Cathal McCarron hits out at criticism of Tyrone’s RTÉ stance

Injured Tyrone defender Cathal McCarron has told those criticising the camp’s stance against RTÉ to inform themselves before casting judgement.

A dislocated knee has ruled the three-time All-Star nominee out of Sunday’s All-Ireland final but he has remained with the panel in the build-up.

As part of an extensive interview with the Irish Examiner to be published later this week, Dromore man McCarron, now living in Athy, hit out at those on social media last week who condemned Tyrone’s decision to continue to freeze out RTÉ going back to a crass radio segment soon after the murder of Mickey Harte’s daughter Michaela in 2011.

I was on Twitter and I saw people saying bad things about Tyrone. I would say to them people to go and see why Tyrone are doing this. Go and see why. Try and be in Mickey’s shoes after his daughter was murdered and then come back and talk to me.

“It’s very easy for people to say ‘oh, look at these b*****s doing this and that’. Know your facts before you talk about us. We’re 100% behind Mickey. Always have been.

McCarron in Croke Park before Tyrone's semi-final win over Monaghan

“All I see is people jumping on the bandwagon. One journalist could write something and loads of them just hop on it. It’s so lazy. Like, any good journalist would go and do their research. Look at the facts before talking about them. I read an article that explained why Tyrone were taking this stance and fair play to that boy because a lot of people are not up to date why Tyrone are not talking to RTÉ.”

McCarron also has an issue with how Tyrone are now being considered attack-minded compared to last year. “There hasn’t been an awful lot changed in the Tyrone system but if you believe some people we’ve changed our whole style. We’re told we’re a very negative team and yet look at the score-lines we’ve been racking up these last two years.”

But then he would feel there was something not right if Tyrone weren’t been knocked at.

“As players and management, we’re not there to please the public; we’re there to win. That’s our aim. I always say when you’re liked and you’re patted on the back, you’re not doing something right.”