McGarry relishing being Tyrone hurling No.1

MEET the new Tyrone hurling manager, Stephen McGarry from Ballycastle – but while we say ‘new’, he’s hardly been plucked out of thin air.

Over the course of the last three years, McGarry regularly took the two-hour trip from Ballycastle to Garvaghey alongside manager Michael McShane, who stepped down at the end of their Christy Ring Cup campaign back in May.

From here on in there’ll be an empty passenger seat as the erstwhile assistant has taken the plunge and gone for the main gig. And why not? It’s been a successful period and while Damian Casey’s untimely death was an utter tragedy, it only served to solidify an already tight-knit camp.

He was officially appointed on a three-year term last Tuesday evening but McGarry says the transition from coach to manager had been spoken about for quite some time.

“The possibility of staying on had been mooted at the end of last year for the purposes of continuity”, said the former Ballycastle and Antrim hurler.

“That was something I wasn’t dismissive of. I’d got into the routine of heading to Tyrone and had an affinity with the group so it had just become part of my life really.

“I thought long and hard about it, and decided you know what, I’ll give it a go. I’ve a vision of how we can improve the structures in the county and I spoke to quite a few people in Tyrone including some of the county hurlers who had come to me and that’s how it all transpired.”

The high-profile appointment of Michael McShane in early 2021 was a real shot in the arm for the hurling scene in the county.

McShane had landed Ulster Senior titles with Sleacht Néill (they go in search of their latest Derry title this weekend with McShane still at the helm) and he made a massive impact at the Red Hand County throughout his tenure.

“Michael would’ve been my manager when I hurled with Ballycastle, so that was a very different relationship. I’d been doing a bit of coaching and Michael came to me when he got the Tyrone job and asked me to come in and coach.

“I thought I’d give it a lash and see how we got on. It was a strong appointment from the county board and you knew you were going to get a response from the players. The two of us have a great relationship and it’s been invaluable working in alongside him.”

Tyrone hurling was riding the crest of a wave when their 2022 campaign came to a close. They bagged the Division 3A title and followed that up with one of the greatest performances in the county’s history when they demolished Roscommon in the Nickey Rackard final, their talisman Damian Casey scoring 14 points at Croke Park. Just less than a month later, the shock news filtered through that Casey had died while in Spain for a wedding.

His status within Tyrone hurling was and is unparalleled and his passing had the potential to detail the county’s hurling ambitions entirely, but the players were determined to honour his legacy and they managed to stay the course in the Christy Ring Cup competition this year, no mean feat given it was their first time fielding in the competition.

“I felt a loyalty to the group and they’ve been through more than anybody could even imagine with the passing of Damian.

“We wouldn’t have hammered the nail over it but it was always there and the players spoke about it as Damian was such a huge figure in Tyrone hurling both on and off the field.

“Everybody looked up and respected him and when he passed, we looked at and thought it could either fall to pieces here or it could galvanise players and management alike to put their shoulders to the wheel, and that’s what it ended up doing.”

Tyrone have had some memorable days out in the last few years and McGarry said the players wanted to inspire the youth of the county to aspire to line out for a county that is generally perceived as a ‘football county’.

“The players wanted to put pride into the jersey. It’s a football orientated county and you have to respect that because they’ve set massive standards down the years, but we also wanted to make it prestigious to come out and hurl for Tyrone.

“Our lads did that in abundance through hard work in training and matches.“It’s my job not to maintain and drive those standards, there’s no point standing still and there’s still things we can work on.”

McGarry is in the process of finalising his backroom team but he’s already recruited former Tyrone stalwarts Sean Og Grogan (who retired a few months back) and John Devlin. Caolan Harvey is back in as Strength and Conditioning coach after a year’s travelling while Noel Brick, Aidan McHugh and Colm Thomas remain involved.

“I’ve come into the job with my eyes wide open and I’m fully aware circumstances have changed for a number of players in the panel due to travel commitments and retiring.

“What we need to do is get players coming through from the U-20s and progressing into the senior hurling team because that’s how we’ll get sustainability.

“Sean Og has retired and is there going to be a Sean Og coming through the U-20s this year that we can mould into being a top senior hurling?

“That’s the challenge but it’s one I’m looking forward to. It’s an opportunity to manage at intercounty level and that wasn’t lost on me. I’m relatively young for a job of his magnitude but there’s positives going into the job as there’s continuity from knowing the players and their characteristics and the set-up around Tyrone and Garvaghey.

“It’s a big job but I’m rubbing my hands and can’t wait to get at it. I got a good grounding with Michael, I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor, and I’ve got some ideas of my own as well so let’s get to it.”