Ulster Football Championship: Mickey Harte and Jim McGuinness renew provincial rivalry

After enduring the flattest of Ulster Football Championship weekends, if Mickey Harte's renewal of rivalries with Jim McGuinness doesn't kickstart the provincial series into life on Saturday, nothing will.

Harte's shock arrival to the Derry job last September immediately had GAA folks salivating at the prospect of him battling once again with the Donegal footballing messiah, who himself had been cajoled into re-taking the reins in his native county following their annus horribilis in 2023.

The back to the future references to those Harte-McGuinness Ulster tussles from 2011-13, when all three were won by the Glenties man, had to be neatly rounded off by three-in-a-row seeking Derry being drawn against Donegal in their Ulster opener. It was written in the stars.

And as if we didn't already feel like the clock had been turned back a decade or more, then came news this week that McGuinness was still apparently banning journalist Declan Bogue, external from his press conferences.

The two GAA legends performed the obligatory pre-match and post-match handshakes at the Dr McKenna Cup Final in late January but the wind and rain - allied to a largely under-strength Donegal line-up - meant nothing of substance could be gleaned in terms of relevance to the upcoming Ulster Championship contest.

Amid the myriad pundit pronouncements and championship previews, some southern analysts are convinced the losing team at Celtic Park will be in a better position in terms of mounting an All-Ireland challenge.

That may ultimately prove true with Saturday's defeated side set for a month off prior to the Super 16s - as opposed to having lumps taken out of them in potentially two more Ulster SFC contests.

But while Armagh selector Ciaran McKeever memorably uttered at last year's Ulster Championship launch that the "real football" will begin during the Super 16s, the idea that McGuinness and Harte will adopt a relaxed attitude about Saturday's outcome seems fanciful.

Harte didn't appear unduly bothered when his team lost against Dublin at Celtic Park in round five of the Allianz Football League but with their Division One status already secure, that was very much an outlier. The ultra-competitive Ballygawley man has made a career out of wanting to win every game.

In addition to guiding Tyrone to three All-Ireland titles, six Ulster Championships, plus Division One and Division Two League successes, his Red Hands won 12 McKenna Cups during his 18 years in charge.

And while McGuinness may have been away from the inter-county scene for nearly a decade, his regard for the importance of the Ulster Championship, despite the numerous calls for the provincials to be binned, doesn't appear to have diminished one iota.

After the opening McKenna Cup win over Armagh on 3 January, McGuinness told a large gathering of reporters that had gathered for his first match since his return, that the Ulster Championship "will always be the number one competition for us".

In recent weeks, McGuinness has continued in that vein by speaking on a couple of occasions about how the provincial competitions are being "disrespected" by the proximity of league and championship.

In terms of their personal relationship, the two men didn't appear especially close back in the early 2010s but that was unsurprising given the intensity of the rivalry that developed.

After all, Donegal, amid their three Ulster titles and one Sam Maguire Cup triumph during McGuinness' 2011-14 reign, had knocked Harte's Red Hands off their provincial perch.

But a decade on, the mood has been cordial with Harte speaking during his first interaction with the press as Derry manager in December of how "I like him [McGuinness] as a person".

For his part, McGuinness has been just as effusive is his praise of Harte on several occasions in recent months.

"He is a person who has been amazing as a coach and has always been a person I have held in the highest regard," said the Donegal boss at the Ulster Championship launch four weeks ago.

The duo's first provincial meeting in the 2011 semi-final saw a late Dermot Molloy goal end Tyrone's three-in-row ambitions as Donegal clinched a 2-6 to 0-9 victory at Clones.

Tyrone made a fast start that day as they led 0-6 to 0-1 but Donegal trimmed the margin to two points by half-time and, while the Red Hands fought back to level after Colm McFadden had netted to put McGuinness's side ahead, Molloy's goal proved decisive.

The defending Ulster champions finished the game with 14 men after Kevin Hughes' sending off, which many felt had been harsh.

Even after Molloy's goal, Stephen O'Neill had a last-gasp goal chance for Tyrone, which if converted would have ensured extra-time, while the Red Hands had been denied a glorious chance for an earlier 'major' by Rory Kavanagh's blatant foul on Owen Mulligan just outside the square, with merely a point accruing from the opening.

Twelve months later, Tyrone once again led their provincial semi-final at half-time (0-6 to 0-5) but the Red Hands were held scoreless for 32 minutes in the second period as McGuinness' defensive blanket enabled Donegal to clinch a 0-12 to 0-10 victory at St Tiernach's Park. Within three months, McGuinness' men were celebrating the county's second All-Ireland triumph.

Donegal earned a more conclusive 2-10 to 0-10 win in the 2013 Ulster quarter-final as McFadden, once more, and Ross Wherity netted either side of half-time, with Tyrone again finishing with 14 men after Joe McMahon's late red card.

The biggest post-match talking point was Donegal's tactic of putting three men in the eyeline of Niall Morgan - and waving their arms in the process - as the Tyrone keeper attempted long-range frees.

Morgan's kicking had been outstanding during that season's Football League but, apparently spooked by Donegal's antics, his return that day was a paltry one out of six.

Derry are such a well-oiled machine, with the Football League title recently banked after their dramatic penalty shootout over All-Ireland champions Dublin, that it's difficult to imagine them being ruffled by any left-field tactic that McGuinness may come up with.

But the Donegal boss, whose own side beat a highly-regarded Armagh side in the Division Two final, will have something up his sleeve. Whether it comes off remains to be seen.

Let battle commence.