Jordan’s hunt for Red Hand glory days

THERE were doubts. Of course, there were doubts. There couldn’t but be. Over the past two faltering seasons, there was no money-back guarantee, no assurance that the glory days of 2003 and 2005 would ever return.

And now that they are on the verge, brilliant wing-back Philip Jordan – veteran of the two All-Ireland wins – appreciates the opportunity.

“There were times this year when I didn’t think we were ever going to come back. When Down beat us in the Ulster championship, there weren’t too many saying we were going to win the All-Ireland. Now we are back in the final, and we have a 50-50 chance. But you doubt yourself when you’re not producing the big performances,” he says.

“You start to worry if the best days are behind you, but thankfully we’ve started to produce a couple of big days. Yet if we lose the final, people will say our best days are gone as well.”

Was it a lack of hunger that brought about the down-time? Given the almost manic nature of their play, the incessant support play, the relentless commitment to the next tackle, it is easy to conclude that when their levels of intensity drop, even just a tad, the result is a vastly inferior display. Was it this that reduced them to mere mortals in the 2006 and 2007 seasons?

“There are always some question-marks when you’ve won a couple of All-Irelands. If Kerry lose the final, people will say they weren’t hungry enough. But it’s a simple kind of way to look at football, to say that one team was hungrier than another,” explains the long-striding defender who plays in attack for his club Moy.

“I don’t think we were any hungrier than Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final, or that we were any hungrier than Wexford. On the day, we happened to produce a performance. Maybe coming down to the last five or ten minutes, it might matter then.”

Earlier this year, as Tyrone looked destined for another bum-note of a season, the murmur of discontent among supporters with Mickey Harte threatened to reach critical mass. Jordan saw deeper than most into the heart of the criticism.

“When you look at the talent in our squad,” he says, “we believe we are capable of winning the All-Ireland every year. We demand that of ourselves. If we lose to Kerry, we will look upon our season as a failure. You can’t blame the supporters for having the same expectations as we do. Mickey comes up with new things every year. People talk about same-voice-syndrome, but I don’t believe in that. Everybody plays for Mickey, and Mickey is delighted to have us too.

“Tyrone hadn’t won an All-Ireland before 2003, and since then we have won two. Supporters have come to expect All-Ireland finals at this stage. It’s a sign of how far we’ve come that people start to question.”

This year’s journey took a while to get up and running. In fact, he doesn’t recall ever being in a dressing room as “depressed” as Tyrone’s after the Ulster championship replay defeat this year. And now, as he reflects on the year to date, Jordan knows an already precarious season could have come tumbling down entirely if Dessie Dolan had snatched a late goal chance for Westmeath in their Omagh qualifier. Dolan shot wide in a game turned on its head by two Westmeath sendings-off – Damien Healy and Doran Harte – inside a minute.

“The sendings-off seemed to affect us more than they did Westmeath. When you are not getting those scores, you are open to a sucker-punch,” he says.

“If Dessie had put that ball in the back of the net, it could have been the end of our season. We probably saw that in the Mayo game as well. In the last ten minutes we were holding on for dear life. But we got through it without playing well, and thankfully we have been able to produce some good football since.”

And, so, to Kerry. Tyrone’s rap sheet impresses. Jordan doesn’t dwell on it, but, surely by design rather than by accident, he is another Tyrone player happy to repeat the key statistic all the same.

“It’s the thing everybody’s going to write about, Kerry going for a three-in-a-row, and they haven’t been able to beat us,” he says.

“But, we know that all we have to be is the best team in 2008, and that’s what the final comes down to. Nobody wants to see any football team dominating championships.

“I’m sure the hurling counties are saying they don’t want to see Kilkenny dominating. But it’s up to us on the day to produce a performance and hopefully it will be good enough. Kerry are going for three because they are a great tam. It’s as simple as that. We weren’t good enough in those years. They won the All-Irelands because they deserved them.”

KERRY subs: K Cremin (Dr Crokes), T Griffin (Dingle), S O’Sullivan (Cromane), D O’Sullivan (Glenbeigh/Glencar), M Quirke (Kerins O’Rahillys), D Walsh (Cromane), D Bohan (Austin Stacks), MF Russell (Laune Rangers), R Ó Flatharta (An Ghaeltacht), P O’Connor (Kenmare), K O’Leary (Dr Crokes), D Moran (Kerins O’Rahillys), P Galvin (Finuge), A Maher (Duagh), P Corridan (Finuge), M Moloney ((Dr Crokes), K Quirke (Duagh), A O’Shea (Glenbeigh/Glencar).

TYRONE subs: P McConnell (Newtownstewart), D Carlin (Killyclogher), C Cavanagh Moy P Donnelly (Coalisland), N Gormley (Trillick), K Hughes (Killeeshil), C McCarron (Dromore), D McCaul (Donaghmore), M McGee (Loughmacrory), R Mellon (Moy), R Mulgrew (Cookstown), O Mulligan (Cookstown), S O’Neill (Dromore), M Penrose (Aghyaran), P J Quinn (Moortown).