Paddy Tally has been backed to make a huge impact with Down by two Tyrone men who saw first hand what he brings to the table.
Tally was part of Mickey Harte's back-room team in the Red Hand's golden run through the noughties which saw them lift Sam Maguire three times, in 2003, '05 and '08.
He's also been a key cog in Kevin Walsh's Galway set-up, playing a major role in the tactical shape that helped them to a Connacht title and a place in the All-Ireland SFC semi-finals this year.
Tally has previously been a trainer with the Mourne men under James McCartan and had a similar role with Derry but he now takes the reins for his first inter-county management role.
Kevin Hughes and Brian McGuigan - who played both huge parts in that brilliant period for Tyrone at the start of the millennium - believe he's the right man for the job.
"Paddy was with us in '03 and the players thought a lot of him at the time," said Hughes.
"It was probably the first big change we had seen from our minor and U21 days, there was a lot of strength and conditioning going on and even with your diet, Paddy had a knowledge of all that.
"He was great at training, because every night you went to training you did something new, something fresh. The thing about it is making that change from a coach/trainer to the main man and manager. He’s going to have to step back and let someone else do the training because definitely at county level you can’t combine both of them.
"I think Paddy will do a great job, he has a great backroom team with Benny Coulter there, Stephen Beattie and Gavin McGilly. The problem with Down is getting their best players out on the field.
"County champions Kilcoo only had one player involved last year and they really should have had more. So there’s something not right there and I think Paddy will be able to get everybody out."
McGuigan said the Tribesmen are going to miss Tally's influence, even if the purists won't. The defensive style adopted had its critics, but it has been undeniably effective - and successful.
"He got a lot of abuse the way Galway went!" said McGuigan. "But I think that was doing a disservice to Kevin Walsh. Because Kevin Walsh at the end of the day was the boss and if he didn’t like the way Paddy was approaching the game, then he didn’t have to go with it.
"Paddy will not worry. There’ll be a period next year when it’s just about getting the right people involved, probably just settled defensively, see how they want to go.
"Then maybe the following year they’ll get to attack. Benny will help in the attacking play. Likewise what Stephen O’Neill has done with Tyrone this year."
Hughes echoed those sentiments, predicting that Tally will evolve an attacking side to the team only after he establishes sound defensive structure.
"I think we can appreciate, looking at Galway, his influence. Bar what the perception was out there and how defensive they were, they just got a structure in place.
"Galway, a bit like Down, are renowned for playing this flowing football. The thing with Galway was it was accepted that you can go out to play nice football and if you’re beat, you’re beat.
"But the thing with Paddy, he came in to get a structure in place, he just knows how to set up defensively. Then he would progress that. I think it’s a bit like Donegal in 2011, like in 2010 and 2009 Donegal were way off the pace. Jim McGuinness came in and just got a structure in place and how horrible it looked, it was just getting the boys a bit of confidence.
"‘Right we can mind the house and we know what to do’. Then you’ve seen them in 2012, they progressed on from a defensive to an offensive counter-attacking system. We all seen how that panned out.
"So Paddy will do that first time around, he’ll need a couple of years to get those players in to that way of thinking, but I think he’s a brilliant appointment for them."
Brian McGuigan and Kevin Hughes at te announcement of the documentary Tír Eoghain: The Unbreakable Bond, airing this Sunday August 26 at 8.30pm on TG4, which tells the story of how Mickey Harte's minor teams of 1997 and 1998 went on to drive their county to three All Ireland senior titles.
