Declan Bogue: The game’s greatest survivor navigates one more cliff walk

There is a moment at the end of any big, tight game in Croke Park when the whistle blows and you discover that, journalist and all bedamned, your gut tells you how you wanted it to go.

Mon, 13 Aug, 2018 - 07:00

There is a moment at the end of any big, tight game in Croke Park when the whistle blows and you discover that, journalist and all bedamned, your gut tells you how you wanted it to go.

Here, it was just utter devastation for Monaghan.

Only the referee Anthony Nolan can offer an explanation as to why he raised his arm in the air when Rory Beggan’s spinning high ball cast a shadow on Kieran Hughes and Rory Brennan tussling underneath it.

The body signalled a free, but the lungs didn’t expel the breath to blow the whistle. Tyrone survived. Utter despair for Monaghan for sure, but when we examine everything over our coffee this morning, we can only admire the sheer contrariness of the great survivors, led by a manager who knows nothing but clinging on to the cliff edge by his fingernails.

A huge variable head of this game was how the respective camps would cope with the build-up.

Monaghan blinked first by calling a press conference on Tuesday morning. When reporters landed, they were informed that only Malachy O’Rourke was available to talk to. As engaging as O’Rourke was, it was rare in Ulster that such little access would be granted in the lead-in to an All-Ireland semi-final.

Tyrone took an even more extreme approach. At 6.31pm on Tuesday an email dropped into the inboxes of that most unfortunate cross-section of society, GAA journalists, informing them, “It has sadly been decided that it will not be possible to arrange a Press/Media briefing ahead of the Tyrone V. Monaghan Game. Due to the short turnaround, there is no availability to try to factor in such a briefing.”

Somewhat unusual, but Tyrone have felt like a county under siege for some years now. This kind of suspicion has been floating about since they decided to hand out a ‘fact sheet’ disputing several theories in popular currency ahead of their 2013 All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo.

Interesting too, to note the approach of fans. Throughout Tyrone last week, the only sighting of flags were flown from isolated windows in domestic dwellings, or shops hawking their seasonal wares.

Monaghan has been awash with blue and white, through the towns, villages and crossroads. The road down towards Dublin was a corridor of placards from local businesses and clubs wishing the Monaghan lads the best of luck.

In order to escape the hype, Monaghan high-tailed it out of their county on Saturday in a coach bound for the Citywest Hotel. Only problem was, a load of Monaghan fans got wind of it and stood waiting at the flyover outside Castleblayney to cheer their heroes onward.

But, sure what would we know anyway? O’Rourke might also argue that the expectancy was on their shoulders with Kerry coming to Clones, and they had a difficult mission in heading down to Salthill needing themselves some Super 8 points. They have been through the process.

The battle is fought between the lines and in that respect, the questions multiplied the more you considered this game.

Tyrone’s task was framed in a dozen variables. While they expected their opponents could count on a successful strike rate from free kicks from goalkeeper Rory Beggan and Conor McManus, their own return over the past ten years has been among the lowest of the elite teams.

Here, it was actually Tyrone that outshone their rivals from the clutch plays, converting four out of five attempts while Monaghan only managed seven from ten.

Previewing a game of this magnitude always is a guessing game of match-ups, ploys and counter-ploys. But as the first half unfolded you could render all of the talk irrelevant.

Turns out Mickey Harte is a risk-taker after all. He started not just Kieran McGeary, but Lee Brennan with him too.

Monaghan’s preparation would have them ready for that possibility and Ryan Wylie held Brennan to a single point from a free.

For all the talk of what Tyrone could muster from their bench, it was the established men that guided them home.

In the previous meeting between these two in Omagh for the Ulster quarter-final, Peter Harte had been so frustrated at being bottled up by Fintan Kelly that he finished red-carded for a kidney punch at Ryan Wylie.

It looked set for the same outcome here. One minute Kelly had followed Harte to the edge of his own square, the next Harte was following Kelly to the Tyrone danger zone. And throughout it all, Kelly was showing up and clocking in for his shift in link play.

But it was Harte that changed this game with a will we perhaps have not seen enough of. He accepted a short free and put Tiernan McCann through for a sight on goal. Darren Hughes executed almost the perfect block but when the ball squirted out to Niall Sludden, the Dromore man stitched to the net.

See all those guys sitting in studios, telling us how the big game will be won and lost? They are great craic and all, but they know no more than you or I. A million mad things happen in a game and a winner comes out on top.

So it was here.

Sixteen years from taking the job first - let’s not forget that Mickey Harte was not a universal choice as county manager back in the winter of 2002 - here he is in his fourth All-Ireland final.

Back in mid-summer, one journalist pounced on Ryan McMenamin at a press event for his opinion on Harte, who, the inquisitor felt, was under severe pressure. One of the questions held that Harte was ‘seconds away from receiving his P45’ after they got lucky and past Meath in the first round of the qualifiers.

No manager has been doubted as much. No manager has been held up for very public ridicule by what is lamentably hailed as ‘fearless journalism.’

And still he stands.

This week, his hometown of Ballygawley should be in for a splash of red and white. So too, the towns of Strabane, Coalisland, Omagh and Dungannon.

With four defeats in semi-finals over the last decade, Tyrone people have become wary of showing their hand too early.

Harte thought of them when he said, “We know the people of Tyrone. They love their football and love to get energised by it. And we felt for the last number of years that we kind of let them down somehow.

“They just wanted to express themselves in terms of being here on All-Ireland final day. Maybe we got a wee bit spoilt with three in five years in the Noughties. But still there is a longing in the people of Tyrone to be here on All Ireland final day.

“And we always felt we were playing for them. That’s what we do it for. We don’t do it for ourselves. We do it for those good people who travel miles and miles to support it; people who have family issues where football brings them some consolation.