A big challenge at the Wee County

By Niall Gartland

IT was always going to be difficult to say no to new Louth manager Gavin Devlin. Ronan O’Neill spent the bulk of his intercounty days playing under Mickey Harte and his right-hand man Devlin, and there was no shortage of respect for the Ardboe man. Then there’s Devlin’s persistence – he was on the blower as soon as it emerged that O’Neill was available in the wake of Kieran Donnelly’s departure as Fermanagh manager.

Sealing the deal was the opportunity itself: Louth football is flourishing at every level. Their seniors won their first Leinster title, their u-20s reached the All-Ireland final, their minors reached the Leinster final – 2025 was the classic year to remember.

Senior manager Ger Brennan stepped down before rocking up with the Dubs, a natural move for him to make, before they moved to appoint Devlin as manager. Another natural move – Devlin previously served as Harte’s assistant in Louth from 2021 until 2023, and later took up the role as Louth’s underage director of football.

Former Tyrone player O’Neill said: “Gavin had been onto me a few times since I stepped away from Tyrone. Nothing had materialised yet, but he was on the phone again an hour or two after Kieran (Donnelly) had stepped down.

“We met up and discussed the plan for next year, and I came on board. It’ll be another step up for myself, and it’s very hard to turn down Gavin – he’s very infectious, he’s a brilliant coach, and his knowledge of football is phenomenal. You really buy into what he’s saying, and as a coach, I definitely see the game similarly to himself, so I’m really looking forward to the challenge and getting stuck into it.”

You could say that O’Neill cut his teeth coaching at this level in his three-year stint with the Fermanagh senior footballers, but it was so much more than that.

“I’m a PE teacher in St Joseph’s, Coalisland, so I’ve taken teams there, and taken teams with my club as well, but it was still a big step up to go into Fermanagh. It’s similar to being a player at intercounty level, it’s more or less a professional set-up, and I learnt a massive amount from all the coaches.”

In terms of his own contribution, he added: “I was fresh out of the game and I knew where players were coming from in terms of what they wanted to see and get out of it. I could relate to them in terms of the do’s and don’ts of county football. I’d see myself as quite friendly and people seem to click with me, and a lot of the lads are in around the same age as me – I was 30 when I started there.

“The boys would bounce ideas off me and I’d bring it back to management and that’s the way it was. I learnt an awful lot from a tactical and management point of view, and how Kieran got the best out of players. It was an unbelievable experience to be fair, and I’m really thankful – Fermanagh GAA were very welcoming to me and will always hold a special place in my heart.”

O’Neill juggled the role with his ongoing playing career at Omagh, St Enda’s, with whom he’s won two senior county titles. That brought both challenges and opportunities, though he was mindful of not stepping on the toes of manager Owen Devine, who recently stepped aside after two seasons at the helm.

“It wasn’t easy at times, I missed the odd training session in that period of March-May, but Omagh were very understanding – they trained sometimes before I went to Fermanagh, and sometimes I trained with the Fermanagh boys to get up to speed.

“With Fermanagh you had to be so on it from game-to-game, we were learning every night with the new rules and there’s no room for error in the league. We went to Portugal after the league and had a really good training camp and probably should have beaten Down in the championship.

“I found myself in a bit of a Catch 22 taking it back to Omagh, as you want to bring what you’ve learnt but you don’t want to come across as a coach either – you’re still a player and trying to enjoy playing football as much as you can. I didn’t want to overstep the mark, but it was still good coming back from Fermanagh and passing on a bit of what I was learning.”

O’Neill was speaking just a few weeks after the disappointment of a narrow defeat to Errigal Ciaran in the Tyrone Senior Championship quarter-finals, marking the final game of Devine’s tenure.

“It wasn’t easy for Owen coming in last year, it was his first gig but he was very good. He was always very well-prepared, very knowledgeable and he’s a lovely man.

“Our league performances didn’t always reflect the effort we were putting in but we put in two massive championship performances, against Killyclogher last year and then against Errigal Ciaran.

“We probably should have beaten Errigal, I know that’s maybe a bit biased but I think we should have got at least a draw out of it anyway.”

Expectations will be high at a Louth set-up becoming increasingly accustomed to operating at the higher levels of the intercounty game. A first Leinster title in nearly 70 years was a momentous achievement, though they faded in the group stages of the All-Ireland. An obvious target is the last eight of the race for Sam.

“Louth have made massive strides, probably since Mickey Harte went in there with Gavin. They’ve jumped up from Division Four to Two and stayed there.

“Winning Leinster was massive for them, and maybe there was a bit of a comedown after that, as it was a very achievable goal to get out of their group. I would say that’s definitely a goal, to make it back to the All-Ireland quarter-final again.

“I’ve been down a few times and the feeling and enthusiasm is through the roof with the Louth supporters. It’ll be challenging but it’s exciting as well, and I’m looking forward to getting my teeth into it, and seeing what value I can bring.”