Tyrone's talent for reinvention is the key to their success. Regardless of how big their clubs are, players are allowed to flourish at a higher level, writes KEITH DUGGAN
LAST OCTOBER, Colm McCullagh scored a penalty in injury-time of the Tyrone senior club final which gave his club, Dromore, their second county title in three years. It was an audacious finish to what had been a thrilling match. Ardboe, their opponents, transformed a five-point half-time deficit into a two-point lead after playing some wonderful football. But McCullagh’s late spot-kick was a fatal blow.
A club that had been formed in 1933 and had never won a Tyrone championship before 2007 now had two in the space of three years. In 2008, they lost the final after extra-time to Clonoe O’Rahilly’s, a club that had returned from a long period of ordinariness to claim a championship out of the blue.
But Dromore’s rise is indicative of the democratic nature of Tyrone football. The county has its big clubs but no one team has defined the county in the way that Crossmaglen came to be the standard bearer for Armagh football.
“Carrickmore was our bug bear very often,” says John McCusker, the former club manager whose associations with Tyrone football dates back to 1967, when he coached the All-Ireland schools’ vocational winning team with Art McRory. “Until last year, we had never beaten Carrickmore in a championship match. That was a big thing. Club football in Tyrone is very, very competitive. I wouldn’t say, despite the three All-Irelands for Tyrone, that it is of a particularly high standard.
“I suppose it would have been dominated to some extent by Errigal Ciarán after their reformation and obviously Carrickmore. Both of those clubs would be pulling from a massive reservoir of people in comparison to ourselves. But there is a good spread. We would be in the Fermanagh corner of the county – three of the neighbouring parishes are actually in Fermanagh. There is no question that the influence of our county players has helped to bring the senior team along. But that is mainly because they have been such tremendous club men. Ryan McMenamin has been coaching under-age for years and would still drive down from Belfast a couple of times a week to take training.”
Dromore have five players on the Tyrone senior squad. It had been six but Eoin McCusker withdrew after the league. The club held an anniversary dinner in the Great Northern Hotel in Bundoran recently and John McCusker recalled turning 70 in June of 2003: “I said that night that if someone had told me then that I would see Tyrone win three All-Irelands and Dromore win two championships, I would have taken it. It has been tremendous.”
Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that it has been achieved by drawing on the resources of such a wide range of clubs.There is no perpetually giant club in Tyrone. Instead, clubs tend to have their shining periods before retreating again.
In the hey-day of Peter Canavan, it was Errigal Ciarán. In the 1970’s the scintillating gifts of Frank McGuigan helped to bring three titles in a row to Ardboe. Four of McGuigan’s sons scored in that county final last October but the club have not won a senior title since 1998.
Carrickmore are the heavyweight name in the county but they have not won a title since 2005. And it is not simply about clubs competing for local glory. Seán Cavanagh is one of the most original and complete football players that the modern game has known and his club Moy have also produced three time All Star Philip Jordan and double All-Ireland winners Ryan Mellon and Colm Cavanagh. It is likely that all four will start for Tyrone this summer.
Yet Moy have not won a Tyrone senior final since their only victory, the 1919-’20 season and have not made an appearance in a Tyrone final since 1961. Clann na Gael’s most famous sons are Brian Dooher and Stephen O’Neill, both of whom have returned to the Tyrone panel after a spring absence.
O’Neill, famously, returned after much persuasion to the Tyrone panel during the tumultuous summer of 2008, which began with an Ulster final loss to Down and ended with an All-Ireland. O’Neill made an appearance in the All-Ireland final win over Kerry but was visibly unhappy with his contribution afterwards, despite setting up the game-changing goal for Kevin Hughes. An All Star in 2001 and footballer of the year in 2005, he has been plagued by injuries in recent years and spent the last few months recovering from a dislocated elbow. But he contributed six points for his club in a recent league match. Clan na Gael are battling just to survive in their league division.
“He did, he scored six points and it was as if he was never away,” says senior manager Danny Devine. “His first day back the team took an awful trouncing, lost by 15 or 16 points by Pomeroy and he got very little possession so it was good to see him back the last day. Brian has been playing regularly for us throughout the season, he missed only one league game. I think he was the main reason we won the two league games we have. He was his usual self in terms of work rate and creativity and I would expect him to carry that through to Tyrone. Stephen has done an awful lot of work on his own; has been cycling with a group that cycle at a fairly serious level.”
Clann na Gael lost out on senior status in recent years: the common combination of injury and players forced to leave area to find work weakened them. In addition, they were unable to call upon O’Neill and Dooher as much as they would have liked until restrictions on county players lining out for clubs were relaxed.
