The safety net is gone. It’s time for Tyrone to play like champions

Tyone's Niall Kelly ahead of their Ulster SFC clash with Derry at O'Neills Healy Park in Omagh. The 2021 All-Ireland Champions have struggled to recapture the form which steered them to success last season.

AFTER the 2022 Championship draw was made, Tyrone’s joint-manager Feargal Logan obliged RTÉ Radio with a few soundbites about defending their Ulster and All-Ireland titles.

"It’s a very attractive notion,” he told Des Cahill.

“Brian (Dooher), myself and everyone involved with us, we just set out to bring Tyrone back to the top table. If you’re at the top table, you want to be dining at it repeatedly.

"It’s a big, big challenge for us in Tyrone to try and do that."

"(Dublin) are going to be coming out hot and heavy. Kerry will be coming out hot and heavy next year. You could find yourself out in the middle of May next year and back to the 90s where you have a long, long summer of club football.

"Let’s take it one step at a time in Tyrone."

That was all back in November of last year, when the glow of Sam Maguire touring the county was in full flow, with a lifetime’s ambition realised and All Star banquets and team holidays all in the pipeline.

Since then, Tyrone have carried a target on their backs and the crown is still resting on their head, albeit somewhat askew.

Previous form in title defences has not been easy for Tyrone. In 2004, they were blindsided by Mayo, bringing an end to a catastrophic year in which their captain Cormac McAnallen passed away.

In 2006, a home defeat to Derry was the start of a poor campaign in which they took a replay to get past Louth before falling to Laois on a 0-9 to 0-6 scoreline. They began 2009 more positively by winning Ulster, but Cork caught them in the All-Ireland semi-final after Sean Cavanagh suffered an illness on the morning of the game.

If there is a theme of this year, it has come in red cards.

So far, there have been nine red cards in nine games.

That figure is naturally inflated by the four reds against Armagh in round two of the National League. And nobody could reasonably argue that Conor McKenna’s against Fermanagh was deserved, given what was going on immediately before he grappled with Brandon Horan.

But there have also been some entirely avoidable examples such as Padraig Hampsey nudging Cormac Costello while off the pitch in the league defeat to Dublin.

Similarly, Brian Kennedy’s kick out at Gareth McKinless and McKenna’s petulant throwing of the ball at Ethan Doherty was, as commentator Darragh Maloney correctly called, a ‘meltdown.’ 

Then, there is the loss of form from 2021 Footballer of The Year Kieran McGeary who has been taken off in four games this year, while Cathal McShane has found himself withdrawn five times, at half-time against Derry and Mayo, and on 45 minutes in the Kerry game.

They have also keenly felt the injuries to Matthew Donnelly and Padraig McNulty.

All of this is a backdrop for the stunning levels of departures from the senior football team of last year.

Just prior to Championship getting going, Paul Donaghy, who had actually come on in the final against Mayo, walked away.

He joined others in exile such as Mark Bradley, Tiernan McCann, Ronan O’Neill (who in fairness has since insisted his leaving was a retirement), Hugh Pat McGeary, Michael Cassidy and Lee Brennan.

When you break down just how many minutes the above players got in the 2021 campaign, then you can understand their desire to step off the intercounty hamster wheel. Others weren’t so forgiving, and star forward Darren McCurry stated on a podcast - "I just felt that it was maybe, what way would you put it, an easy decision for some of them boys to walk away. Maybe they're thinking a wee bit more about themselves than the Tyrone team, and the people of Tyrone."

However, that kind of loss all in one go is unheard of among other elite counties and one that Peter Canavan touched on when he said at a pre-Championship press briefing for Sky Sports: “If Tyrone are to do something that has never been done in the county before, they need everybody pulling with you. You need everything going your way,” he explained.

“…To retain it you have to come back stronger. And when you look at the team that knows how to retain All-Irelands in recent years, is Dublin. There’s a lot of questions has to be asked as to why players are stepping away. I totally understand when there are personal reasons involved. But from a wider point of view, Dublin didn’t seem to have this problem when they were retaining an All-Ireland.

“There’s a number of issues need to be addressed and looked at if we are to retain our best players.” 

But you never have to look too far for positives when it comes to Tyrone.

Last weekend, their minor team produced a sparkling display to win the Ulster minor Championship with a win over a fine Derry team. They are the All-Ireland Under-20 champions after beating Kildare last month and have already called up their captain Niall Devlin, as well as sons of Logan’s former team mates Steve Donaghy (Plunkett), Michael McGleenan (Mattie) and Ruairí Canavan (Peter).

Plus now, they have what every successful Tyrone team require – a cause.

Simply put, this present generation had no ‘beef’ with Derry heading into the Ulster Championship. Over the last few years they had not seen the whites of Derry’s eyes before they came to Omagh.

A handy eleven-point win at Celtic Park in 2016 and six points to spare in Omagh in 2019 was their only frame of reference before they were blown apart spectacularly on May 1st.

The second league game and defeat against Armagh has them channelling their inner begrudgery.

Those red cards stung the pride of Tyrone. It also fuelled their well-cultivated sense that they were being made an example of once again by the authorities. If there is a kick in this group of Tyrone footballers, it is time to see it.