Niall Gartland speaks to Kieran McGeary about how it feels to be crowned Footballer of the Year.

GL: You’re joining Peter Canavan, Stephen O’Neill and Sean Cavanagh as the fourth man from Tyrone to win the Footballer of the Year award. Esteemed company and when you put it like that, how does it feel?

KMG: It’s mad, I was actually told beforehand that I would join the names you just mentioned, I work with Peter on a daily basis so it’s nice to you have your name among those three great men who have done there and done the business. It’s a great honour for me to be honest.

GL: Was there much craic between yourself and [fellow nominee] Conor Meyler in the last few weeks?

KMG: We’re working in Holy Trinity Cookstown teaching, Conor’s been subbing and I’ve been in there a few years now. It was fun, a couple of the students and the teachers were taking the hand out of us, about who could potentially get it, but it was all in good spirits.

GL: Would you have selected Conor if not yourself?

KMC: I’d have honestly had to go for Conor. He’s got bucketloads of experience and is a serious warrior of the game. He’s a massive standard-setter on our team and aside from that he’s a great lad. I’ve taught with him, went to university with him and we’ve had plenty of good nights out as well. He’s a great lad, full of craic but there’s a serious element to him where he wants to achieve in life in everything he does.

GL: Did you ever dream of winning individual awards like this or has it all come as a surprise?

KMG: Do you know what, it was always something I wanted to win but when you end up breaking into a senior panel and you see how many good players there are in Tyrone, and how many good players are on many different teams, do you ever think you’ll get to the top of the tree? Probably not, it was a far off dream at one stage. Winning an All-Ireland became more of an ambition but I suppose you have to play your best on the pitch and luckily mine was good enough to be voted for the position I’m in so I’m delighted.

GL: So are you back training with Tyrone at this stage?

KMG: We had a meeting the other night, a brief meeting and that was it. Training will probably start if not next weekend then the weekend after. Look it’s about time we get straight back at it. It’s not ideal going to Garvaghey at this time of year with the wind and the rain but you have to get back it at some stage.

GL: Obviously there would’ve been plenty of celebrations after the All-Ireland, but how was it over the weekend after winning the awards?

KMG: it was quite relaxed because everything [the banquet] had been called off. It was understandable but I do think it’s funny the year so many Tyrone lads won All-Stars we didn’t get the chance to go down. But no matter, I was with family and friends so I got to watch it with them. A few of us gathered up in a restaurant in Pomeroy, that made up for it not being on in Dublin.

GL: There was talk that you were in line for the Player of the Year award after the Kerry game, was that something you had to set aside?

KMC: The first thing I wanted to do was back to training and show my teammates that it hadnt become a factor in my mind. I remember going back one day and thinking these boys might be thinking my head’s potentially in the clouds here. I’m genuinely not a person for individual awards, as cliched as it sounds I am a big team person, I never let it effect me and to be honest it could have got behind the whole hype of it. I know a number of boys in the team did a media ban from the semi-final to the final, it’s something I considered but I didnt. I didnt let it annoy me, it was nice to be appreciated but it but could be easy to get caught up in the emotion. Thankfully it didn’t and Brian Dooher keeps you very level headed.

GL: Did Brian ever have any stern words for you this year? Niall Morgan revealed that after the Monaghan game he was told he’d been trying to outdo Rory Beggan and to cut it out.

KMG: The only words I got was ‘keep your bloody hands down, no more yellow cards’, that’s what he said to me from the first game, no more yellow cards. Brian doesn’t need to speak individually to a lot of boys. Whenever he speaks collectively, you know he means business. It’s like Jim Gavin, he was up in Edendork a week or so ago and lads who were at it now have an even bigger understanding of why Dublin were as successful as they were.

GL: It was notable this year that you really seemed to feed off the crowd. Presumably you feel it does no harm?

