MICKEY HARTE drives from Tyrone to Tullamore with a smile on his face these days.
The Offaly joint-manager was beaming after Sunday’s stunning 2-17 to 0-17 win over Kildare, which fired the Faithful to the top of Division 3.
Dylan Hyland netted a penalty as part of his 1-9 tally, Rory Egan also bagged a goal and Cormac Egan hit 0-4 from play at O’Connor Park.
Offaly are on the brink of promotion to Division 2 heading into Sunday’s final-round trip to Clare, where only a huge defeat can derail them.
Indeed, they have performed a massive U-turn since Harte jumped into the front seat.
The county endured a nightmare 2024 and were in danger of being relegated to Division 4 but survived in sixth place with five points.
Dublin tore them apart, 3-22 to 0-11, in a Leinster SFC semi-final before a dismal Tailteann Cup campaign ended in defeat in all three group games to Down, Limerick and London.
Harte was summoned to join Declan Kelly as boss for 2025 and he gladly makes the 380km round trip from Ballygawley to their Faithful Fields training centre in Kilcormac as the players are thriving.
Especially now that it is going so well, with the Tyrone legend saying: “The road up is easy and getting up in the morning is sweet.”
Luring the Errigal Ciarán clubman to another gig with a Leinster county was a coup for Offaly.
He led his native Tyrone to All-Ireland glory in 2003, 2005 and 2008 before departing the Red Hands in 2020.
Switching provinces, he guided Louth from Division 4 to Division 2 in his first two seasons in charge and they reached their first Leinster final since 2010 under his stewardship in 2023.
Returning to Ulster, Harte won an NFL Division 1 crown following his controversial appointment as Derry boss last season but left the Oak Leaf County in his rear-view mirror after a disappointing Championship campaign that never took off.
But the Offaly gig has given him a new lease of life at 70 — and it all comes from winning games. He said: “It’s different altogether. There’s just that glowing feeling within you, which means the thing about it is you remember all the good things. There’s some mistakes but you leave them aside for now because you have to savour the good moments and that’s what we do.
“We savour the good moments and look back on them. We learn from those things we could have done a bit differently that may have given us a different outcome on certain aspects of our play.
“But there’s much to be grateful for. I enjoy this game. I probably wouldn’t be at it as long as I am if I didn’t.
“I think it’s a privilege to be able to work with the top players in any county and I’ve been blessed to be able to do that for over 35 years now and I’m very grateful for that.”
RISK PAYING OFF
Jumping in with Kelly was always a risk given the pair had never met before Harte’s appointment last August.
Kelly’s credentials were already set in stone when he led the Faithful Under-20s to All-Ireland glory in 2021, with a host of that winning team now thriving at senior level.
Captain Lee Pearson, John Furlong, Cathal Donoghue, Jack Bryant, Cathal Flynn and Cormac and Rory Egan were all in Sunday’s squad having also been part of that seismic Under-20 final victory against Roscommon four years ago.
Harte was always associated with defensive football from his time in Tyrone but Offaly are firing forward on all cylinders under football’s new rules.
And their joint-gaffer is loving the changes, with his side finishing with seven different scorers against the Lilies and Hyland kicking a brace of two-point scores.
Harte said: “I suppose they were a challenge to everybody, and maybe the feeling was there were too many when they came in all in one go, and there’s been a bit of tweaking done to them now.
“But I think when we adjust and get over all those little differences and idiosyncrasies that are in the new rules and they bed in, I’m sure it’s going to be more exciting for the spectators, for the general public, and there seems to be bigger scorelines coming out of games.
“There’s going to be more open football, there’s going to be more necessity to have quality kick-passing and obviously the way the game is going now, there’s a lot of big finishes, big scorelines happening.
“It was just a dream to watch and see players hungry for the ball and the quality they had on the ball on their break runs. We couldn’t help but be happy about it.
“Unfortunately it doesn’t guarantee us anything, but it guarantees that our outcome of the league is in our own hands.”
