Harte to 'dig through debris' of latest Derry defeat

Harte's Derry slumped to a third successive championship defeat on Sunday

Mickey Harte says Derry will “dig through the debris” to try and salvage their summer after another comprehensive championship defeat.

Just nine weeks after storming to victory over Dublin in the Division One league final, Derry slumped to a third defeat in a row on Sunday losing by 11 points to a rampant Armagh.

Derry can still reach the last 12 of the All-Ireland series with a win over Westmeath in a fortnight.

Harte admitted that if he wasn’t in his shoes, he might be among those questioning a format that could allow a team to progress despite losing three times in the championship.

"If the people that are involved in making those changes decide that it's not a good thing to lose three games and still stay in, then there could be changes,” he said.

“Everybody's entitled to their opinion. If I wasn't in this position, I might agree with it too.”

While Armagh deserve huge credit for producing one of their best championship displays of Kieran McGeeney’s 10 years in charge, a lot of the fallout from Sunday’s game in Celtic Park will inevitably centre on the losers.

Derry’s form has nosedived in startling fashion, defensive structures torn asunder in conceding 9-42 in the three defeats by Donegal, Galway and Armagh.

Although there were some deja-vu moments reminiscent to the Donegal game when Armagh turned the ball over and had plenty of green grass in front of them as they poured forward for goals, Harte felt there was one key difference in how they leaked the big scores.

“Yes, Armagh played with a huge intensity but I think we gifted them the key to the door, so to speak.

“Some of Donegal’s goals came from kick-outs but I think this time we gave away some crucial balls that it wasn't really all intensity, it was errors on our part, and it's very hard to deal with that.

“When you're trying to beat your way back into a bit of form and concede goals like we did there in the first half, then it's an uphill battle all the way.”

Harte in his 22nd consecutive year of senior inter-county management, having managed Tyrone from 2003 to 2020 before spending the next three years with Louth.

You might think he’s seen and done it all but even he finds himself in a situation he has never found himself in before with a third championship defeat.

Two of his three All-Ireland successes with Tyrone came via the back-door route, in 2005 and 2008, but this is something new.

“Well, nobody has experienced three challenging defeats, I think, because you used to not be able to get them. Two was enough, often, in the past.

“No, it's a new place to be, all right. We are not in a good place.”

As a team Derry are a shell of the bristling side of 2022 and 2023, and indeed of the first half of this year. And as individuals, it’s clear to see confidence is low.

Could the drop-off in form be psychological?

“I’m not a psychologist,” Harte said, “but you can't play the level of football that our boys played in the league and then have your next three performances the way they were.”

“It doesn't make sense, unless there's a mental problem there, maybe it's fatigue, maybe it's coming off the high of winning the league.

“It could be loads of things. Injuries play a part in it as well. So, there's a whole lot of stuff going on there, but the end result is not good for us at the minute.”