In his Gaelic Life column, Brian McGuigan discussed the hard calls managers have to make, in light of Eamonn Fitzmaurice's team selection for the Munster Final.
He related a very interesting story from the week of the 2008 All-Ireland Football Final. McGuigan was selected to start. However, on the Friday evening before the game, he and Ciaran Gourley were informed they would be on the bench. Nothing too out of the ordinary, there.
But Harte insisted the two lads make a pact with him not to tell anyone, not the rest of the panel, not their family.
McGuigan and Gourley were obliged to carry on as if they were starting. He admitted it was tough.
Mickey said it couldn’t get out, and we had to make a pact with him not to tell the rest of the panel, not to tell any of our family, nobody. We had to act as though we were starting, which was incredibly hard because inside you were so disappointed not to be starting. I never told my wife, none of my family knew, not even my brother who I was travelling up and down the road with.
McGuigan was eventually introduced with twenty minutes remaining as Tyrone overhauled Kerry in the final quarter and put the brakes on the three in a row.
Read the rest of the column here.
