Mickey Harte took a swipe at the ‘empty vessels’ who berated his Derry team in the wake of three successive championship defeats.

The Allianz League champions got back to winning ways against Westmeath in Newry on Saturday night to secure their passage into the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals, after which the Derry manager told the assembled media: "I don’t like that it has happened to the players, they don’t deserve it.

“They’re better than that. They’ve worked their socks off the whole year and played some wonderful football, and I don’t like that that’s happening to them.

"For my part, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t think it’s a nice thing to be at, but it doesn’t bother me, and those who are directing at me, I just tell them they shouldn’t get any joy out of it because I’m not worried about it.

"They (the players) were being pilloried about the lack of this and the lack of that, and there’s only one way to get out of that and it’s to dig in and get a result. I know the narrative’s out there that one result isn’t enough either so we know that the same questions will be asked next week."

He added: "There’s so many people that can have a voice and bring it out as if it was the gospel truth. You know what they say about empty vessels, they make the most noise, and that’s probably part of it.”

Tweet

Most Read Stories