“I’VE NEVER SEEN anything like that before in my life, and I’ve been around a lot of football,” said Tyrone’s joint-manager Feargal Logan after the closing stages of their second game in 2022 national football league.
Coming to the Athletic Grounds as the All-Ireland champions ensured they would get a hot reception. But in truth Armagh played them off the park in the first half, leading 2-8 to 0-4 by the break in front of a crowd of 14,328.
Tyrone recovered but only slightly in the second half and Armagh had the game wrapped up when an altercation started in injury time. Players clung on to each other in a variety of chokes and headlocks and it dragged on and on while referee David Gough stood dispassionately observing, taking notes.
When the fire was extinguished, he sent off Michael McKernan, Padraig Hampsey, Peter Harte and Kieran McGeary from Tyrone, along with Greg McCabe of Armagh.
While Logan was undoubtedly shocked on the day, we wonder if he was around for the game in late 1989.
The two had met in the Ulster championship that summer. Going to the dressing rooms at half time with Armagh eight points up, they had to cross over a section of tiled floor that was the entrance to the old nightclub.
Tyrone’s corner back John Lynch, with the blonde mullet straight out of Def Leppard, was knocked out. 60 grown men in a corridor were all trying to free up enough elbow space to take the head off each other.
A few months later, both sides played a tournament game under lights in Castleblayney. There were few people there and only one reporter present as both teams abandoned the football entirely and fought for a prolonged ten minute spell.
All involved thought it best to say nothing whatsoever once the dust settled. The reporter agreed with such a course of action, hence we don’t have the team sheets.
Years later, some of the players broke the Omerta of that day and one even said he was genuinely frightened of the violence.
Thankfully, Peter Canavan shone some light on the scenes on what was his first start for the Tyrone senior team.
“20 minutes in, a huge row broke out, involving 27 players. It wasn’t the scuffles that you’d see now, with fellas posturing and pushing and grabbing jerseys. These boys were taking lumps out of each other, settling scores from a few months earlier. It remains as ferocious a row as I have seen in football,” he told this writer several years ago.
Anyway, I can remember there was exactly 27 in the melee because it involved everyone on the pitch bar three, and I was one of the three.
“Myself and my marker were never going to get involved because he was my cousin. Leo McGeary was picking me up that day. The other fella not involved was Armagh goalkeeper Benny Tierney, who I went to college with.”
Tierney’s reputation as a joker was deserved. He never seen a heavy situation that he couldn’t make into farce. He went over to Canavan and started putting his fists up in an exaggerated Victorian bare-knuckle fighter stance, goading his college buddy.
“Come on Canavan, ya wee bo****ks, I’ll bate ya.”
Such levity aside, you get the overall picture.
There have been times when Tyrone and Armagh have not particularly liked each other. It smarts most when one or the other have achieved something of note.
RTÉ have good reason to choose this Saturday night meeting as their live broadcast.
Cast your mind back to the 2003 league meeting.
Armagh were All-Ireland champions.
Tyrone had a new manager in Mickey Harte but up until a fortnight before he had been double-jobbing with Errigal Ciaran before their All-Ireland club semi-final defeat to Nemo Rangers.
12,000 came through the gates in Omagh. Tyrone had one win on the board without their Errigal contingent, a win over Galway sandwiched between defeats on the road to Roscommon and Dublin.
There were nine yellow cards with a few fortunate to stay on the field.
Owen Mulligan hit a first half goal and substitute Enda McGinley hit two second half points as the home side won 1-9 to 0-10.
Harte noted in his diary of the 2003 season; ‘Gerry Cunningham works with me and he’s a good friend. He’s also a great Armagh fan and he tells me they’re smarting over there that we didn’t give his countymen a guard of honour last Sunday.
‘We didn’t mean any offence; in ways it was a compliment to Armagh.
‘…Whether I was right or wrong, I don’t know. The fact is we didn’t do it. Armagh can use it as a motivational tool down the line if they so wish. I don’t think it was a hanging offence.’
With Tyrone winning their first All-Ireland later that year against Armagh in the final, they pushed each other to previously unscaled heights.
There were stone-cold classics, such as the 2005 All-Ireland semi-final. But there were also days when the petulance stank the place out.
And even as both teams tumbled back down from the summit, the old enmity remained.
At the start of 2014, Mickey Harte decided to experiment with Mattie Donnelly at full-forward for the first time. His side tore Armagh apart in a midweek Dr McKenna Cup game, 5-16 to 0-7.
That July, Armagh took great satisfaction from dumping Tyrone out of the qualifiers, at home in Omagh by winning 0-13 to 0-10.
A few months on, Kieran McGeeney had taken charge and at a Dr McKenna Cup launch, the Armagh representative Ciaran McKeever blatantly and openly said they would be looking to make life as uncomfortable for Tyrone as possible in 2015.
The subsequent draw put Armagh and Tyrone in the same group. That game happened on 4 January and the game was held up by a crowd of 8,463.
Almost as soon as it started, McKeever was in a clinch with Sean Cavanagh. He received a red card, along with Colm Cavanagh. Finian Moriarty and Aaron later followed McKeever to the stands as Armagh finished with 12 men.
On and off, these two have served up a combustible, alpha-male relationship for decades. Saturday night, with Armagh hosting their first game since winning the All-Ireland, will be scalding hot.
If RTÉ have any sense, they’ll move it to post-watershed.
He should be rediscovering his form & fitness with Munster not with the national team. Shouldn’t be a separate rule for him no matter how good he is at his best. Just lowers squad standards….
@ℝ: Who should be in the squad ahead of him, do you think? Marmion is barely back from injury and McGrath is still out for a few more weeks.
@Conor Matthews: Cooney and Blade, the two form Irish scrumhalves by a country mile… and especially for the Italy game. The pace the pair play is perfect for an ireland game to run Italy ragged, and test their fringe defences as unlike Murray both delight at sniping runs at defences. Cooney may be light on Caps but he has loads of experience having played for three provinces and excelled at all…
Yep, no sympathy for Murray or Sexton, thats 2 games they havent performed. Get in the queue and earn your places again boys. And this is why Joe should be rotating the squad more often. Like it was mentioned above, get your game time at the provinces…..and then bring that game to the national team, if youre good enough. Class is permanent, Joe says, yeah but who puts BOD (no disrespect meant) in at 13 these days. Form…form…form
@Trev: sexton was poor v England but he was running the game v Scotland until he got injured. We’d have won by 30 if he’d have stayed on.
@Chris Mc: complete tosh. Apart from the assist to stockdale sexton was bang average. Kicking out of hand was poor and his kick from the tee was embarrassing. He wasn’t as poor as Murray but don’t kid yourself if you think he’s in any better form. Last decent shift sexton put in was against NZ for club and country.
@Chris Mc: yes he got injured, is that your or my fault? No. As the saying goes……youre only as good as your last game. He’s had 2 now, & so has Murray. There is plenty of class waiting in the wings (but thats another discussion)…
Just re-read the headline, that is just pish! Either he can play at the highest level or…he cant. Simple until he gets back up there. But do not waste international minutes on him on the off-chance that he is going to take another 10 or so games to rediscover his form. Same with Sexton….Joe its time to start cracking the whip!!!
@Trev: I think Joe Schmidt will start Sexton and Murray.I also think he should
I’d really like to see the other players get a chance to prove their worth under pressure. What is going to happen in the RWC if a key member gets injured? The tournament is beyond Ireland realistically, so give Carbery etc starting roles. We don’t want a repeat of player burnout before the finals stages
Murray’s been way off it the last number of games ever since Exeter visited Limerick. Hope he rediscovers but can’t be at the expense of Ireland.