Stevie well used to battle scars

WITH it’s bumper menu of training sessions, weekly fixtures and shrinking downtime, the All-Ireland qualifiers don’t normally offer much scope for reflection.

However, Stevie McDonnell has been scooting along memory lane this past few weeks.

Last Saturday, his latest championship chapter took him on the three-hour road trip from Armagh to Aughrim for the first time since 2002 when Joe Kernan’s all-conquering crew earned a three-point win in the old Division 2A of the NFL.

Another old, almost forgotten haunt awaits him today.

McDonnell hasn’t played a game in Omagh’s Healy Park in eight years.

His last visit was an afternoon that most people have long forgotten, one that seems to blur into insignificance beside the All-Ireland which the two neighbours would contest that September, but McDonnell remembers it well.

Armagh crossed the border that time at the absolute zenith of the county’s powers. Six months had passed since Kerry were beaten and Sam was claimed for the first time in their history and were in confident mood as the season began.

“They were actually the first team to beat us up there after we won the All-Ireland,” says McDonnell whose facility for dates and venues is astounding given his length of service with the county.

“I remember we won four league games in-a-row and on that occasion Tyrone were certainly well pumped up.

“They were the first team not to give us a standing ovation coming out onto the pitch and it (that attitude) is going to be no different this time.

“ Tyrone are going to be pumped up for this match. It is a game we are all looking forward to, to see where we are as a team, and we’ll be going out hoping we can give a good performance.”

Everything good that Armagh did that season was poisoned by Tyrone. Kernan’s side followed their Omagh loss with another two in the league stages, a semi-final defeat to Laois and an Ulster Championship preliminary round loss to Monaghan.

The qualifier draw offered them the means to recalibrate. Waterford, Antrim and Limerick were dealt with comfortably and the champions had enough wind in their sails to see off Laois and Donegal in the All-Ireland series before Tyrone defeated them in the final.

That was merely the start of a symbiotic relationship that would continue for the next half a dozen seasons.

Armagh went on to claim primacy in Ulster while Tyrone tended to reserve their best for Croke Park.

The entire era was distilled into their three-game series in 2005 when the pair fought out a draw in the Ulster final, Armagh squeaked the replay by two points and Tyrone had half that to spare in an All-Ireland semi-final at HQ.

“Ourselves and Tyrone at that stage were one of the top three teams in the country along with Kerry and we were dominating Ulster, regularly competing in the semi-finals and finals of the All-Ireland as well.

“They were certainly fantastic occasions but every Armagh-Tyrone match is a big occasion and it will be no different next week.”

Qualifiers a winner with McDonnell

THE considered opinion in recent weeks is that the All-Ireland qualifiers have saved what had been until then a rather mundane All-Ireland Championship.

Critics of the back door have complained that it has diluted the provincial championships and there is no denying but that the do-or-die nature of the shadow championship with its big Saturday night fixtures across the country has touched a nerve.

“I enjoy it,” says McDonnell. “I wasn’t a big fan of it when it was brought in but what you see now is more teams going out to attack and looking to put scores up on the board, which is coming away from the negative and defensive football played over the last few years.”