FORMER Antrim forward Kevin Madden has admitted that his ambition is to manage his native county, and bring them to the top table.

The Portglenone man is currently part of Mickey Harte’s backroom team in Tyrone, and he has said that the experience is helping him to develop as a coach.

However, Madden said that his dream would be to manage the county that he played with for nine years.

“Ultimately I would like to manage my own county some day and bring them back to the top table.

“There is a momentum in Antrim. I can see being involved with Tyrone, who are a team who have consistently been at the top table for a number of years, that the talent is there in Antrim compared to any other county.

“People might think I am exaggerating, but it is the training environment and the professionalism that goes with it. That’s where Antrim needs to get to.”

One of the aspects of the Tyrone set-up that has particularly impressed Madden is their facilities, which are vastly superior compared to anything that Antrim has to offer. He feels that if Antrim are to compete, then they need to match Tyrone’s set-up.

“I’ve also noticed this from being in Tyrone, and that is that Antrim need a centre of excellence.

“You look at Garvaghey and it is a world class training facility that is second to none.

“The very fact that as a county footballer that is where you go to prepare and train, and you have all those facilities at your disposal, that is massive when it comes to preparing a football team. Antrim don’t have anything like that.

“I would like to see Casement back up and running, and manage my county in that stadium, and try and do things to bring Antrim back to the top table.”

Madden has said that he is really enjoying his experience as part of Harte’s coaching team.

Madden, who played for Antrim for nine years and has been a coach for over a decade, said it was a ‘no brainer’ decision for him to join the Red Hand backroom team.

He was contacted last year, and was delighted to come on board as part of Harte’s management team. Tyrone started with a successful McKenna Cup campaign while they had won three and lost two in the league before the season was halted.

Madden said that the break has been frustrating.

“I’m really enjoying it, though I am not enjoying it at the moment (being in lockdown).

“Our last day out (Dublin) was a good experience. That was an enjoyable one. The one before it (Galway), not so much. Certainly beating Dublin in Omagh was enjoyable.”

The Portglenone man has extensive coaching experience, and he was Liam Bradley’s assistant manager when Glenullin won a Derry Senior Championship in 2007. He was also assistant to Damian Cassidy, the Derry manager, in 2009 and 2010. More recently he has managed in his own county, Antrim.

However, he said that it was an easy decision to join Harte’s coaching staff.

“When Mickey came knocking it was a no brainer for me,” he said.

“Here was an opportunity, and not just for me to bring something fresh to Tyrone, but also a chance for me to sit back and learn to grow as a coach.”

Madden played county football from 1996 through to 2007, but a heart defect discovered in the early ‘noughties’ shortened his career severely and he turned to management to fulfill the competitive gap.

However, he said himself that he is still surprised that he has ended up coaching the Tyrone team.

“If someone had said to me that I would be coaching Tyrone I wouldn’t have believed it.

“If someone had said to me in 2007 (after Glenullin had won the championship) that the ‘Baker’ (Liam Bradley) would manage Antrim and I would go on to be assistant manager of Derry, I would have said that was too far-fetched.”

Madden’s decision to take a coaching role is an interesting one. He has already worked as the manager a various club teams including Creggan and the Loup, where he was the main focal point of the team. But this is a different role again. He is not making tactical calls. He is merely in the background, working with players and trying to impact how they perform.

So it almost seems like a step back from what he was doing.

“I enjoyed working with clubs, and I had four good years with Creggan.

“I kind of felt that when you are managing a team and you are the main coach and you are the main communicator and the main person at looking after the tactical side of things, there comes a point where you are not developing as a coach and you are not moving forward. I felt that I was at that point.

“I felt that it was an opportunity to row back, and to come in and work at county level again.”

r.scott@gaeliclife.com