“For the last four or five years, we got them about five times. It was no fault to the two lads – there was almost a total ban on them playing and we feel that we lost senior status because of those restrictions as well as the other considerations. So they are more crucial than ever and their role in the dressingroom is huge. They have played in the biggest games at a national level and their composure and leadership are vital to us. We are struggling to stave off junior football with two of the best footballers in Ireland. That is just the reality. It is a strong possibility unless we get some of the other guys back again from injury. Right now, it is a struggle. We will have Brian and Stephen for quite a few of the games which will be crucial to our season,” said Devine.
But it is fascinating that Dooher can swap the bread-and-butter fare of scrapping to avoid junior football with his club for the celestial heights he has achieved with Tyrone. Traditionally, Tyrone club football has had its ups and downs. For many years, it was defined by the local argument that split the parishes of Ballygawley and led to the formation of Errigal Ciarán.
There have been several episodes of violence too – even last year, a league final between Carrickmore and Errigal Ciarán produced a retro mass brawl that led to liberal suspensions. But in general the realisation of Tyrone’s long frustrated ambitions on the national stage has had an impact at local level.
“It has indeed,” said Devine. “No one club has dominated. Okay, only three or four clubs have real championship ambitions, it is still very competitive and almost any club can beat the other. But along with the competitive nature, I think it is respectful too now. There is none of ‘lets take this guy out’. The respect for what the county players have achieved is obvious. And team spirit has spread from the county scene through the players to the clubs.”
But the complex, quick-slow style that has seen Tyrone sweep before them on good years is not necessarily a reflection of the inherent style of game within the county.
John McCusker feels that this year’s Dromore team have only recently begun to play the game in a way that is reminiscent of the Tyrone style.
“But why that is I don’t know. In 2007, I felt they were playing the way that Darragh Ó Sé was talking about in his newspaper column this week; that direct, straightforward style.
“Overall, I don’t think there is an over-emphasis on the Tyrone style of game at club football. It is a mixture really. You would see elements of it depending on the club.”
Tyrone’s relegation from Division One in the National League means they are as difficult to read as ever. Are they a busted flush? Hardly. But are they what they were? That is all but impossible to tell. They are bookies favourites to win the province but that may be an indication of the weakening power across Ulster rather than any great faith in Tyrone.
Even if they do win Ulster, Mickey Harte and his squad make little secret of the fact claiming further All-Irelands is their main ambition. Timing has been everything with Tyrone. More than most teams, they need the calibration to be perfect.
They need key players fit and well and synchronised at the right time of the season. Selecting and collecting the brightest and best from across the Tyrone club landscape has been key to this. And so Brian Dooher will be seen on a national stage for the first time this year. Against that Carrickmore’s Conor Gormley, the anchor of the Tyrone defence for most of the decade, is not expected to feature in this All-Ireland campaign and Aidan Cassidy, the highly-regarded young midfielder is out for the foreseeable future with a broken ankle. “He is a big loss,” McCusker says. “Even though he is a comparatively new name to many people, he had started to provide Tyrone with that kind of physical presence that is hard to get in Tyrone.”
Devine is optimistic Tyrone will open their summer with a win in Casement Park and gives them a guarded tip for Ulster, although he admits to feeling worried about the threat Down pose this year.
But Tyrone’s talent for reinvention is the key to their story. They take the best players in the county, regardless of how big or fashionable their club is and they allow give them the licence to flourish on teams capable of defying form and logic. So it is this year.
“There is optimism within the county,” says John McCusker. “And I suppose a lot of that goes back to the scenario in 2008 when they were beaten by Down. It would have been a brave man then who would have thought that Tyrone would go on and win an All-Ireland. But they did.”
Club and county: All-Ireland years
2003Tyrone win All-Ireland for the first time. Killyclogher St Mary's beat Errigal Ciarán to claim a first county senior title.
2004Tyrone exit All-Ireland in quarter final v Mayo. Carrickmore defeat Dromore.
2005Tyrone lose Ulster final and win the All-Ireland. Carrickmore beat Omagh St Enda's to win 15th county title, their last to date.
2006Tyrone beaten in the All-Ireland qualifiers v Laois. Errigal Ciarán defeat Carrickmore to claim their sixth title.
2007Tyrone lose All-Ireland quarter-final to Meath. Dromore defeat Coalisland Fianna to take a first Tyrone senior title.
2008Tyrone beaten by Down in the Ulster championship but win the All-Ireland. Clonoe O'Rahilly's beat Dromore after extra-time to win first title since 1991.
2009: Tyrone lose All-Ireland championship semi-final to Cork. Dromore beat Ardboe to win second county title.
