Cork hurling legends from Justin McCarthy to John Allen know what it's like to coach against your own

SHORTLY after it was announced this week that Mickey Harte had stepped away as Louth manager and was about to take up a new position as Derry manager, Harte’s former Tyrone player Owen Mulligan got busy on Twitter.

Assembling a collage of photos, ranging from Harte and his coach Gavin Devlin, to Mo Johnston in a Glasgow Rangers jersey, to a picture of Angus McFadyen, the Scottish actor who played Robert the Bruce in the film ‘ Braveheart’, Mulligan captioned the Twitter post ‘Harte’s army’.

Robert the Bruce was largely depicted in that film for his treachery while Johnston was labelled ‘Judas’ by Celtic fans after joining Rangers. As well as becoming just the second player to cross the Old Firm divide since World War 2, Johnston was the first open Catholic to play for Rangers since WW1.

The theme of Mulligan’s post was aimed at labelling Harte in a similar light – that he was turning his back on his own and joining up with the arch-enemy.

Mulligan advanced his argument the following day as a guest on Colm Parkinson’s ‘ Smaller Fish GAA’ podcast. 

Despite having won All-Irelands at minor, U21 and senior under Harte, Mulligan wasn’t prepared to let Harte’s contribution to his career soften his viewpoint.

“Mickey Harte has every right to go to who he wants to manage but to go to Rangers is crazy,” said Mulligan. 

Would I like to see Mickey Harte get booed in Omagh if he comes out with Derry? Absolutely. He’s the enemy now.” 

The Derry-Tyrone rivalry may be nowhere near as ferocious as it once was, especially in the 1990s, but that doesn’t mean that the spark isn’t always there, that the edge isn’t always sharp between the two counties.

That edge is critical in this argument because Harte certainly isn’t the first manager to go down this road. 

Mayo alone has provided an interesting case study in recent decades, with John O’Mahony having managed Galway, in between two stints as Mayo manager, while Kevin McStay was Roscommon manager before taking over Mayo, and John Maughan also managed Roscommon after two stints as Mayo manager.

Almost every county will face one of their own on the other side of the battlefield at some stage but it has been a rare occurrence in Cork because former Cork players or managers normally don’t go elsewhere.

The attitude though, is also different now to what it used to be. 

HEAT

In 1977, Justin McCarthy became the first high-profile hurling figure to coach outside and against his native county when he took over Clare. They won two National League titles and ran Cork close in two Munster finals at a time when Cork produced one of their greatest-ever teams. 

McCarthy’s work enhanced the Munster championship and enriched the game in general but it was never calculated in those terms in Cork.

When McCarthy went to Waterford in 2002 and was at the helm of Waterford’s glorious era during that decade, going up against Cork in some of the greatest matches of that era, the spiteful whispers returned once more.

McCarthy was never fully embraced like his namesake Gerald was in Cork but Gerald also had to deal with a lot of heat from Cork supporters when he managed Waterford between 1997-2001, especially when Waterford faced Cork in the 1999 Munster semi-final.

It was another decade again before anyone from Cork took on that challenge. 

Donal O’Grady managed Limerick in 2011 for one season but he never faced Cork in league or championship.

On the evening after John Allen agreed to take over from O’Grady in October 2011, he found himself in Bishopstown for Dr Con Murphy’s mother’s funeral. 

The place was packed with Cork GAA people and Allen suddenly had an unappealing vision of his new circumstances. “I remember thinking, ‘When this thing breaks, am I going to be able to walk through Ballincollig and Cork and be able to look these people in the eye?” Allen said back in 2018. 

“I went home that evening thinking to myself, ‘I don’t know if I can do this’.” 

It was natural to have doubts after a life-long allegiance to Cork. When Cork met Limerick in the 2013 Munster final, everywhere Allen looked beforehand, there were connections.  He played alongside Jimmy Barry-Murphy (manager) and Ger Cunningham (coach) with St Finbarr’s and Cork for years.

Allen is a close friend to Cunningham, Johnny Crowley (selector that day) and Dr Con. He was part of the Cork backroom team during Seánie McGrath’s (another Cork selector that day in 2013) last year as a player with Cork in 2003.

“I was in Cork dressing rooms where there was a Cork manager in the other dressing room and there was some animosity towards him,” said Allen in 2018. 

“So I can imagine that it was said that day in the Cork dressing room, ‘We can’t let this guy beat us’. 

I’m sure there was some animosity, but I certainly didn’t feel it. My only focus was Limerick that day. Once the game started, everything was fine.” 

When Cunningham took over Dublin in 2015, the Dubs would never have been considered rivals to Cork but Cunningham found himself up against Jimmy Barry Murphy’s Cork in a 2015 League semi-final, with Cunningham having coached Cork to the 2013 All-Ireland final under JBM.

A year later, Cunningham faced Kieran Kingston’s Cork in a 2016 qualifier in Páirc Ui Rinn. Yet just four years after that game, Cunningham was coaching Cork again, this time under Kingston.

In Cork, there was a time when it was never deemed acceptable for one of their own to manage against Cork. 

But that attitude certainly changed over the last decade or so.

Attitudes elsewhere though, are not that easy to alter. Context is everything. 

It may have been deemed acceptable for Mickey Harte to manage Louth. 

But not Derry.