Northern football no longer in the shade
It was indicated by the fact that, after Down won their third title in 1968, no other team from the province won the Sam Maguire Cup until they themselves reclaimed it in 1991. In between, only Armagh (in 1977) and Tyrone (1986) made it to the final. But, Down's triumph was followed by the historic breakthroughs of Donegal and Derry in consecutive years before the Mourne county captured a fifth title. One year later Tyrone were back again only to lose by a point in controversial circumstances to Dublin while Armagh's long wait ended 12 months ago.
Ulster Council secretary Danny Murphy says he felt reasonably confident in the mid-eighties that a change was coming. "Monaghan in '85 weren't that far away. They took Kerry to a draw in the semi-final. Maybe Tyrone should have won an All-Ireland the following year, but from there on it was just a case of who was going to make the breakthrough. I was glad that as county chairman at the time it was Down.
"From '91 onwards there has been a belief in Ulster football and whoever comes down from the North now is coming with intentions to win. We're very balanced at the moment, with maybe more teams that are capable of doing it than we have ever had in our history before. We have had three teams in the All-Ireland semi-finals and probably another two or three teams who would fancy their chances. It's been an exciting year for Ulster and promises to be a fairly exciting Ulster championship in 2004."
Murphy is dismissive of the notion that there could be crowd problems at Sunday's game because of the intense rivalry between the counties. That rivalry, he suggests, is no different to what it is in Munster between Cork and Kerry, or between Dublin and Meath in Leinster.
"I don't think there is any prospect of that rivalry spilling over. If you want to see where the real rivalry is, you go to a place like Charlemont (in Armagh), on the Blackwater river and Moy, Co. Tyrone, which is on the other side of the bridge. The villages on both sides are bedecked in their county colours. But, interspersed through the houses you will see the opposition. I saw an interview recently between the chairman of the Moy club and Collegelands, which is the Charlemont club, and they were talking about the fact that the cars the supporters will be travelling in will be 'two and two'.
"There'll be a rivalry all right, but I don't think there is any prospect among the GAA people in Armagh or Tyrone of having any difficulties.
"As far as I can detect, everyone in Tyrone and Armagh is coming to Dublin for the week-end. They are not just coming for Sunday. They're going for what will be a great occasion and neither can contemplate losing."
Criticism of Tyrone tactics is unjustified, he feels, saying they are being accused of something that would probably be every team manager's 'ideal,' to get a team to defend when they don't have the ball.
"In that regard you can't fault them. They get men behind the ball, but I would say at this moment in time they are probably the top scoring team in the championship. And, they didn't get that by being negative. They have wonderful forwards, they have a tremendous defence and I think the move of Cormac McAnallen to full-back has been a great success. He has probably been full-back of the year.
"Coming into the championship last year as National League champions, I think the loss to Armagh damaged their confidence. This year they came out and retained the National League and set their ambition to win the Ulster championship. They had no other talk other than doing that.
"They came close to losing it against Down, but the way they went about the replay, really Down were blown away after 15 minutes.
"I honestly believe that Tyrone have learned a lot since last year. They have grown in confidence and stature and if they don't win this year, it's not going to be long."
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
