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Derry star Brendan Rogers addresses 'the noise' around Paddy Tally's appointment
Brendan Rogers has dismissed the noise around the fact that Derry have appointed another Tyrone man as their manager.
Paddy Tally was finally confirmed as Mickey Harte’s successor last week, 129 days after his fellow Tyrone man vacated the role on the back of a poor Championship showing.
Harte’s appointment in September of last year was divisive given his long history and success with Tyrone, but Rogers points out how Tally was part of the management team under Brian McIver, yet another Tyrone man albeit with a strong Derry affiliation, when he made his debut for the county back in 2015.
Read more: Brendan Rogers expects Rory Gallagher to make inter-county management comeback
Reacting to the criticism around Derry going across the border to their rivals again, Rogers said: “Och I think it’s just an easy thing… maybe that’s just the Derry-Tyrone rivalry but us as players don’t really see it as an issue. There’s always going to be people with a negative vibe and you maybe don’t hear the positive stuff just as well.
“I think maybe Mickey Harte was a bigger figure in terms of he was at the helm of Tyrone for the guts of two decades. Maybe that was a bit more significant but no, I don’t think it’s as big a deal now.
“There’s a lot more managers managing different counties now, I think, and in an ideal world and traditional society you would want someone from your own county to drive it and win it, an All-Ireland, but it’s not always the case and that’s just part and parcel of where it’s gone now.
“So the noise, I don’t think it’s as significant and the fact that the likes of Paddy Tally has already been with us, back as far as 2015 there, I don’t see that being anything that carries any weight anymore.”
Tally will have to plan without long-serving defender Chrissy McKaigue, however, after Rogers’s Slaughtneil clubmate announced his retirement from inter-county duty on Monday.
“Ach, you know, he’s 35,” said Rogers. “It's going to come at some stage. It’s just that he’s still in as good a shape as ever so you don't know when it’s going to stop. But he feels that that's enough, and he's given enough service, he doesn't need to give any more. I suppose he can enjoy his time now.”
Rogers said that the 2022 All Star was the best that he played alongside for Derry.
“Ah he would be, yeah. The best player is not about who can kick the worldy points and stuff. He was fit to mix it with the best in Ireland on any given day. Even at 35, he was marking David Clifford, who is seen as one of the best players ever.
So, that's the level that man has kept himself at for 17 years. That's unbelievable longevity.
He played from full-back to half-back, midfield at times for Derry, and it didn't seem to matter where he was at, he was so effective.”
While the departure of Dubin’s James McCarthy last week and McKaigue may have been anticipated, the decision of Brian Fenton to retire at the age of 31 this week caught most people on the hop, not least Rogers, who was his direct opponent on several occasions.
When asked what stood out most about the seven-time All-Ireland winner, Rogers replied: “It was his versatility. I know a lot of people would look at him for his elegance in terms of when he’s on the ball, he could spray passes with both feet, he could kick points with both feet, from 20 or 30, 40 yards, whatever it may be.
“But on the back foot, I think he doesn’t get as much credit for how he plugs holes in defence. His organisational skills, his communication in the heat of battle, in big games.
“I think his versatility is in every avenue, not just fielding a ball or kicking scores. The defensive thing, when people don’t see it, what happens off the ball. His last-ditch blocks and things like that.
“He was nearly on the end of everything, all the time. You don’t get too many versatile players like that. He was nearly a specialist at six things rather than just one! And that’s a difficult thing to master. Like, the guy was marked every day he went out, and still delivered.”
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