KMG: Absolutely, that’s why they come to the game, they want talking points, they want you to keep the game alive. There was a few opportunities this year where I had to the chance to do that and I did it. They weren’t pre-planned, they were sorta off the cuff but as you well know, us Tyrone people aren’t wise when we get a day out. We’ve been in a number of semi-finals and finals where we were like wee mice on the field and never brought the crowd with us, never brought them into the game, I think this year we did a bit better. Even during the Donegal game, they were crazy for it, and across the county the place was red and white all over the show. It’s important to bring the crowd into it, it gives you energy and a lift on the pitch, it takes you to another level, another gear.

GL: There were well-documented Covid issues after the Ulster final, and a lot of talk in the media, including some on-air ructions where Sean Cavanagh went out to bat for you. What did you make of all that?

KMC: I thought there were going to go ding dust at one point, Sean and Pat Spillane, I’d love to see that. Sean did what he had to do, he backed up Tyrone and his former teammates, he wasn’t going to let anyone speak negatively of us. It could’ve happened any team. We didn’t want it to happen, our families didn’t, the GAA didn’t, it was just something that took place and it wasn’t our fault.

We had to overcome it and we owe the GAA a massive thank you to allowing us back into the championship. We’d made a collective decision at that time not to fulfil the Kerry fixture as it was the right decision at the time, and we were lucky to get another week and we fulfilled a great semi-final. People may have said Tyrone won because of the extra week, they had these crazy notions, but to me people wanted to see that game, whether it was six or 60 days later. I think regardless of the result it was an incredible semi-final and it was a massive flip from the result in Killarney. It was an incredible spectacle and I think people should be glad the game went ahead.

GL: How stressful was that period for the players in the squad, knowing you might not get a chance to play the game?

KMG: It was honestly a tough decision. I remember the silence in the circle when Feargal spoke to us. We were standing around hand on hips, thinking what will we do here. Players put across points of view from both sides of the argument. It wasn’t good at all at training and I was thinking how have we come to this? You’d come through the gates at Garvaghey and wouldn’t know what the story would be. Our medical team were phenomenal, the attention to detail at that time in particular. We were getting slated right, left and centre but the main thought was that ‘we can still do this.’

GL: Are you expecting a target on your back in the National League given you’re the All-Ireland champions, that teams will be going to Healy Park and saying we want to beat Tyrone to lay down a marker.

KMG: That’s only natural and if it wasn’t the case I would question any team who’d play us to be quite honest. I know that myself, I said the other day in an interview, it was always different when you played Dublin. Your week’s training, your week’s nutrition, your sleep, your focus, everything changed. Everything improved because of who you were up against. If teams didn’t welcome us with that mentality wherever we have to go next year I’d be utterly shocked. You’re never going to lie down to the ones who are top of the table.

GL: Does that mean you can’t afford an off day because you know other teams will be going full pelt to beat Tyrone?

KMCG: if we were on seven days last year we’ll be on eight days this year, that’s the way it works.
There’ll be no days off, more work needed and hopefully we can live up to the high expectations of Tyrone people.

GL: Was it slight alterations to what Mickey Harte had done or was there generally quite a new approach this year?

KMG: A lot of people would look at how we played this year and say we played so differently, they were say it was a lot more attacking and this and that, but things were very similar. I think maybe a lot of us caught ourselves on and played a bit better than we normally could.

Yes things kicked into gear, and certain players played better than ever before, and we got a bit of luck as well. I think Mickey would’ve lifted things another level but Brian and Feargal brought their own management team and coaches, it was their time to show what they had to offer and we’re very lucky that their decisions worked out the best for us.

GL: There were extenuating factors but Tyrone struggled to piece together a good defence of their All-Ireland during the noughties, is that something the team is conscious of?

KMG: We just genuinely enjoyed the moment when the final whistle went, but I know the media started talking about can they do the back-to-back. Once we got away from all the hype, it entered our heads, but if you use that as your motivation the whole year it can distract you from whatever tasks you have in front of you. Getting to an All-Ireland final again would be a massive step, so I imagine that’s something we’ll speak of a bit, but we’ve a huge mountain to climb. It’d be nice to be the first Tyrone team to do it but we have the bullseye on us so we’ll see what happens.