I WAS glad to see Damian Barton getting the Derry job. Like many observers, I thought it might have passed him by. In my early years in the Irish News Damian was our weekly GAA columnist.
With his playing days not long in his rear view, recruiting Derry's 1993 All-Ireland winner as our cutting edge columnist was a good choice.
Compiling Damian's column, though, was an unwieldy process. He would fax a few pages of handwritten material in. Back then not everyone was on email; there was no cut-and-paste tool on the noisy fax machine that sat on the sports editor's desk, and so the process took a bit longer.
One of the reporters on duty would ghost-write his column. A phone call would be made to Damian later that afternoon and the finishing touches applied.
There were many afternoons I had to ring Damian. During those conversations I got to know him a little bit. Damian's an impressive individual. He's extremely personable and modest.
And if we ever needed reminding of Barton's unmistakable greatness on the football field, our former colleague Paddy Heaney was only too happy to oblige.
Paddy's favourite past-time was to regale the sports desk of Oak Leaf folklore. (We miss his grandiose Derry stories dearly).
Back then, I thought it was only a matter of time before Barton would get the nod for the Derry job. Like most things in life, it's about timing. Through the years Barton was much-travelled. The clubs he's managed are too many to recount.
Asked about his time on the club circuit, Barton suggested that if you needed foundations dug, he was the man to do it. And, with some jest, he'd allow others to claim the glory that inevitably came in his wake.
"I’ve a great knack of leaving teams and them winning the Championship the following year," he joked.
"Frank Dawson used to say: ‘You know Damian, you have the best team in Down [Burren],’ even though he was managing another team in Down.
"So obviously when I left Burren he duly went and won a Championship with them. You could say I left Ballinderry and Brian [McIver] went on to win an All-Ireland there.
“So whoever’s coming in after me has a great chance. That seems to be the trend! But I’ve really enjoyed all my experiences at club level. This is a new challenge. It might be my last challenge…”
The Derry job has been a long time coming for the 53-year-old Newbridge man. In every interview, there is a tangible sense of his determination – desperation, even – to deliver an Ulster title for Derry.
The things I’ve liked about Barton’s early reign are his keenness to play a more attacking brand of football – no more naming defenders among the attack – and his easiness with self-criticism.
After their Dr McKenna Cup group game defeat to Tyrone in Owenbeg, it was refreshing to hear a manager tell reporters where he went wrong during the game.
"Tactically, maybe we have to look at ourselves on the sidelines in terms of who we left free," he said.
I covered three of Derry’s McKenna Cup games – Antrim and Tyrone (twice) – and enjoyed each of them.
Granted, we’re still in the early throes - but the players are responding to the new manager.
James Kielt is the perfect illustration. The Kilrea man left last year’s panel feeling surplus to requirements and probably disillusioned with his inter-county career.
This year, Kielt is playing like a man possessed – winning 60-40 balls, breaking balls, roaring his way through games, and his cultured left foot remains undiminished.
And it’s a crying shame Enda Lynn suffered a fractured ankle in the McKenna Cup final as he was playing at a higher altitude than most.
Conor McAtamney’s talent has never been in doubt but, in the past, he’s looked tentative at times in the Derry jersey.
But if ever a game could propel a player to the next level it was his wonderful display against Tyrone last Saturday night.
There are a host of other Derry players whose performance graphs are going in the right direction: Ryan Bell, Emmet Bradley, Danny Heavron, Gareth McKinless, Ciaran Mullan and the McKaigue brothers.
At the end of last season, Derry looked a demoralised team that had hand-passed itself into oblivion for the entire year.
Last weekend’s Dr McKenna Cup final between Derry and Tyrone at the Athletic Grounds was a wonderfully anarchic battle between old rivals.
With the Allianz Leagues a mere week away it was insanely competitive.
It was a game that should be remembered for literally dozens of exceptional individual displays, rather than the night when Damian Barton let himself down by running 50 regrettable yards to get involved in a melee.
After their extra-time defeat, the Derry players broke from their huddle and headed for the changing room.
A few reporters, with some tentativeness, approached the Derry manager for an interview and we were told in no uncertain terms that it wouldn't be happening.
Not tonight of all nights.
Barton owes backroom team member and former team-mate Tony Scullion a debt of gratitude. Scullion assumed media duties on the night, answering all the awkward questions - including Barton's mad 50-yard dash to push Niall Morgan and then to be pushed to the ground by Cathal McCarron.
Scullion, naturally, defended his manager and showed real class in how he dealt with reporters’ questions.
It’s understandable Barton has kept his head down since last weekend’s McKenna Cup final fall-out as Derry prepare for Sunday's opening NFL clash with Fermanagh at Celtic Park.
The entire incident in one corner of the Athletic Grounds looked bad, and Barton will be reminded of it many times in the future. But the changing room is an entirely different place and has a very different belief system. Changing rooms have always been ambivalent to the outside world.
In fact, while Barton's spontaneous run to involve himself in something he should never have been near was regrettable, there is a potentially positive spin-off.
Barton's actions conveyed to the Derry players that their manager is with them in every way.
Derry, for better or worse, are on the right road.
