A game football needs; a victory Tyrone desires

Let’s not change the rules – let’s pit together two evenly-matched teams in front of a huge crowd in a provincial final with the outcome firmly in the balance. Well, in Ulster we have again been able to deliver in this regard.

Ulster final day in Clones has managed to eclipse all other provincial finals in both hurling and football. Being number one brings its own glare, its own spotlight. For good or bad, there will be a huge focus on the 2016 Ulster final. While people take out their calculators to try and figure out how much Dublin will tank Westmeath by in Leinster, the questions in Ulster are altogether different.

Dublin apart, Tyrone are the in-form team in the country, McKenna Cup and Division 2 taken care of, unbeaten and growing in confidence with every waking hour. When David Moyes took charge of Manchester United after Alex Ferguson retired, United lost their aura, their invincibility disappeared and they became as fallible as the next. In the last six or seven years, Tyrone became fallible, eminently beatable and, boy, did their rivals feed on that carcass. Tyrone’s decline was steady rather than rapid and their rise has developed likewise.