It was a humdrum Monday in August. Until it wasn’t. As the rest of the country fussed over suntan lotion and taking summer holidays, Offaly took care of business. A photograph appeared of Mickey Harte, a broad beaming smile stretched across his face, holding a retro 1980s Offaly jersey. Bringing the good times back. Wait. What?
Harte’s appointment as joint Offaly senior football manager alongside Declan Kelly was more a shock than a surprise. But true it was. Just six weeks after stepping down as Derry manager, Harte was back on the intercounty carousel. Not that he had ever really hopped off. Still, it was his longest spell out of the senior game since his appointment as Tyrone boss in November 2002.
Just 10 days after his tenure in Tyrone ended in November 2020, the Ballygawley man was appointed Louth boss. He subsequently left the Louth project midstream to take over Derry for 2024 but after one tumultuous season coaching the neighbours, he quit.
Speaking shortly afterwards, Harte said he wasn’t ready for “the pipe and slippers yet”, but at 72 years of age and with most managerial positions already filled, there didn’t appear many dressingroom doors left for him to push open.
And yet here we are. Harte is not so much the great survivor as he is the great achiever.
On Sunday he takes the Offaly footballers to Ennis knowing anything better than an 11-point defeat and the faithful will have gained promotion to Division Two.
None of it should surprise us, for this is what Harte does – and has done for more than two decades.
In his first year as Tyrone manager he guided his native county to the Division One league title. In his maiden season as Louth boss he led them to promotion from Division Four and the following year took them to Division Two. In his 10-month spell as Derry manager the Oak Leafers were crowned Division One league champions.
Harte is a league specialist.
In the last five years (2021-2025), he has managed in 33 league games, won 25, lost seven and drawn one.
Just coming up on 12 months ago now, he stood on the Croke Park pitch watching Conor Glass lift the Division One league title after a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Dublin. It felt like a statement win, a milestone moment in Derry’s development.
But it all fell apart thereafter. This, however, has been a spring of rebuilding. Offaly moving up and Harte moving on.
So, how did this chapter come to be? Standing alongside Harte in that announcement photo last August are then county board chairman Michael Duignan and 2024 manager Kelly.
“The first time I met Mickey on this potentially happening I was blown away by the knowledge he had of the players, he had a lot of homework done, he was very enthusiastic, it felt right straight away,” recalls Duignan.
The genesis of it all was Harte intimating to a mutual friend that he would be interested in the Offaly position, if there was a vacancy. But there was no vacancy.
Kelly had managed the Offaly under-20s to All-Ireland glory in 2021 before taking on the senior role for 2024. But it had been a difficult maiden campaign and following an end of season review it was agreed the set-up needed some fresh voices. The plan was for Kelly to stay at the helm but with some new coaches.
“I was very anxious that we get it right, to be honest, because I knew it was my last year as chairman,” recalls Duignan.
“And the whole thing with the footballers had spiralled a little bit, and I didn’t want to leave it like that.”
The arrival of Liam Kearns as Offaly manager in the summer of 2022 had proved a popular and astute call. But his passing the following March hit hard.
“It was so sad for everybody, particularly his family. I felt Liam Kearns was the right fit when we appointed him, so it left a big hole,” says Duignan.
Martin Murphy held the reins as interim boss for the rest of the 2023 season before Kelly took charge for 2024. But Offaly struggled for form last season, they finished third from bottom in Division Three and lost all three of their Tailteann Cup fixtures – to London, Limerick and Down.
But as Offaly searched for coaches in the off-season, the sudden emergence of Harte’s interest changed everything.
And then Duignan had a light bulb moment.
“There wasn’t a vacancy for manager but it dawned on me that perhaps there could be a possibility of a joint management situation, but would Mickey be interested in that or would Declan agree to it?”
The opportunity was too good to not at least roll the dice. Duignan hopped in his car immediately to put the proposal to Kelly.
“Declan is a great guy and we would have had a number of chats at that stage about maybe making changes to the back room team.
“I was anxious nobody heard anything second hand or rumours started up so I went to talk with Declan.”
Kelly was open to the idea, the chance to work alongside Harte could only be positive for Offaly football. Within days it was arranged for Duignan, Kelly and Harte to meet in Kildare.
“I met Mickey first, I just wanted to chat to see where he was coming from on it. Immediately, I knew it would be a good fit for Offaly,” recalls Duignan.
“He has been massively successful everywhere he has gone. He’s a legend in Tyrone and he really brought Louth on. Even in Derry, I have my own views on that, there was a lot of other stuff at play there and he still won a league title with them. I would always have had the highest regard for him.”
Kelly and Harte then chatted, tossed around ideas, about how it might work. That was all it took. Then the news emerged that Offaly had a new joint management team. It was a humdrum Monday in August, until it was not.
Offaly have played six games in this year’s National League, winning five – their only loss was a one-point defeat to Fermanagh. Last Sunday, for the first time since 2006, they beat Kildare in a competitive fixture.
“He has massive energy, massive drive. There’s something about him, he brings people with him,” says Duignan, who has since stepped down as chairman after five years but continues helping to liaise between the board and the county squads.
“Mickey speaks quietly but he has a real bit of steel to him and everybody knows that as well.”
Harte’s first official game with Offaly was their league opener against Sligo, a game they won by seven. Sharing the sideline with him that afternoon in the opposition dugout was Aaron Kernan, who is in his first year of coaching.
Observing Harte that day, the Tyrone man’s longevity was not lost on Kernan.
“It’s incredible how long he has been doing it,” says the Armagh native.
“We’re only in mid-March in my first year involved with Sligo and it takes plenty of energy whenever you’re trying to juggle everything in terms of work and family and travel. It just seems like he knows no other way, knows nothing else and clearly still gets a huge buzz out of it.”
Of course, the job is not done yet. But when it comes to the league, few know how to get it done better than Harte.
In the last 10 years alone he has won all four league titles: 2016 – Division Two with Tyrone; 2021 – Division Four with Louth (shared with Antrim); 2022 – Division Three with Louth; 2024 – Division One with Derry.
But if Harte has been good for Offaly, then so too has Offaly been good for him. The mood was caustic all too often during his time with Derry, the rivalry toxic, the proximity of bickering neighbours ultimately claustrophobic.
The change in landscape has been good.
“You can see it in him, you can see the sparkle in his eyes, he’s really enjoying it and the players are really enjoying it as well. And aside from the results we have seen big crowds start to come out again, which is great,” adds Duignan.
The former Offaly chairman remembers chatting with Harte during those early days last summer. He recalls telling the Tyrone native how tough last year had been for the team and – in a roundabout way – impressed upon him that retaining their status in Division Three in 2025 would be a decent return.
“Mickey looked at me and he said, ‘I think we could get promoted’.”
A few months later, Offaly are on the brink.
