Harte all smiles, Moran bemoans decisions

AS the supporters flood out from Clones to drown the bile of their rivalry in the local bars, the scene on the pitch is a tale of two Micheals.

There is Mickey Harte, all smiles and sighs of relief, sharing a light-hearted moment with some of his back-room team. And there is Mickey Moran, face like thunder and trying with some difficulty to suppress his anger over many of the contentious decisions his team were subjected to in the game.

“I usually don’t say much about the officialdom, but you would have to look at the balance of decisions out there, and look at the number of decisions that were given against us. I am pleased with the boys and how they dealt with that, but you just have to look at the balance of decisions, I am very unhappy with it,” said Moran.

Someone wonders did he see the incident that saw Conleth Gilligan dismissed. Moran masks his upset with a smile. “Did anyone see it?” he asks rhetorically.

What about Paddy Bradley’s fairly solid claims for a penalty midway through the half? “I thought it was a foul, but I am not the one making the decisions. It doesn’t matter what I think.”

Of course, there are two sides to every story and Mickey Harte offers another view. “Well, you can be selective in your criticism. I didn’t hear too many complaints about Derry getting two points from questionable frees in the first half or didn’t hear too many complaints about the way Eoin Mulligan was pulled and hauled around the field. I thought Pat McEnaney, on balance, was fair to both teams.”

Harte has a right to be pleased. “It didn’t look good with 12 minutes to go. It looked like it was going to be one of those classic days when league champions go out in the first day of the championship.

“But that question about our character is asked all the time and I hope the boys answered it there. They didn’t give a full answer, but I am very pleased the way they fought back into a game they thought they had lost.

“There wasn’t many times in the league when our character was questioned, because we were always leading from the front. But our character was questioned out there and the lads responded. There was no more testing question of their character than the deficit they had to come back from with 15 minutes to go.”

Moran was a little more reserved than Harte. “When we were four points up and Fergal had that chance to make it five points that might have sealed it for us. I am disappointed we didn’t take it. I thought Paddy Bradley gave an exemplary performance and this is a guy in the middle of his final exams. To give the performance he did in those circumstances shows how good a player he is.”

The patchy performance of Pat McEnaney was not the only thing to get on Moran’s wick. Ulster council decided two minutes after the final whistle that the replay would be in Casement Park, despite Derry supposed to have home advantage.

“This was supposed to be a home game for Tyrone, but because Omagh was unavailable they brought it to Clones. I don’t know how the Ulster Council came up with that decision, I don’t know if our board was consulted.”