Tyrone report rekindles Kerry rivalry

Tyrone secretary Dominic McCaughey stoked the flames of the county’s rivalry with Kerry in his annual report.

The Red Hand official expressed shock at some of the Kerry players’ elation following their third-round qualifier victory over Mickey Harte’s side in Killarney last July.

Without mentioning Paul Galvin, McCaughey made reference to the former footballer of the year’s emotional post-match interview with TV3, while making cryptic comments about Kerry’s on-field behaviour.

“This game provided Kerry with the opportunity to exact revenge for defeats which many of its supporters and players had found it difficult to cope with,” he wrote.

“Before a massive attendance — for a qualifier — of over 24,000 patrons, the players in green and gold showed that they would not be accepting a fourth championship defeat by the Red Hand county.

“Their desire to win was exemplified by urgency, intensity, skill, physicality and some other features not normally associated with Kerry players.

“Their ease of victory was accommodated by an out-of-sorts Tyrone side that failed to develop any fluency or pattern to its play, accompanied by a blunt forward division that could only manage a single point from play.

“In addition, both players and management were deeply frustrated by what they considered inadequate refereeing that lacked consistency and included some serious errors. When the final whistle sounded, Kerry had a 10-point winning margin that was greeted, amazingly, with tears of joy by some players and wild scenes of jubilation among highly vociferous supporters.”

RTÉ come in for heavy criticism from both McCaughey and county PRO Damian Harvey with the former suggesting the station’s Liveline programme may have prejudiced Tyrone club Derrytresk in their disciplinary case following the ugly All-Ireland club JFC semi-final against Dromid Pearses in January.

Arising from the Portlaoise game, Derrytresk had seven players suspended, received a €2,500 fine (after appeal) and were banned from representing Tyrone for five years.

“The Derrytresk players and officials accepted that they were to blame for some of the misbehaviour that occurred on the pitch and met the charges laid before them in a responsible manner, with the inevitable outcome of lengthy suspensions being imposed,” McCaughey stated.

“However, the club was deeply disappointed that others who were involved in the fracas that took place were not dealt with in a similar manner. It was felt that some sections of the media took a less than impartial view of the acts of indiscipline in Portlaoise, with one broadcasting company even devoting part of a live phone-in programme to the junior championship game, which may well have jeopardised the club’s right to a fair disciplinary hearing.”

Meanwhile, Harvey confirmed nobody from Harte’s team or management has any inclination of cooperating with RTÉ until the national broadcasters talk to Harte. Their decision dates back to a segment on RTÉ Radio One’s The John Murray Show six months after the murder of Harte’s daughter Michaela last year, a comedy sketch which RTÉ have insisted they apologised for. “My opinion as of 12 months ago is the decision not to communicate with RTÉ should remain the prerogative of the Tyrone senior football management team and players until RTÉ as an organisation take responsibility and have the decency to speak to Mickey Harte directly.”