Mickey Harte's decision to sign on as manager of the Derry footballers has stunned the Gaelic football world, with most of the discussion revolving around the ramifications of a Tyrone legend taking charge of their Ulster rivals.
Harte was the driving force between Tyrone's three All-Ireland triumphs in the 2000s - the first in the county's history - as he managed a revolution with a golden generation of Tyrone players.
He departed the Tyrone job after the stagnated 2020 season, and has spent the past three intercounty seasons in charge of Louth, bringing them to only their second Leinster senior final in the past 63 years last season.
His move to Derry took the Louth county board by surprise, and has raised eyebrows on either side of the Derry-Tyrone rivalry. Former players of Harte's such as Owen Mulligan and Sean Cavanagh have shared their surprise at the decision, while Joe Brolly has made his feelings clear on a rival such as Harte taking charge of the Derry intercounty team.
That has been the source of most discussion since the first reports of Derry's new manager broke earlier this week - but there has been less in the way of debate as to how Harte to Derry will work from a footballing perspective.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport this week, former Kerry manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice said he has questions about how suited the two are to each other, suggesting that something will have to give when it comes to Derry's playing style in 2024.
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Éamonn Fitzmaurice has question marks about Mickey Harte's move to Derry
25 October 2020; Tyrone manager Mickey Harte during the Allianz Football League Division 1 Round 7 match between Mayo and Tyrone at Elverys MacHale Park in Castlebar, Mayo. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Mickey Harte's Tyrone were one of the pioneers of a more defensive style of football which took prevalence in the mid-2000s. It was not everyone's cup of tea - cue Pat Spillane and 'puke football' - but it was nothing if not effective, and it is a style Harte has stood by throughout his career.
Though Derry's style of play over the past two years has placed similar emphasis on effectiveness over style, it is more attacking in nature than Mickey Harte teams typically have been - something Kerryman Éamonn Fitzmaurice is intrigued to see play out:
You can see the attraction from Derry's point of view. Unless someone else comes into the mix, there's going to be five counties next year that have All-Ireland winning managers and that experience in charge of them. Three of them are going to be in Ulster with Donegal, Derry and Tyrone.
Having someone in charge of the team who has been there, done that, and got it over the line, is going to be a huge thing.
The thing that is going to be interesting is how Mickey Harte and Gavin Devlin fit into the way that Derry have been playing the last couple of seasons.
I've been a big fan of the way they have gone about it. In particular, their innovation with their forward play in the season gone by, and how they were pushing everyone forward and playing with 14 and 15 in attack, using Odhran Lynch as an extra attacker. It very nearly got them to an All-Ireland final.
I would have been looking forward to whoever came in next building on that but the way Mickey and Gavin have played in the past, that wouldn't have been in their playbook.
It'll be interesting to see how they merge the way that they play the game and this group of Derry players have been developing in the past few seasons.
Derry's forward play was indeed scintillating at times during the 2023 season, with Shane McGuigan finishing the season as the championship's top scorer, and it will indeed be fascinating if we see any change in approach from Mickey Harte ahead of the 2024 season.
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