Louth’s star rising under Mickey Harte: ‘I don’t know how he does it, and he still seems so driven’

During Louth GAA’s Leinster final preview night in Dundalk on Wednesday, Gavin Devlin recounted the moment Mickey Harte came to him with a ‘Wee’ proposal.

It was only days after Harte had ended his 18-year spell as Tyrone senior football manager, for which Devlin had been his trusted lieutenant for a considerable chunk. When the phone rang, Devlin initially suspected Harte wanted to get out to hit a few golf balls.

But some 40 minutes later, Harte was sitting in Devlin’s house laying out a roadmap to manage a county in Leinster.

“This must be Kildare or Meath,” thought Devlin at first. “Then [Mickey] says, ‘It’s Louth’. “To be honest, because with Tyrone our whole focus was Donegal and Dublin and Mayo, I wasn’t even sure what division Louth were in,” admitted Devlin. “I took out my phone, Googled it, and seen they had got relegated to Division Four.”

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It was announced in November 2020 that Harte was to be the new Louth manager. He could have gone elsewhere or indeed he could have gone nowhere and’ instead dined out on his three senior All-Irelands with Tyrone. Of all places, he chose to go to Louth. Devlin went with him.

Under Harte, between league and championship, Louth have played 25 games. Their record reads: Won 16, Lost 8, Drawn 1.

Since 2021 they have climbed from Division Four to Division Two in the National League. They finished third in Division Two this term. They will face Dublin in a Leinster final on Sunday.

Harte succeeded Wayne Kierans as Louth manager. Kierans had enjoyed a productive period as minor boss, during which time he guided the Wee County to a first Leinster final appearance at the grade since 1971.

They lost that 2017 provincial minor decider to a Dublin side that included David O’Hanlon and Ross McGarry. Of the current Louth senior panel, Dan Corcoran, Leonard Grey, Liam Jackson, Alan Connor and Ciarán Keenan all played in 2017.

Kierans managed the Louth seniors between 2019-2020 and since stepping down he has closely followed the progress of his former charges.

“The progress they have made, they have got there a lot faster than I envisaged and that is credit to Mickey and his management team,” says Kierans.

“I didn’t feel at that particular time that we could get to this sort of level as soon as we have. That’s not to say the players weren’t there and they weren’t developing, but to have made such progress in such a short space of time, it’s a credit to Mickey and the team.”

Including replays, this will be Harte’s 10th senior provincial final as a manager, having won six Ulster crowns with Tyrone. He has managed in more provincial finals than Louth have won. Sunday’s decider marks only Louth’s second appearance in 63 years.

“I’d be a great admirer of Mickey in terms of what he has done in his career,” adds Kierans.

“He is doing a great job with Louth and there is huge excitement around the county, but what I really admire about Mickey is his longevity. I was involved in intercounty football for five years between underage and senior, and I was shattered.

“I don’t know how he does it, and he still seems so fresh and driven. He is doing great work and Gavin Devlin, from everything you hear, is a brilliant coach.”

To put Harte’s longevity in context, and even leaving aside his work at minor and under-21 level in Tyrone, his first game as senior manager of his native county was on January 12th, 2003, a McKenna Cup victory over Fermanagh. Louth’s 2010 Leinster final trauma was still seven years away.

Louth chairman Peter Fitzpatrick, who was manager in 2010, was instrumental in convincing Harte to take on this challenge.

And the belief within the Louth dressingroom has clearly mushroomed over the last three seasons. There are some clearly identifiable Harte stamps in how Louth play now and tactically they are a more astute outfit. They know what they are about, they are a well-drilled, well-coached outfit.

“They definitely have physically developed as well,” says Kierans. “Physically, the transformation of the players has been expedited. They are definitely a different team physically now.”

In their final three league games – against Kildare, Cork and Dublin – Louth didn’t concede a single goal.

It would be baseless to say Louth would not have advanced to this Leinster final had Harte not agreed to take on the role in late 2020. They overcame Westmeath and Offaly to get here, not insurmountable challenges for a Louth team any given season.

However, it is questionable if anybody else could have brought them to this final with such wind in their sails, such belief that no matter what happens on Sunday the Good Ship Louth will not sink. They won’t be drifting away to the backwaters.

This championship run has been built on the back of three positive league campaigns, incremental improvements, layering year on year.

“The belief is there that they can compete with the likes of Dublin, the belief is at an all-time high really,” believes Kierans.

But Louth don’t beat Dublin.

Their last championship win over the Dubs was in 1973. Dublin have won all subsequent 15 championship meetings. Louth haven’t scored a goal against Dublin in the championship since 1995. Dublin netted 14 goals in the seven games during that period.

Louth just don’t beat Dublin.

Towards the end of the preview night on Wednesday, Harte was asked where a Leinster title with Louth would rank among his managerial achievements.

“Certainly it would be up there with the best I have ever been involved in, because in the short space of time these players have come from the basement league position to a Leinster final, that is some achievement in itself. I can only imagine what a victory would mean to these boys and to this county,” replied Harte.

“I could say, yes, it would be one of the greatest achievements I’ve been involved in if we can make that happen.”

But Louth don’t beat Dublin, right?