New Derry boss Paddy Tally says Oak Leaf job “too good to turn down”

The Galbally native was ratified on a three year term at a Derry Co. Board meeting in Owenbeg on Thursday night with Paul McFlynn, Paul McIver and Kevin McGuckin completing his management team. Tally's appointment ends Derry's four month search for a successor to Mickey Harte with the new Oak Leaf boss anxious to get going in his new role.

"I think that's a fair assessment of it," replied Tally when asked if managing Derry was good a chance to turn down, "When an opportunity like this comes along, you do realise when you're in this game - I've been at it now for 21 years at county level - but an opportunity to come and work with a really, really good team, with good people around it who want to see things done well: you just have to realise that there's a time for it, and this was a time for me personally. It's just one I couldn't pass up.

"It's really exciting. It feels quite familiar coming back here to Owenbeg. It's 10 years, 2015 was the last time I was here as a coach, but now to come back as a manager, it's a very exciting prospect for me personally."

Tally has been part of Jack O'Connor's management team in Kerry for three seasons and had agreed to remain with the Kingdom for 2025, albeit in a slightly different 'Performance Coach' position designed to ease his travel commitments, before Derry's approach.

"The last week has been a whirlwind," added Tally, "In fairness, when John made the approach to me last week, I didn't have an awful lot of time to think about it, but sometimes that's the best way, you know, not to over analyse things too much.

"I was happy with what I heard from a couple of players and what I heard from John and from Stephen (Barker). When that all became clear to me and I had time to ponder on it, I decided this was the right thing to do.

"Then the biggest thing for me was that I was already in post, and I had committed with Kerry for another year, albeit in a slightly different role. I knew after three years of being head coach in Kerry, just in terms of time and commitment to the journeys and travel, it was becoming difficult They asked me to stay on in the role of performance coach for the team, which would have meant a little bit less travel, and being able to do the work in a hybrid model.

"So I was committed to that job, and I was very happy to do it, but when this job came along. It made sense that it was the right time. I had to reconcile myself to leaving Kerry, which was hard, because they've been so good to me these last three years, and I've thoroughly enjoyed every moment of my time there.

"But once I had myself reconciled to that, and made my peace with the Kerry men then I was happy to move on. And in fairness the boys understand down there, they're very grateful for what I did for them, and it’s the same for me with them. I really enjoyed my time, and I enjoyed what they gave to me, so we left it all in good terms."

Social media gossip had gone into overdrive since Harte's departure in July with rumours of discontent and unrest but Tally, who has worked with a number of the Oak Leaf senior panel before during his tenure at St. Mary, Belfast and his previous stint at Derry under Brian McIver, revealed speaking to the players was his first port of call when Derry's interest became evident.

"The first people I spoke to were the players," added the new Derry boss, "The most important thing in all these situations is the players. They are the key to everything. I spoke to a couple of senior players first before I spoke to anybody at length about the job.

"I needed to see where they were, how they feel things have been, the highs and lows, the good things and the positives, and also the things that haven't been going so well.

"It was a very honest conversation. I've also had the opportunity to coach against them for a few years too so maybe my insight into where I felt they could improve is something I was able to impart onto them as well, something maybe they wouldn't have been aware of.

"That was a really good few hours spent. Coming out of that I felt a lot better about the prospects of where we could go and what we're going to try and do. That allowed me to move on to speak to the County Board and finally make the decision on the job."

With December 7 the allotted start date for collective training to begin at county level, the new Derry boss revealed he started the job as soon as he was confirmed on Thursday evening but acknowledged some of his new players may need a break following extended club seasons

"The number one thing is getting work done on the players," he explained, "We've nothing in place at the moment so this will be a blank canvas for everybody, it's starting from scratch.

"But I'm a big believer that players do need to switch off time after the finish of the season. You're maybe not getting really finished up until September, October each year, and then you're back in in December - you really only have eight weeks where you're not involved in football on a 12-month cycle.

"So you have 10 months on, two months off, and those two months are incredibly important for recovery, regeneration, rest, switching off the game for a while, and leaving yourself that if you do come back, you come back with hunger and enthusiasm, looking forward to starting again.

"What happens if you don't afford that time to the players is when you need it most, maybe in the heat of the battle – all being well maybe next June or July – maybe that lack of rest could come back to bite you.

"I'm a big believer in giving players a down time at this time of the year. I'm not concerned about the fact that we haven't been together yet. I’d say a lot, if not most counties in Ireland, are probably sitting back at the minute and resting players and maybe doing a bit of strength and conditioning work or a bit of gym work, but there wouldn't be much happening apart from that."

Derry are reigning Division One champions and with a strong of underage success of recent years, including back to back All Ireland minor titles, Tally said there was huge potential within a county he excited to work in again.

"It's (exciting) in a number of ways because (as well as recent successes) there's also a lot of young players coming through the system in the future, so it's not as if it's a one-year or two-year team.

"Sometimes you get involved with a team that knows they have to do something within this next year or two because if they don't do it now, they'll never will due to maybe the age profile for example. This is not the case for Derry with the success of minor teams that have come through and won All-Irelands. And you have strong U20 teams and the schools are still producing good players; the clubs are producing good players too, so this is a different type of environment.

"To come into a team that's playing at the top of Division One, and having that opportunity to work with those players is really exciting for me."