MICKEY Harte believes he can add value to the reigning Ulster champions Derry as his side prepare for the upcoming season.
The Oak Leaf county will face Cavan and Down in the McKenna Cup before competing in Division One of the Allianz Football League.
Harte controversially joined the Derry set-up earlier this year, taking over from another Tyrone man in Ciaran Meenagh after stepping down from the Louth job. He will once again have his right-hand man Gavin Devlin alongside him.
“I don’t see it as pressure,” said Harte, who won three All-Ireland titles during a 16-year reign with his native county Tyrone ahead of Derry’s season.
“It’s just a question of, they’ve made serious progress in the last three of four years and to win back-to-back Ulster titles which is no mean feat, as we all know, and they’ve been in two All-Ireland semi-finals.
“They’re a very good team and myself and Gavin and the management team we have around us, we believe we can bring something additional to them.
“If we bring enough to them to add to what they have, then it’s going to make them even more competitive than they’ve been in recent times. I think that would put them in a very good place.
“Nobody can guarantee anything about cups or titles or anything else. You go after those things, but the main thing we know we can do is we can add value to what they’re about.
“If we add value to what they are about, then I think they’re going to be that much more serious contenders than even they have been in the last few years.”
Under Harte, Tyrone dominated the McKenna Cup and the Errigal Ciaran clubman, who led Louth to back-to-back promotions in his three years with the Wee County, will once again take the pre-season competition seriously.
“I think it’s very good for the counties and we all need it,” added Harte, defending the McKenna Cup.
“People talk about trying to do away with it, if we do away with them, what’s going to replace them only a load of challenge matches that are of no value to anybody.
“Here, you have an organised competition, you’ve got the media that are very interested in it, and you’ve got a cup at the end of it. So, I think what we have here is well worth going after and I’ve been an advocate of it over the years.
“I’m glad to be back in this arena again because I love the McKenna Cup and I think now, particularly the way the League starts before the end of January, counties need competitive games to get ready for the league. It gives the Ulster teams ahead start, I believe, in the competitive stakes.”
