Timing is right for Antrim manager Mark Doran

If things had worked out differently, Mark Doran could have been wearing an Oak Leaf crest on his chest this evening at Celtic Park - but instead he’ll be standing on the sideline in the Saffron colour of Antrim.

Doran was heavily linked with the Derry job in Autumn 2024 after Mickey Harte’s one year tenure came to an end.

But it didn’t feel right to the former Roscommon, Clare, Wicklow and Down coach, so he didn’t take the plunge.

Paddy Tally got the job, but after a year parted ways with Derry as their former double Ulster Championship winning coach, Ciaran Meenagh, took the reins again.

Now, Meenagh and Doran will be in opposite dugouts for this evening’s Ulster quarter-final encounter at Find Insurance Celtic Park.

“It just didn't feel right at the time,” said Doran, speaking at the Ulster Championship launch at the Manor House Hotel, outside Enniskillen.

“It was close enough. You have to go with your gut. But make no mistake, I know Derry now, at last, have definitely got the right man. The best man for the job and a man I know very well.

“We know what we're facing and in my eyes they're still one of the best teams in Ireland.

“It's no coincidence they're now starting to go well. They're probably the unluckiest team in Ireland, winning five games and not getting promoted.

“I know how highly the Down boys rated Ciaran and I know what a good coach he is. Look, at the end of the day it's not me against him. It'll be Antrim against Derry but Ciaran would be a very good friend.

“I think everybody would agree - if you ask a hundred people in a room I think there'd be 99 of them say Derry will win.

“All we look to do is try and give the best version of ourselves and hope to bring a massive performance. It's a serious opportunity for Antrim to go into Celtic Park because there are good players in Antrim.

“But it is a building project and we're trying to take one step at a time. Small gains, but look, you're hoping Antrim boys can seize the opportunity.

“We know the size of the task and it probably will take us to have our best 70 odd minutes and maybe Derry to have an off day. But that's why we all love football.

“There's always that hope - isn't there? It's the hope that kills us so you never know.”

At one stage, Doran was going six nights a week with Colm Collins’ Clare and Slaughtneil and it was through the Derry club that the link with the county came about.

After leaving Monaghan side Ballybay, he never had any intention of taking the Slaughtneil job.

But when a powerful delegation of Shane McGuigan, Brendan Rogers and Chrissy McKaigue turned up at his house on Christmas eve, he was in. He ended up staying for three years.

Doran may also be the only coach in Ireland to have worked with senior inter-county sides in all four provinces.

“I was in Slaughtneil on a Tuesday night,” he explains. “I was in Clare on a Wednesday night. I was in Slaughtneil on a Thursday. Clare on a Friday. Slaughtneil on a Saturday and Clare on a Sunday.

“People say to me, how do you do that, and I say, ‘Sure, you love it.’ You're doing something you love. You love coaching. You love working with players.

“Like Clare, I got my eyes opened just to a different culture - how to prepare for a Munster Championship. At that time, Clare had a serious team. You were playing Division 2.

“You're leaving Clare on a Wednesday night. You're going to Slaughtneil on a Thursday night, and you're working with Shane McGuigan and Brendan Rodgers.

“You're working with class people, and I'd have to say Slaughtneil people were very, very good.

“If somebody had said to me, I'd end up staying three years in Slaughtneil, and it was the same with Roscommon......

“You were in Roscommon three times a week and you were in Slaughtneil three times a week.

“It was the same even in my last year in Down with Paddy (Tally). You're in Ballybay one night, Down the next night.”

Doran and Jerome Johnston senior helped break Scotstown’s dominance in Monaghan, landing a Senior Championship in 2022 in the middle of five wins for the Farney powerhouse.

“The learning I got in Clare,” continued 1999 Down All-Ireland minor winner Doran. “The learning I got in Slaughtneil. The learning you got in Roscommon. The learning everywhere.

“You've been involved in the Munster Championship. You've been involved in Leinster with Wicklow (under Oisin McConville).

“And people say, ‘Oh Wicklow, what was it about?’ And I would say, ‘It was just a learning - Leinster Championship.

“And people laugh and say, ‘Oh jeez.’ I say, ‘Wicklow, our first round of the championship, we knocked Westmeath out, who beat Down in the League Final.

“You’d done the four (provinces). It was just a good experience, working with all good people.”

Doran wanted to see if county management was a natural progression for him so he took the Antrim job.

“Probably a lot more time on your phone, but I don't think it's any more time at work,” he said.

“The one thing I've learned from Colm Collins - you would never know sitting at a table with Colm Collins, Colm's a manager.

“You get four or five around the table and it's the one management team. Same with Roscommon. It's one management team. It's not one man making decisions.

“That's the one thing I've tried to bring to Antrim. You’ve a management team, but it's a team.

“There's no head honcho. Everybody has a fair saying. You try and do what's best for Antrim, so that's how the whole thing ended up round with Antrim.

“You've done your time. You've served your time”