I didn’t plan to take winning free: Canavan

PETER CANAVAN confirmed yesterday that he had not originally intended to take the free-kick which gave Tyrone their victory over Armagh in such dramatic fashion in Sunday’s All-Ireland football semi-final.

He expressed confidence that his former pupil Owen Mulligan, better known among the squad as ‘Mugsy,’ would have put the ball over the bar just as he did if he had taken the kick.

“Just before that a few of the fellows said that I should take it.

“I would have been just as happy to see Mugsy take it and I have no doubt he would have scored. I was just glad that it went over,’’ he commented.

Canavan, back at school after one of his most exciting days in Croke Park, reflected on what for him as been a “roller-coaster” of a season, between “mishaps” and injury.

“It was very disappointing not to get to play against Dublin the week before in the replay. To play in front of 80,000, with such a great atmosphere, would have been great.

“I was just delighted to get on against Armagh. And to come off at the end with a victory and qualify for the All-Ireland final was a great feeling.’’

He regarded their display on Sunday as the poorest of their three meetings with Armagh, explaining: “I thought we made a lot of ball-handling errors and Armagh won a lot more possession than us. But for a change, we got the rub of the green.’’

While he didn’t view their victory as ‘payback time,’ Canavan agreed that the

Tyrone players were given a great incentive to win after what happened in the Ulster final.

“Circumstances conspired to work against us in the replay. Nobody could have planned for what happened, or explain what happened that day,’’ he said.

“We had no problem getting motivated.’’