Damian Barton says he was “disappointed” and “very hurt” not to stay on as Doire senior football manager
FORMER Doire manager Damian Barton said he was “disappointed and “very hurt” not to get another year in charge of the senior football team.
The board of Doire GAA last month decided not to extend his tenure and are continuing the hunt to find a replacement.
In a no-holds-barred interview in today’s Irish News, Barton reveals his feelings for the first time at how he was treated by the County Board.
He slammed the lack of support for the senior team, whose numbers were cut to 26, say the County Board was more interested in “cost cutting”.
Derry were knocked out of the All-Ireland qualifiers by Mayo who are now in the semi-final against Kerry after seeing off Roscommon on Monday.
“You could say that was a failure,” Barton told respected GAA reporter Kenny Archer.
But he count that by say the restrictions imposed on him contributed largely to that.
“Our support network is not good enough. I was told we could have a manager, a coach, a doctor, a physio, an administrator, a performance analyst, and a strength and conditioning coach, that’s seven people – the last two of whom were employed by the county board anyway.
“One strength and conditioning coach to do all our teams? Absolutely impossible.
“I had one administrator, who was awesome – but he couldn’t tell me how much it cost to run the team, because he wasn’t privy to that information.
The Newbridge clubman revealed that the County Board’s attitude was “just cost-cutting after cost-cutting.
“To be quite honest, some time ago I very clearly saw that we were a bit of a financial burden, not least when we didn’t retain our Division Two status, compounded obviously by the Tyrone defeat.”
Barton listed other grievances including and top of the list was a lack of weekend training.
He told The Irish News: “There was a lack of support at board level, I have no qualms in saying that.”
Praising main sponsors H & A Mechanical Services, Barton said more fundraising was needed to help the senior players.
“There’s so much that can be done, the goodwill is there to finance the team, and to make people more accountable would be a good starting point.
“I approached people about getting involved with Club Derry, passed their details on – and nobody approached them.”
The 1993 All-Ireland winner believes he should have been given at least one more year in charge, saying:
“I didn’t step down, I wouldn’t run away from anything.
“I failed some players, I admit. If we did get back for a third year, which I feel we were entitled to, there would have been changes – subtle changes, major changes. Let’s just say I’m a lot wiser than I was at the start.
“I don’t know what the rationale was [for not being kept on]. I’m certainly very hurt and very disappointed,” he added.
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