Ronan McNamee speaking at the launch of the All Ireland SFC.
By Cian O'Connell
** **
“He is a special fella,” Ronan McNamee responds with genuine warmth when asked about the staggering and sustained influence of Mickey Harte in Tyrone football.
“Coming from where he has came from and coming through what he has come through makes him even more special,” McNamee states.
“I don't think there are too many more men out there like him to be honest. There is no better man to be leading Tyrone. He is infectious. In my own opinion there is nobody else for it bar him.”
Having retained the Ulster Senior Football Championship Tyrone return to Croke Park loaded with optimism.
McNamee, the solid Tyrone full-back, is adamant that the Red Hands are well placed to make an impact on the national stage.
“I think we are in a better place this year than we were last year,” McNamee says. “Naturally enough with another year of experience and another year of playing together with some fresh faces too, I definitely feel we are in a better place, not that we were in a bad place last year.
“Year on year you'll be improving. Naturally enough you will be getting used to each other more and I think we are close and an extremely tight bunch as a group of players.”
That process has been spearheaded by Harte, but Tyrone left the Jones Road venue bitterly disappointed following a 2016 Quarter-Final defeat against Mayo.
Valuable lessons were learned according to McNamee. “There is no place better to do it than in Croke Park, it would have annoyed a lot of people last year, especially the players,” McNamee admits.
“It was a sore one and a hard one to get over because we knew we had underperformed and still weren't a million miles away from getting something out of the game.
“Having seen where Mayo went to, getting to an All Ireland Final and being within a whisker of winning it, you tend to put yourself in that position and sort of think it could have been you. Hopefully we can right the wrongs from last year.”
Tyrone footballer Ronan McNamee.
With the Anglo Celt Cup tucked away in Tyrone excitement is sweeping through the county. Tyrone are viewed as a county making swift progress, but McNamee still feels that the Red Hands need to deliver at the next level.
“Yeah, people perceive that we a team on the up at times, but we haven't done anything to really prove it either,” is McNamee’s honest assessment.
“Back to back Ulsters isn't anything to be frowned upon because it is a very competitive province. We had our sights set on retaining Ulster this year and we are delighted that we have done it and we are into a Quarter-Final. Hopefully we can get into a Semi-Final, to take it from there.
“It was our second Ulster title as a group and for some of the lads it was their first time so you have to take that into account, they are in the position that we were in last year, a first time in an Ulster Final, they were as keen and as hungry to get their hands on an Ulster medal, we are delighted to do back to back Ulsters.
“If anybody had given us this scenario at the start of last year you'd have taken their hand off to get it. We are just delighted to be in the position we are in.”
During the autumn and winter McNamee spent time in New York and Australia which was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, but football still carried importance.
“I was working in New York for three months and then I went to see my brother in Australia, it was nice to get away, but nice to get back too, I suppose,” McNamee reflects.
“It was five months overall, I just had a notion, my girlfriend and I headed off, it was well worth it, to let the hair down for a while, to relax, but obviously your goal and you had your eyes set to be back for this year into the county set-up, hopefully retaining the Ulster title and possibly more.”
McNamee’s drive and desire for the Tyrone cause didn’t waver during his travels. That is the way I found it, when you are away from it for a while the hunger is nearly doubled so when you come back in you are mad keen,” McNamee explains.
“The hunger had never left me, I just wanted to get away, to see other places for a while, a change of scenery. When I came back, I was straight back in to get the ball rolling as such, back into the routine of it.”
It wasn’t long before McNamee was back on the silverware trail for Tyrone. Memories and medals are what Tyrone footballers want. McNamee is leading the charge.
