Richie Donnelly: Harte still the man to lead Tyrone
Tyrone’s Richie Donnelly has rejected Sean Cavanagh’s claim that Mickey Harte’s time as manager is up, insisting he’s still the right man to guide them forward.
Ex-captain Cavanagh stated on following Tyrone’s All-Ireland semi-final loss to Kerry that “there does come a time when that baton has to be passed on”.
Harte has been in charge of Tyrone since late 2002, leading them to three All-Irelands in that period and, more recently, to two semi-finals and a final in the last three seasons. Harte agreed a new three-year deal with Tyrone chiefs in September of 2017 that will take him up until the end of 2020.
Former Tyrone player Owen Mulligan has already labelled Cavanagh’s comments ‘embarrassing’ while ex-Kerry defender Aidan O’Mahony called it a ‘cheap shot’ to ‘cut the legs off’ Harte.
Asked if he’s hoping to work under Harte again in 2020, Donnelly nodded.
“I am, yeah, he’s a serious character,” said Donnelly. “He’s done a lot for Tyrone football and he’s done a lot for this current team.
He’s given us all the Tyrone jersey, from starting off, so we owe Mickey everything. He has another year left on his contract so we’re definitely just looking forward to playing for him.
On Cavanagh’s comments specifically, Donnelly disagreed with them.
“Listen, that’s the nature of sport, whenever a defeat comes, the first thing people look at it is who is leading the team,” said Donnelly.
“It’s up to us as players to look at how we can get to another final, how we can improve and get better. That’s before we start looking anywhere else. Since the Kerry defeat, players are firstly looking within themselves.”
