GAELIC GAMES:CHARLES DARWIN would have appreciated the Ulster football championship. It is, as he preached, about the survival of the fittest, no place for the weaker species, and yet Tyrone manager Mickey Harte says what sets it apart from the other provinces is every county starts out believing they can conquer it. As the 2010 edition gets under way with Derry against Armagh on Sunday, trying to predict the eventual winner remains as difficult as ever.
Some would dispute that thesis in that only Tyrone and Armagh have managed to win it over the last 10 years – although in the 10 years before that, from 1990 to 1999, six different counties were successful. Harte believes any one of the nine counties setting out this year are genuine contenders, at least in being capable of beating any other team on any given day.
Not so in the other provinces, he says. “I think Ulster is still the hardest province to win, definitely. I know there’s a bit of a contradiction there in that only ourselves and Armagh have won it for the last 10 years, but that’s not saying there weren’t lots of other teams challenging for it. You had different teams progressing over the last 10 years as well. Like Antrim making the final last year. Fermanagh the year before, and Monaghan the year before that. A lot of different teams were challenging at different times.
“The reality of the Ulster championship is every team goes out believing they can win. Or at least there is no one thinking they cannot win. I’m not sure you can say that about any other province. In Leinster, Munster and Connacht you have two or even three levels. Like Cork and Kerry above the rest. Mayo and Galway. And perhaps Dublin too. But I really think in Ulster everyone is starting out on equal status, thinking to themselves, ‘I can win this’. So I do believe the Ulster championship is the toughest of the lot.”
Tyrone have won two of the last three Ulster titles, and although they are still favourites to retain the title, their league form – which saw them relegated to Division Two – would suggest an even more open championship than recent years. “Well if you look back over the last 10 years, and even though only ourselves and Armagh won, most people would have said it was a very open championship in those years too. Having said that, ourselves and Armagh had very good teams over the last 10 years.
“Apparently, if you look at the league results, maybe we’re not the form team anymore. Derry are after being relegated too. But then you had Armagh and Down being promoted. But I think in the overall context of championship performances Armagh and ourselves have been to the fore, and it’s been for the other teams to come up to that challenge. Every year people think there will be a new hierarchy. Only time will tell, but I do think there has been a levelling off of the field.”
Harte also makes the point practically every game in Ulster is for Tyrone a local derby – with all the heat and intensity that comes with that – given they border Donegal, Derry, Armagh, Monaghan and Fermanagh. But if history is anything to go by, the biggest handicap in the Ulster championship is being drawn in the preliminary round, given the fact only one team in the last 65 years – Armagh, in 2005 – have managed to win the title outright having played in all four rounds.
On that basis, Derry and Armagh have a far greater mountain to climb when starting out on Sunday. In 1945, Cavan managed to win the Ulster title having won through from the preliminary round, but only Armagh in 2005 have repeated that feat since.
“The preliminary round adds significantly to the challenge,” agrees Harte.
“Okay, whoever comes through that game is in a strong position, but it’s hard to maintain that over four games, to the final. You have Monaghan awaiting the winners of Derry and Armagh, and that’s another big challenge to make the semi-final. There’s no doubt in some of the other provinces you can almost waltz into a semi-final.
“That makes progressing to the Ulster final that bit more demanding. It has to. Overall though I think the emergence of Antrim has levelled off the field even more.”
Fermanagh (and Wicklow in Leinster) are the only county never to win a provincial championship and may have lost some ground but will fancy their chances against Cavan on June 12th. The winners of that will play Armagh, Derry or Monaghan on June 27th, and by then one of those teams could be feeling the pressure. Whoever survives over the next nine weeks, starting in Celtic Park this Sunday with Derry against Armagh, and finishing with the Ulster final on July 18th, possibly in Croke Park, will surely have proven themselves the fittest.
