Lynch helping steer the next set of growing Oaks

By Michael McMullan

DERRY minor coach Mark Lynch knows exactly what his side are dealing with as they step into the ring against Cork this weekend.

After losing the Ulster final, Derry bounced back to beat Roscommon and set up an All-Ireland semi-final clash with the Rebels.

Despite still being U16, Lynch was centre back on the county’s All-Ireland winning team of 2002.

With eight of the team back the following year, they were tipped to go deep into the championship.

However, a last-gasp Damien ‘Daisy’ McDermott goal for Tyrone chinned the Oaks in the first round at Casement Park.

“These days don’t come round too often,” Lynch said. “I won an All-Ireland minor and then never got out of Ulster for the next two years on the trot.”

He has already had a look at the Cork team and has been impressed with what’s on the table – their strength, kicking of the ball and the place-kicking of goalkeeper Rory Twohig.

“Any free given away within 50 yards, they’re going over,” Lynch said. “They are very direct and they’re hungry around the middle.

“It’s going to be a challenge, but I think the lads are up for it now. They realise they’re one game away from the All-Ireland final so it’s hard to look away from that prospect.”

A former Derry captain, Lynch retired at the end of the 2018 season but has been heavily involved in coaching with his club Banagher.

“I’m very lucky that Kieran (Glackin – manager) gave me the call,” commented Lynch on getting involved in coaching with Derry, having worn the jersey for 16 seasons.

“It’s the environment, it’s Owenbeg, it’s the whole thing that follows. It’s the crest, it’s difficult to forget about.

“That’s not to say that Banagher doesn’t give the same, it absolutely does. When you get the opportunity to go up here and work in these types of environments, it’s difficult to turn down.”

Derry have had a successful record at minor level over the last decade. The 2015 Ulster title ended a 13-year famine since Lynch’s winning team.

Mark Lynch won an All-Ireland minor title with Derry in 2002

Since then, they’ve been knocking on the Ulster door most years and have three more All-Ireland titles to their name.

Those wins are helping mould the next group of players toward senior inter-county football. Lynch looks back at what he took from his own days as a county minor.

“The sense of pride you had to play for Derry, it grew on me,” he said. “That came from Chris Brown and Paddy Crozier, our management team.

“They instilled that into you and I got that real sense of pride to play for Derry and how lucky I was to get the opportunity to do that.”

With that experience in the bank, it’s invaluable when coaching a group of players who are stepping into championship action at such a young age.

“You try and look at what maybe are the learnings from the Ulster final,” Lynch said, also referencing all the extras that come with championship weekends.

Coming up to games, players will be getting messages of good-will in a week when they are trying to focus on the nuggets of preparation.

“It’s all great but it’s still going to instil a wee bit of nervousness,” he added.

“You’re trying to give them advice on how to handle that, trying to play the game and not the occasion.

“They also have to embrace that too. That’s a part of them learning and embracing it and hopefully there’ll be many more days like it.”