‘Foxes’ in trouble as RTÉ hounds get scent of blood

In Derry, we don’t like Tyrone very much. That’s just the way it is. A friend of mine is a good example. On a Wednesday night back in March, when he learned that the Tyrone U21s had been dumped out of the Ulster championship, he sent me the following text message. “Tyrone 1-6 Donegal 1-15 — and the Tyrone U21s were out three nights a week since October!”

His joy at Tyrone’s defeat was obvious. On one occasion I challenged my friend about his antipathy towards our neighbours. I made the point that it was a sad situation when he was getting his kicks from Tyrone losing rather than Derry winning.

He offered no argument. His only response being: “My Da was worse.”

Considering the deep-seated rivalry between the counties, it requires a pretty serious injustice before Derry fans start feeling any sympathy for their neighbours.

Yet, that’s precisely what happened on Saturday. RTÉ’s coverage of the game between Tyrone and Monaghan made uncomfortable viewing. Long before Joe Brolly’s tirade, the incessant stream of anti-Tyrone comments created a very distorted picture of the game.

For me, it all started with the foxes. Yet again, Brolly is to blame. At half-time he said Tyrone were “as cute as foxes”.

Martin Carney, the match co-commentator picked up on this theme. For the score which put Tyrone a point up with five minutes to go, Conor Gormley delivered a precision pass to Ronan O’Neill. It was a superb play. But how did Carney praise Gormley’s vision and composure under pressure? Well, he called him an “old fox”.

And later when Tommy Freeman pushed Gormley and conceded a free, Carney observed that the Tyrone man was “as cute as a pet fox”.

All the foxes in Croke Park on Saturday seemed to come from Tyrone. Match commentator Ger Canning also get in on the act.When Dick Clerkin picked the ball off the ground in the 69th minute, he announced: “Tyrone — cute as foxes”. I’m still trying to figure that one out.

Naturally enough, if viewers are informed repeatedly that Mr Fox is wearing a red jersey, the implication is clear — Tyrone are sly, cunning and devious.

Monaghan, we were led to believe, were the unsuspecting, defenceless chickens. That’s right. Monaghan. Poor, sweet, innocent Monaghan. It’s funny just saying it.

However, Tyrone fans wouldn’t have been laughing. At half-time Colm O’Rourke revealed that their team “have been very good at winding up Monaghan in the past and Monaghan’s discipline has always been suspect”.

To back up his claim, Colm failed to produce one shred of evidence. This scatter-gun opinion service continued after the break.

When Seán Cavanagh stopped Conor McManus from scoring a goal by hauling him to the ground, Martin Carney chose to advertise his version of the rule book: “To me, that is a red card offence,” he said in total contradiction of the Official Guide.

But Ger Canning liked the sound of Carney’s new rule. He said: “The very least he deserved was a yellow and most probably a red.”

At full-time, I received a text from my friend. It said: “The anti-Tyrone agenda being pedalled by RTÉ is a joke.” I couldn’t disagree with him.But it got worse.

Following a match which produced one notable act of cynicism, O’Rourke said: “I know there is a side to Tyrone which is quite unpalatable and we saw plenty of evidence there in the second half with a lot of the cynical fouling.”

Again, Colm didn’t actually highlight any of these multiple fouls, and he made no mention of any of the fouls committed by Monaghan.

Host Michael Lyster appeared to agree with the sentiments expressed by the Meath man. Addressing Brolly, he said: “As Colm says, to those watching at home, some of the fouling is unpalatable.”

Then, we all know what happened after that. Strangely, Joe’s diatribe managed to have a perverse effect on the debate.

He was so extreme, and the insult he directed at Cavanagh was so over the top the rest of the panel felt obliged to restore some balance to the discussion. Suddenly O’Rourke reckoned that Tyrone’s tactics made a lot of sense.

“There is no other team in the country, and no other team in the past that would have allowed Conor McManus to solo through and kick the ball into the back of the net,” he said.

“Did I see a really cynical game of football? Did I see something that was really rotten today that I haven’t seen all year? No, I didn’t,” said Pat Spillane.

If Mickey Harte plans to keep managing the Red Hands, he may have to reconsider Tyrone’s boycott of RTÉ. As an individual, Mickey is perfectly entitled to maintain his silence, but there might be some merit in appointing a spokesman for post-match interviews.

In the absence of any form of a counter-argument from Tyrone, the nation is being presented with a very lopsided view of games. There seems to be one standard for Tyrone and another for everyone else.

In the 71st minute of Sunday’s first quarter-final, Cavan’s Niall McDermott tried to skip past Peter Crowley from Kerry. Had he got round the Kerry defender, McDermott could have scored a goal. Crowley fouled him immediately and conceded a 13m free-kick.

“I don’t think it was cynical,” said TV3’s co-commentator Senan O’Connell.

“If McDermott had come inside him, he would have had a clear shot, so he had to foul him.”

There was certainly no talk of a red card. Even the foxes failed to get a mention.