Owen Mulligan has revealed how he felt Mickey Harte showed him a lack of respect when he was cut from the Tyrone squad and that he could have helped the county to more silverware.
Excerpts from his autobiography Mugsy appeared in the Irish Independent today and not only does he feel he had more to offer, Mulligan is adamant he was a better option than some of those still within the panel.
But it was the manner in which he was left out of Harte’s plans that has rankled the most for the Cookstown man.
“If you worked for a company for 15 years and they told you they were replacing you with a younger employee, the least you’d expect would be a thank you and a handshake. That’s all I wanted – a bit of respect,” he reveals.
Mulligan goes to suggest that he could have had a big impact on the narrow defeat Tyrone suffered on the National League Final to the Dubs.
“I am not saying that if I had been there Tyrone would have won the All-Ireland title, definitely not, but would Mickey have another league title under his belt now if I’d been there to come off the bench? I think so,” adds Mulligan.
“I think I could have got a score or bought a free in those closing minutes to win the game, because Tyrone should have won the game. I feel I am still better than some of the players who played that day.”
One of the best corner forwards on his day, he does add that in time when the “hurt subsides” he would like to meet up with Harte, a man whom he says he owes so much to.
Mulligan also reveal his embarrassment at having to claim the dole following the downturn of the construction industry and also suggests that when it came to diving and verbals on the pitch, he was only reacting to what was happening.
“If you’re stupid enough to put your arm in, I’m going to go down. A lot of them were fouls, but I made the most of it,” he admits.
“I hardly ever started the verbals, but if someone said something to me, I’d go at it so hard that I’d usually end up getting a box on the back of the head. No one is telling me that if a man is slagging off your ma or your girlfriend that you’re not going to slag him back.”
Mugsy will make for entertaining reading.
