‘It’s about being a winner at any cost’
ITS two years since Tyrone’s senior footballers last shared a pitch with Cork. The one championship meeting between the counties was back in the dog-eared days of 1973 and yet they will be anything but perfect strangers on Sunday.
For six straight years between 2002 and 2007 the two counties met regular as clockwork in the top tier of the NFL so there won’t be any need for introductions when they take their places for the All-Ireland semi-final.
With three wins two defeats and a draw behind them, Tyrone have just about edged the head-to-head this decade but their last memory of the Munster side is a painful one: an eight-point defeat at Páirc Uí Rinn.
Mickey Harte described it afterwards as a “hammering” and “the most comprehensive defeat I’ve had to endure” as manager of Tyrone. Conor Gormley remembers that Saturday evening well too.
“It sticks in the mind. They gave us a bit of a going over that evening and the thing is they have added a few players since then too. You would have to say they are a better side than they were then.
“They have been through a lot. They are under the new management now and they had all the hassle with the strike and all the other goings on. They seem to have turned the corner since. They have turned out to be a very strong, powerful, mobile team, one to be reckoned with. They have been there or thereabouts down the years. They have just been unfortunate to meet an on-form Kerry on a couple of occasions, including one final.”
Tyrone may be the barometer for every other aspiring side in recent times but Cork’s impressive dismissal of Kerry in Munster earlier this summer solidified the opinion that here was the prototype modern team.
Powerfully built, tall, strong and skilful, all the pieces seemed to fit into place against an admittedly disappointing Donegal in the All-Ireland quarter-final. Naturally enough for a defender, Gormley was particularly interested in their forwards.
Donegal’s Karl Lacey has spoken since about how they had prepared for an aerial bombardment only to be infiltrated by Cork’s runners from deep instead and Tyrone will have taken note.
“I would say they have a couple of strings to their bow,” said Gormley. “You just have to look at the quality of some of their players, the likes of Nicholas Murphy and Graham Canty. Those guys are well able to come at you either way.
“They have the option of throwing big Michael Cussen in at full-forward as well. That’s a lot of avenues they can go down. Hopefully we will be able to cope with whatever they throw at us.”
The garlands have been tossed in both directions this week and with good cause.
While Cork have served notice of their intent with tour de force displays against Kerry and Donegal, Tyrone have been more clinical.
Harte’s side are the only one of the four semi-finalists to have navigated this far without what could be labelled a hiccup. Kerry had Cork, Meath had Dublin and even Cork themselves had that fright against Limerick.
The one time Tyrone found themselves staring down the barrel was in trailing Kildare by four points at half-time and their response that day in eliminating that deficit within six minutes spoke volumes. Especially for a side chasing back-to-back titles.
“I play with a guy for the club who has five county medals and he keeps saying to me that they mean nothing to him, that he just wants to win the next one,” said Carrickmore man Gormley.
“That’s probably what we are about with Tyrone, to win more titles and medals. It is about being a winner at any cost, giving your all every match. To be that number one drives us on.”
Gormley is clearly as thirsty for success as he was when he made ‘The Block’ on Armagh’s Stephen McDonnell during the closing stages of the 2003 All-Ireland final, and he isn’t the only one.
MUCH HAS been made of Kerry’s push to reach six consecutive All-Ireland finals – and rightly so – but the longevity and hunger evident in Tyrone’s ranks is no less astounding despite all their success.
Nine of the side that featured last time against Kildare were on the 2000 or 2001 All-Ireland U21 winning teams, and half a dozen more from that era’s vintage were left to warm the bench in Croke Park late last month.
Over a dozen of the current panel have All-Ireland minor medals from 1998 and 2001 as well. All told, Tyrone have reaped an amazing bounty from that era of underage success and the dividends keep coming.
“A lot of the credit for that has to go to Mickey Harte,” offers Gormley. “There are a good few guys there who were playing senior as far back as 2000 as well so Mickey has done a great job to keep driving boys, keep the hunger there.
“A lot of the players are very friendly. We are almost like brothers. We have good craic. We all know each other inside out at this stage. We just want to be a part of that winning team every year.”
Those years of common service, as well as Harte’s ever-present guidance, have allowed Tyrone to create what county chairman Pat Darcy has described as “a new awareness of strategy, tactics and approach”.
The fluidity of Tyrone’s thinking is most evident from their disregard for the numbers of their backs. Think of Joe McMahon’s switch from wing-forward to full-back for last year’s All-Ireland final.
It manifests itself all over the pitch. Gormley himself has pitched tent all over the defensive line as well as in midfield, Ryan McMenamin has become an auxiliary attacker and Sean Cavanagh’s position tends to be a moveable feast.
Gormley attributes that to a number of reasons: player quality, desperation for a jersey, any jersey and the faith which Harte places in his players.
“Our tactics probably have stepped up a level from a few years ago. There is a lot of work done behind the scenes. I think, as a squad, we are very experienced.
“We seem to be able to adapt to situations without Mickey’s prompting from the sideline. Having that experience means that any man can step out and do something.”
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