Conn Kilpatrick: 'Other counties don't like to see us doing well'

"Going back to 2021 when we did win the All-Ireland, people were saying, 'Oh, lucky All-Ireland'," the Tyrone footballer claimed. "It kind of grinds our gears a bit."

Wed, 15 Feb, 2023 - 16:51

Paul Keane

All-Ireland winning Tyrone midfielder Conn Kilpatrick reckons 'other counties don't like to see us doing well' though he is at a loss to explain why.

The Edendork man claims it's an 'insult' too when people suggest that they were 'lucky' to lift the Sam Maguire Cup in 2021.

Tyrone, who will head to Galway this Sunday in Round 3 of the National League, did fail to back up the success in 2022.

Speaking on the BBC's GAA Social podcast, Kilpatrick acknowledged that Tyrone 'probably didn't carry ourselves as champions' last year.

But he hit out at the suggestion that they were fortunate to win the All-Ireland the year before and claimed that many outside the county are only too delighted when things aren't working out for them.

"Genuinely I don't know why that is," said Kilpatrick. "I just think that other counties don't like to see us doing well. It might have come from the noughties team that nobody really liked and it's just building and building and it has just stayed with a lot of people.

"I think especially because we're up in the north, we got a lot of attention from down south, and it's not just us, all the teams do, which is probably unfair because we're all going playing the same game, we're all there for the same goal. But to put my finger on it, it's a good question to kind of think about."

On Tyrone's All-Ireland win under Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher, Kilpatrick insisted it was fully merited.

"Going back to 2021 when we did win the All-Ireland, people were saying, 'Oh, lucky All-Ireland'," he claimed. "It kind of grinds our gears a bit."

Asked if that comes across as an insult, Kilpatrick nodded.

"It does," he said. "Because we put in as much work as anybody else. We beat the so-called bigger teams to get there and we put in great performances. It does insult us a bit.

"Any All-Ireland is a good All-Ireland. If I died tomorrow, I'd die happy because I have an All-Ireland medal in my back pocket.

"It doesn't really matter to me how people think we got it, or how we did actually get it."

Tyrone were knocked out of the subsequent 2022 Ulster championship by Derry at the quarter-final stage and then lost a Round 1 All-Ireland qualifier to Armagh.

On what went wrong, Kilpatrick shrugged. "It is difficult to answer. We probably didn't carry ourselves as champions. When Dublin were winning their five and six All-Irelands in a row, they came out with their chests out. Everybody knew that Dublin was in town. Whereas with us, like, nobody had won an All-Ireland so we didn't really know what this pressure was, or if there was pressure on us. Things just didn't click for us."

Kilpatrick also discussed his gambling addiction which he first went public with after the All-Ireland win in 2021.

"At the minute we're in a good space," he said. "There's been no gambling for coming up to three years."

That's something he doesn't believe warrants any celebration between himself and his partner though.

"It's not a celebration, me being off gambling," he maintained. "It was a big part of our lives obviously. Me not doing it is helping us, it's making our relationship better, but I just wouldn't want a big deal being made out of it."