McShea's Say: McGuinness and Harte have a lot in common, they're both born winners

At the moment or in the not-too-distant past a manager could be appointed in rather vague circumstances.  

It is just as true to say that the circumstances of a manager's dismissal, often euphemistically called resignation, are usually equally opaque.   

But there is illogic in the moments of arrival and departure. Some managers stay for years without winning anything, then the axe falls, and the new man arrives with total support for every new measure. The trouble with a football manager's job is that an important part of the essence of football is insecurity.  

It is the uncertainty of sport that gives it much of its drama.  

On Saturday week in Derry, two of the game's top managers will lock horns on the sideline in the most anticipated Ulster quarter-final I can ever remember.  

Jim Mc Guinness and Mickey Harte both have the distinction of leading their respective counties up the steps of the Hogan Stand in September to lift Sam (the correct time for the All-Ireland finals to be played).   

Mickey won Sam on three different occasions with his native Tyrone, while we will never forget Jim’s performance when Donegal delivered Sam in 2012.  

As the first manager to deliver not one, but three All-Irelands to Tyrone, it was hard to understand the rationale of the Tyrone executive's decision when they refused to grant Harte a one-year extension which he requested a few short years ago. It was a real case of eaten bread is soon forgotten.  

Winning the league with his adopted county last Sunday against Dublin in that epic final, clearly showed that he has not lost his magic touch. Part of the intrigue as we anticipate this game is that I believe both managers have an awful lot in common.  

Personality is a key factor in managerial success, and both have that quality in abundance. It is not a question of being likeable or aloof, of being imaginative or cautious, hard or indulgent in discipline. All these things are subordinate to the quality that all successful managers have, and that is the capacity to dominate.  

This is not just arrogance, it is a steeliness in both men's make-up, they have the will to make their methods tell.  

A successful manager may have all kinds of talent, but to become and stay successful he needs to be close to indomitable. Jim and Mickey are both very aware of that. Both men have a reputation in the game for making sure that their players know to the letter of the law what they expect from them, and whether they are getting it.  

No doubt the one question that both men will ask themselves over and over again for the next few days is; "What must we do to win?” For both, a gameplan or method is vital.  

Let us hope that we will get reasonable weather on the day for what should be an occasion to savour.  

Lee Keegan 

The Mayo man was a player of exceptional quality, but his GAA column this week, if he was quoted accurately was far from impressive.  

Speaking of his trips to New York with Mayo to play against New York, on one occasion he is quoted as saying that he and his teammates were drunk going onto the pitch to play the Exiles and that his manager James Horan had to check to see if Keegan was still alive.  

Not what one would expect from a role model.