Return of a man called Horse
Simply ask Gavin Devlin. He lives with the rivalry every day. Each morning, as he walks into his cousin’s construction company in the Armagh town of Maghery, there are yet more Tyrone jokes, yet more jibes about what might go wrong tomorrow.
“Ah, it’s all a bit of fun. It would be worse if we weren’t in the final and I had to go to work and listen to all these Armagh lads talk about going down to Croke Park for the Ulster final. And that happened last year and nearly happened again this year.”
Last summer was a forgettable enough affair for Devlin and his team-mates. Looking back now, it is easy to see the team were simply not at the emotional pitch to make a decent defence of their All-Ireland title (although they did reach the quarter-final in the shadow of Cormac McAnallen’s death).
Before all that, there was the small matter of the dream Ulster final. A rush of blood to some officials’ heads meant they pre-emptively decided Croker was the only arena befitting Armagh and Tyrone. Fair enough, except Tyrone had yet to qualify for the Ulster final.
Ambushed by Donegal, they had to wait a year for the dream decider.
And now it’s here, Devlin has noticed a slight change in temperature.
Anticipation is a little grounded.
Usually, the meeting of Armagh and Tyrone on any stage is a cause for hype. The customary hysteria has been strangely absent the last couple of weeks. Of course, it could all be just the calm before the raging storm.
“I don’t know what it is. I mean, round here, the banter is good, but there isn’t the hype you would expect, certainly nothing like the hype for the All-Ireland final a couple of years ago. Maybe, it is because we were meant to meet so often since then. We were meant to meet in last year’s Ulster final, didn’t happen, meant to meet in this year’s league final. Didn’t happen. So maybe people are just waiting until Sunday to make sure it is going to happen.”
Devlin has relinquished the captaincy to Brian Dooher, something he is glad of. Not that he minded being skipper, great honour and all that, but Devlin isn’t one of the most vocal. With Dooher back from injury, he can concentrate on ensuring all runs smoothly at the apex of Tyrone’s defence.
“It was a proud moment to lead the team out for an Ulster championship game, but leading up to that game, I didn’t want to do it. All I wanted was for the team to win and that meant the team needed Brian Dooher because Tyrone are always more likely to win a game when he is playing.”
Devlin’s evolution as Tyrone’s centre-back has been so steady, that it has been barely noted by supporters.
Like all good defenders, they only notice him when he’s not there, like last year’s defeat in the Ulster semi-final. Horse, as they call him in Tyrone, is the type of steady presence most managers wish their centre-half to be (although some might argue his role is more of a sweeper, a la Kieran McGeeney).
Certainly, the last time he trod out on the sacred sod wasn’t a memorable occasion. Ciaran McDonald was performing at a higher level that afternoon, and Devlin was taken through the mincer.
This is Tyrone’s first game back since that meek surrender and Devlin is eager to put things right.
“Our last visit wasn’t a great one. Losing to Mayo that day was a real low point in my career. We have had some good memories of Croke Park, but that wasn’t one of them. We didn’t even put up a fight.”
Fighting spirit. It is one of the hallmarks of this Tyrone side, although many neutrals hope that the two teams won’t take a literal meaning of that phrase tomorrow. After all, it’s been another summer to criticise Ulster football, occasionally quite correctly, about the attritional nature of their battles.
“People talk that it might be a rough game and they use 2003 as their evidence of that. But the stakes were so high that day, it was only natural. Look at the two games in 2002, they were excellent games and most of the games these teams have played have been played in a great spirit.”
Mickey Harte said during the week that this match was primarily about bragging rights. However, if Tyrone want to brag, they will need to improve on current performances. Even their scoring spree against Cavan was aided and abetted by the ineptness of the Breffini challenge.
“We know we haven’t been performing to the standard that we should be, I don’t know the reason for that,” said Devlin.
“Any performance we have produced so far this year won’t be enough to beat Armagh. We need to discover a big performance from somewhere, everyone needs to play. We need to perform like we haven’t since we won the All-Ireland.”
Armagh have squeezed into another Ulster final, their fifth in seven years, without the likes of Steven McDonnell or Oisin McConville lighting their path.
“It’s a bit frightening when you think about the players that haven’t played that well for Armagh in the Ulster championship and they are still in an Ulster final,” said Devlin. “Oisin and Steven, on any given day, can win games for you and maybe we are about to feel their backlash.”
It will be interesting to see what role Devlin takes up tomorrow. Armagh have recalled Tony McEntee and even though the Crossmaglen man is ostensibly replacing his twin John at centre-forward, most expect him to trail Brian McGuigan’s runs at centre-forward for Tyrone.
So, Devlin might be left without someone to mark for a large part of the game, a strange situation but one that suits his game. He is more of a sweeper than a conventional centre-back, at any rate.
“I don’t know. I am sure there will be a lot of tactical changes, before and during the game. All I am concentrating on is winning and bringing this Tyrone team back to where they should be. But it’s going to take a massive effort from everyone.”
