Spectre of Tyrone still hangs over the Kingdom

IF YOU want proof of how Tyrone have disturbed the Kerry psyche, consider the last words Dara Ó Cinnéide said to me earlier this year.

We were standing at a junction in Cork city. The discussion was naturally about football. All the focus was on Kerry and Cork. Just as he was about to go, though, Ó Cinnéide brought up Tyrone. I expressed my surprise that he still felt the Red Hands posed a threat. After all, everyone else was dismissing their chances.

But like many Kerrymen, it seems Ó Cinnéide’s preoccupation with the Kingdom’s nemesis was summed up when after walking off, he turned and said: “They are the ghost that will not go away”.