Mickey Harte denies stopping players conducting RTÉ interviews

Mickey Harte has told the Tyrone County Board that he is not stopping any of his players conducting interviews with RTÉ.

The Tyrone manager was asked to meet members of the county’s management committee on Tuesday night to clarify his position with regard to the ongoing lack of co-operation with the national broadcaster.

The move came after RTÉ were unsuccessful in obtaining post-match interviews after Tyrone’s three games in this season’s Allianz Football League Division 1.

Harte met with the county’s top administrators in Garvaghey and said he is not stopping any of his squad from speaking to the station.

It’s understood new correspondence from team sponsors McAleer and Rushe, seeking clarification on protocols relating to the team’s dealings with the media, was discussed at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Harte’s clarification was subsequently relayed to a full meeting of the county board.

“Discussions are ongoing regarding media relations with all outlets,” said a Tyrone spokesman yesterday.

Tyrone’s lack of co-operation with RTÉ stretches back to 2011 when details of a letter sent by Harte to Montrose were leaked to the press. RTÉ were subsequently forced to issue a public apology over a very insensitive sketch on a radio programme.

Neither Harte nor his players have done interviews with the station since, although former Tyrone All-Ireland winners such as Philip Jordan, Owen Mulligan and Ryan McMenamin have appeared on ‘The Sunday Game’.

There were indications a breakthrough had been made between RTÉ and Tyrone after Christmas when it was suggested the county’s players would be conducting post-match interviews with the station. However this appears not be the case.

Previous Tyrone sponsor Largo Foods chose not to take up an option of a third year’s association with the Red Hands in 2015.

Meanwhile, former Tipperary player and manager Ken Hogan said that the legendary goalkeeper Tony Reddin had left a hurling legacy in three counties in different provinces.

Hogan, who followed in Reddin’s footsteps by becoming Lorrha goalkeeper and then winning All-Irelands with Tipperary, was speaking at the funeral mass for the 95-year old in Banagher in Co Offaly yesterday.

Reddin, a native of Mullagh in Co. Galway, was selected as the goalkeeper on the GAA’s ‘Team of the Century’ in 1984 and again on the Team of the Millennium.

Hogan noted that Reddin only made his senior debut for Tipperary when he was 30 and yet went on to win three All-Ireland medals, five league titles and five Railway Cup successes.

He told the packed congregation at St Ryangh’s Church in Banagher yesterday that it was none of these medals which took pride of place in his house in the Offaly town.

“When you went into Tony’s house you were brought into this little museum of medals, trophies and awards but his greatest award in his opinion and the medal he most cherished was an U14 medal he won with Mullagh in Galway in 1933.

“In 1947 played his first match for Lorrha and in 1948 he won a North Tipp when he defied all of Borrisoleigh when Lorrha won by 4-7 to 0-18. In 1949 he played his first game for Tipperary at the age of 30 and he went on to win three All-Irelands in a row.

Reddin moved the short distance away to Banagher in Co Offaly where he and his wife Maura raised their nine children. The legendary goalkeeper became involved in coaching and helped St Rynagh’s become a powerhouse of Offaly hurling.