Brian Howard: Omagh spat blown out of proportion
Dublin memorably described the original Battle of Omagh as “a day when we crossed the line together like a Dublin squad hasn’t done in years” but Brian Howard would prefer to immediately forget about the latest version.
Saturday’s half-time tunnel bust-up at Healy Park, when rival players clashed and fists flew, evoked memories of the stormy 2006 tie between the same counties that drew headlines for weeks.
A series of sanctions — the majority of which were later overturned — were dished out at the time though the big takeaway for Dublin, according to details later revealed in their secret ‘Blue Book’, was how they fronted up and stood their ground.
Back-to-back All-Star Howard made no such statements about the latest Omagh dispute, describing it as much ado about nothing and calling for everyone, including disciplinary authorities, to simply move on.
“I was first off the pitch so I actually was in the dressing-room sitting down and heard a bit of commotion,” said Howard, at the announcement of Kinetica Sports as Dublin GAA’s official sports nutrition partner.
“None of our players were injured, none of their players were injured. I think it was blown completely out of proportion. But that (dropping the issue) is not for me to say or for me to comment on because I was actually in the dressing-room at the time and that’s that the honest truth.”
Pressed on what he personally thinks should happen now, Howard said that both sets of players should be allowed to move on and focus on the rest of their Division 1 campaigns.
“In my opinion, there was nothing in it, just two teams, two competitive teams and when you come in, it’s a drawn game, with the conditions too, both teams aren’t playing particularly well, there are hot tempers but no, there shouldn’t be any repercussions for either team.
“Obviously you just want to focus on the football and all the other stuff just comes with it. It’s a load of nonsense in my opinion.”
Various commentators claimed the game shouldn’t have been played at all due to the horrendous conditions whipped up by Storm Jorge.
Asked if he’d ever played in worse conditions, Howard shook his head.
“You don’t pay really much notice to the rain, you’re so engrossed in the game but the wind was a factor, just trying to kick-pass the ball,” he said.
“Dean (Rock) had a shot in the first-half, it was going on target and most days would have gone over the black spot, but ended up going out for a sideline. It took a bit of getting used to.”
Remarkably, in 36 league and Championship games for Dublin, it was just Howard’s fifth loss and the first of the Dessie Farrell era.
The easy thing for players would be to skip the analysis and put it down to a bad night at the office in terrible conditions. “No, we can’t have any excuses about the result, they just played the conditions better than us,” argued Howard.
Meanwhile, Dublin hurler Paddy Smyth has admitted they’ll be a different team playing a different type of game when they return to duty in May.
Having completed their Allianz Hurling League campaign in five weeks between January 26 and March 1, Dublin now have a 10-week gap until they play Kilkenny in the Leinster Championship on May 10.
“Come the summer, the conditions are going to be the opposite it’s nearly like two different games, isn’t it?” said defender Smyth. “Hopefully we’ll get a good four weeks of training, then you’re back to the club for four weeks. It’s a long time to work on things so hopefully that’s a positive.”
