O’Kane: New rules are a ‘godsend’

By Niall Gartland

THEY may well have complicated matters from a coaching perspective, but Glenullin boss Michael O’Kane says the new rules have been totally worth it in every other respect.

The Derry side marked their centenary year in style with a 2-16 to 2-13 victory over Foreglen in the Derry Intermediate final, and while O’Kane, a native of the club, wasn’t particularly happy with elements of their play, he recognises that it made for exciting viewing from the perspective of supporters.

Now they’re set for their third shot at the Ulster Intermediate championship in four years – they found themselves in the unusual situation of winning two previous titles without being promoted to senior – and they get their campaign underway this Saturday afternoon against Moneyglass.

Reflecting on their recent win over Foreglen, O’Kane said: “We played for 10 minutes at the start of the match and 10 minutes at the end, but the finals are more about the result than the performance.

“At the same time, we weren’t happy at all with our performance. We feel like we’ve a lot of good footballers and we’ve set standards for ourselves, and don’t think we reached them, or came anywhere close.

“We started looking at it again in the middle of last week. We made unforced errors, weren’t as free-flowing as we can be, and for us to improve, we need to be critical of ourselves and see what we can do better.”

By the same token, O’Kane recognises that the new rules have catered for expansive attacking play which has improved the game wholesale as a spectacle.

“it’s a lot higher-scoring than it was and we’re happy with the tallies we’re posting. Defensively we’ve been fairly good as well.

“The new rules have been a godsend. It’s harder to coach, there’s no doubt about that, but it’s been a breath of fresh air as well. We’re able to play more attacking football, and for supporters it’s been far better to watch.”

Glenullin is a small rural club and it’s no surprise there are a lot of family connections in the team. O’Kane has three brothers on the panel, and a fourth, former Derry footballer Gerard, is a former player.

“John, Dermot and Niall are all my brothers. Niall’s the goalkeeper, John came on at half-time in the final. Dermot didn’t come on, though he’s been carrying a bit of an injury. Daniel [O’Kane] is a cousin as well.

“There’s a lot of family connections. We’re not a big area, we’re a small enough club numbers-wise, but we’re a big club in everything else we do.

“The facilities are probably the best in Ulster, and we’re trying to get a team to match that.”

O’Kane steered Antrim’s Tír na nÓg to Intermediate honours in 2021 during his second stint at the Randalstown-based club, so he already knows a fair amount about their provincial opponents Moneyglass.

“When we won the championship with Tír na nÓg, we came up against Moneyglass in the league. They’re very physical, very hard to beat, very hard to break down.

“The new rules might have changed that a wee bit, but I know from having seen them, and having come up against them, that they’re going be very physical, and they have a couple of very good forwards as well.”