices they’d have to make and the pain of trying to compete in inter-county football. He was saying to them that they were no longer playing U21 football.”

A hard road lay ahead for McShane and his U21 team-mates as Harte set about rebuilding the senior squad.

"I think Cathal struggled tactically when he came into the team," says Jordan.

"I remember it was an Ulster semi-final replay against Cavan a few seasons ago [2016] and Peter Donnelly was running the line on that side and he was constantly giving Cathal instructions about where to be.

"It looked to me that he maybe wasn’t picking up the gameplan as quick. People might say it’s a very simple system, getting men behind the ball, but it’s actually not that simple; it’s about getting people in the right positions.

"There’s a lot of work that goes into it, and you could see the work the management were putting into Cathal. They knew the talent was there – it was a matter of getting him to understand the game more."

***

AS a guest pundit on last week's Sunday Game, Malachy O'Rourke shone a light on the subtle changes to Tyrone's attack in 2019 and pin-pointed McShane's emergence.

"If you're looking for improvement in Tyrone Cathal McShane is a key figure for them,” said the former Monaghan manager.

“Last year Mark Bradley was playing inside and his movement was sometimes away from the goals, whereas the ball is being played to Cathal McShane and he's in a very central area.

"[In last year's All-Ireland final] Tyrone had 16 wides compared to Dublin's six wides, so they had lots of play, lots of chances but they weren't getting them in the high-percentage scoring zone.

“With Cathal McShane in there he's giving them a focal point... he's more likely to be scoring from that area, and I think that's a massive thing going forward for Tyrone."

After hitting five points from play in Tyrone's Ulster prelim joust with Derry at Celtic Park in May, he was equally dangerous against Antrim.

Over the past six or seven years, Ricky Johnston has emerged as one of the best defenders in Antrim.

While studying at Jordanstown, the Creggan Kickhams man marked McShane while at St Mary's for roughly 20 minutes in a game.

Once he saddled up to the Owen Roes for their Ulster clash at The Athletic Grounds at the end of May, Johnston couldn't believe the physical transformation in McShane.

"As well as him being good, the ball that is provided for him is high quality," said Johnston.

"They hit a lot of cross-field balls against us which is difficult to defend against. He’s got everything as a full forward; he’s explosive, he’s big and he never stops moving."

Backing up O'Rourke's canny observation, Johnston added: "He stays around the ‘D’ and tries to make as much space within that small radius. He doesn’t drift too far from goal, which means he can maybe take his man on for a goal or pop it over."

Canavan also cites the departure of his U21 team-mate Mark Bradley and the introduction of the ‘attacking mark’, trialled during the National League, that perhaps prompted Mickey Harte to go for a ball-winning full-forward who would generally stay between the posts.

“If you look at the amount of passes he receives inside the scoring zone I think that’s crucial,” Canavan says.

“That’s the toughest place to be winning it but it’s the most effective. And if he can continue to do that he gives Tyrone a serious attacking option.

“Two years ago Cathal wouldn’t have stayed in there when there was no ball coming in. I think he knows his role in the team and his part in the system.

“While he mightn’t have seen much action in the first 20 or 30 minutes against Cavan, the longer the game went on the more ball he got. So he was rewarded for his patience in there.”

While Tyrone have blazed a trail through this summer's Qualifiers to reach the Super 8s, the Donegal defeat in the Ulster semis remains a mystery – at least for those outside the camp.

Tyrone may only have lost by four points, but it was a four-point hammering.

On the face of it, McShane had a subdued night in Breffni Park – but on closer inspection the 23-year-old couldn’t have done much more with 16 possessions, many of which were hard-earned.

With his first three touches he assisted for Tyrone’s two opening points and set up a goal chance. He pointed with his sixth touch and faced with two men at all times he broke two balls he had no right to break.

The only possession he lost in the game was just before the interval.

As Kieran McGeary, Colm Cavanagh and Paudie Hampsey aimed hopeless balls into his general vicinity, McShane remained Tyrone’s most potent weapon on the night, creating a late goal chance for Michael Cassidy that should have been the momentum changer for an out-of-sorts Tyrone.

Even when Tyrone faltered, McShane’s performance levels remained high.

Top scorer in this year’s Championship with 2-30, he has been the outstanding player in the country.

“Probably up until last year it was 50-50 whether the ball was going over the bar or not. He has now become a deadly finisher; when he takes a shot you’re pretty certain he’s going to score,” says Jordan.

“He’s been that focal point of the attack that Tyrone needed. Tyrone have shifted back to their older style a bit but he’s still able to cause defences problems... He has an understanding of the tactical side of the game, and that’s the biggest challenge he seems to have faced.

“For inside forwards it’s a lot different now. You used to see them making a big run out the pitch to the ball. Now, no player is making a 50-yard run from the inside to get possession – it’s five or 10-metre sprints and that’s really where Cathal has surprised people with his explosiveness, plus he has that physical strength to go along with it. It’s great to have that burst of pace but if you don’t have the strength, defenders are still going to get their hands on you.”

Young Cathal McShane starting to flourish with Owen Roe minors in 2013
Young Cathal McShane starting to flourish with Owen Roe minors in 2013 Young Cathal McShane starting to flourish with Owen Roe minors in 2013

THE Owen Roe’s contingent will be out in force again today cheering on Cathal as Tyrone open their Super 8s account against Roscommon.

It’s not just his talent that they laud. It’s Cathal himself. He’s always around the club, even for starred games, he's chatting and always making time for the youngsters.

The flattering headlines and the hype won’t change him one iota because he came from humble roots and that’s how he’ll remain.

‘Duck’ says: “The influence he’s having on the younger boys at the club is incredible – they all look up to him and want to emulate him.”

“If he won the All-Ireland, it would be somebody who deserved it, somebody who deserved to flourish,” says Gerard Porter.

“You see players and you think: ‘He’s got too big for his boots.’ But not Cathal. You should see him with the kids at the club. He’s just got something different. He’s the Pied Piper.”