By Michael McMullan

NEW Derry manager Paddy Tally is excited at the prospect of a return to county management and said it was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.

The Galbally man was ratified a three-year term at the meeting of the clubs on Thursday night.

Having coached the Oakleafers during Brian McIver’s tenure as manager, he will begin work by meeting his management team on Saturday to plan for December’s return to training.

“It’s really exciting,” he said on his appointment. “2015 was the last time I was here, as a coach, but now to come back as a manager, it’s a very exciting prospect for me personally.”

Tally’s appointment brings to an end Derry’s four-month search to find their successor to Mickey Harte.

After many names being linked to the post, Tally was put forward with a management team of Paul McIver, Paul McFlynn and Kevin McGuckin.

“The last week has been a whirlwind,” said Tally, who had initially committed to Kerry as the Performance Coach for 2025.

“In fairness, when John (Keenan) made the approach to me last week, I didn’t have an awful lot of time to think about it. Sometimes that’s the best way, not to overanalyse things too much.

“I spoke to a couple of senior players first before I spoke to anybody at length about the job,” Tally added.

“I needed to see where they were, how they feel things have been, the highs and lows, the good things and the positives and also the things that haven’t been going so well.”

During a “very honest conversation” Tally outlined how he saw Derry from the point of view of plotting downfall. In the last two seasons, he was on the other side of the fence as Kerry knocked the Oaks out of the Sam Maguire race.

“Maybe my insight to where they could improve is something that I was able to impart onto them as well, which they probably maybe wouldn’t have been aware of,” Tally said.

“That was a really good few hours spent and, coming out of that, I felt a lot better about the prospect of where we could go, what we’re going to try and do.

“That allowed me to move on to speak to the County Board delegates and then finally make the decision on the job.”

There was also the significant issue for Tally in the form of his commitment to Kerry. After three years as Head Coach, his role was due to change under Jack O’Connor for the 2025 season.

“In terms of time and commitment to the journeys and travel, it was becoming difficult,” Tally said of the round trip to the Kingdom.

“They asked me to stay on in the role of Performance Coach for the team, which would have left a little bit less travel and being able to do the work in a hybrid model.

“I was committed to that job and I was very happy to do it but when this (Derry) job came along, it made sense that it was the right time.

“Obviously, I had to reconcile myself to leave Kerry, which was hard because they’ve been so good to me these last three years.

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every moment of my time there. Once I had myself reconciled to that, and made my peace with the Kerry men, then I was happy to move on.

“The boys understand down there and they’re very grateful for what I did for them and the same for me with them.

“I really enjoyed my time and I enjoyed what they gave to me so we left it all in good terms.”

After coaching Kerry to lift Sam Maguire and with a vacancy coming up closer to home, the chance to manage Derry was too good to turn down after 21 seasons involved at inter-county level.

“An opportunity to come to work with a really, really good team, with good people around it who want to see things done well,” he said,” you just have to realise that there’s a time for it and this was a time for me personally, so it’s just one I couldn’t pass up.”

After finalising his management, the process to finalise the backroom team is ongoing and Tally said they are at an advanced stage of securing a strength and conditioning coach.

“When I made the decision to take the job on, I was on the ball straight away to the people that wanted,” he said.

“It’s been great getting Paul McFlynn and Paul McIver and Kevin McGuckin on board. That was a good bit of work to get that done but that’s squared off yesterday and now we’re ready to start.

“We’re still just knocking off a few things in terms of the backroom team at this stage. I’m working closely with Stephen (Barker) on that.

“The key to us is getting the right people in place. We’re not going to rush into something or appoint somebody we’re not happy with so that may take another few days but we’ll get that done in the right time.”

Coming in to manage the current National League champions and a group of players who have back-to-back Ulster titles is one half of the attraction. The other, to Tally, is the underage production line under the hood.

“It’s not as if it’s a one-year or two-year team,” he said of Derry. “Sometimes you get involved with a team that know they have to do something within the next year or two because if they don’t do it now, they’ll never do it.

“This is not the case for Derry with the success of minor teams that have come through there and won All-Irelands.

“They have strong u-20 teams. The schools and clubs are producing good players. To come into a team that’s playing at the top of Division One and having that opportunity to work with those players currently is really exciting for me.”

Having analysed Derry over the past two seasons for key All-Ireland games, Tally has a handle on what was currently there.

He has tuned in for the televised Derry championship games and is confident in his management team’s input to find other players with something to offer.

“That’s the beauty of having those three men on board, Kevin and the two Pauls,” he said.

“They know Derry football pretty much inside out. They know the players; they know what’s coming through and I will be leaning on those boys to help me.”

The number one priority is getting to work straight away and forming a squad ahead of the first game of their league title defence against Tyrone in January.

A concern across Derry has been the manager sewat being vacant for four months after Mickey Harte’s decision to step down in July. Tally doesn’t see it as an issue.

“I’m a big believer that players do need time to switch off after the finish of the season,” he said.

“If you think of any county footballer who’s gone on the wheel for a few years and then dropping back into club football and continuing on, they’re probably not getting really finished up until September or October each year.

“Then you’re back in December. You really only have eight weeks where you’re not involved in football on a 12-month cycle.

“You have 10 months on and two months off. Those two months are incredibly important for recovery, regeneration, rest, switching off the game for a while and leaving yourself that, if you do come back, you come back with hunger and enthusiasm, looking forward to starting again.

“If you don’t afford that time to the players when you need it most, maybe in the heat of the battle, all being well that’s next June or July, maybe that lack of rest could come back to bite you.

“I’m a big believer at this time of the year, of giving players a down time. I’m not concerned about the fact that we haven’t been together yet.

“I’d say a lot of most counties in Ireland are probably sitting back at the minute and resting players and maybe doing a bit of strength and conditioning work or a bit of gym work. There wouldn’t be much happening apart from that.”