FOR a long time, Tyrone didn’t have to worry too much about what was happening over one particular part of the fence.
Sure, Donegal - neighbours to the north-west – enjoyed their moment in the sun in 2012, then dominated Ulster for a period towards the end of the last decade.
Monaghan, down along the southern perimeter, made hay with a golden generation under current Red Hand boss, Malachy O’Rourke. Fermanagh have largely been swimming in a different pool.
And then there’s Armagh.
Just across the Blackwater, a special brand of animus brought the best from each other as the Noughties sprung to life; Ulster reborn in an unforgettable age of bruising battles and occasionally brilliant football in the most claustrophobic of climates.
Colm Cavanagh was only just finding his way on the inter-county stage then, after older brother Sean had played such a pivotal role in wrestling control back across county lines.
But the scars remained. Cavanagh remembers how, years after the famous incident that led to Diarmuid Marsden’s dismissal in the 2003 All-Ireland final, Moy club-mate Philly Jordan would stay in the car if the Tyrone crew stopped for a pint on the way through enemy territory.
For men born miles from the border, whose teenage years were spent swapping glances with Armagh counterparts at St Patrick’s Grammar School, this was the only derby that mattered.
“It was more of a hatred back then,” says the two-time All-Star.
“People used to say it would be great to see the Ulster team do well – I didn’t want the Ulster team getting through. It was too close to home for me… Mickey [Harte] was a great man for nearly brainwashing you into hating teams, hating players.
“When I was playing, I used to hate seeing Armagh do anything. I couldn’t watch the TV… that’s being brutally honest. I remember watching games thinking ‘I could be doing with Kerry beating these lads’, or whoever it might have been.
“I remember various occasions where [Brian] Dooher was maybe doing the team talk, and Sean would’ve been getting up in the changing room and getting everybody really riled… you could see there was a lot of passion because of who we were playing.
“Living here, you’re dealing with Armagh people every day. You walk into the shop, you grab a coffee, you’re getting abuse. If Tyrone were out and Armagh were still in, I would’ve been praying for them to get beat.”
Family connection proved no filter for those emotions either.
When Sean married Fionnuala Vernon, sister of Armagh stalwart Charlie, things amped up another notch. Charlie and Colm knew each other from St Pat’s but, when they faced up in midfield, any past or present relationship mattered not.
“I remember coming home after playing them one day, I’d maybe hit Charlie a bit of a kick,” laughs Cavanagh.
“His mother didn’t take it that well… I didn’t hear it back directly, but I remember my mum and dad saying ‘I don’t think they were overly happy with you for hitting him a boot’.
“But look, Charlie knew the craic as well; we’re all big enough and ugly enough to manage ourselves. I’m sure Charlie didn’t want to take a backward step either.”
Ever since the early-to-mid 2000s, however, it is a rivalry that has simmered rather than soared. When Armagh last conquered Ulster 17 summers ago, their fiercest rivals inflicted the ultimate indignity by bringing back Sam eight weeks later.
And while Harte’s men spent the next decade dining at the top table, if not quite hosting the banquet in the face of Dublin’s domination, the Orchard dropped off. Slipped down to Division Three for a couple of years. Fell behind their Ulster rivals in football’s pecking order.
A new wave of talent emerged, yet the same old problems remained; seeing out games, stamping authority, making their undoubted ability count when it mattered. Kieran McGeeney bore the brunt in certain quarters as year after year passed without silverware, the sense of potential unfulfilled fuelling further frustration.
To add injury to insult, Tyrone kicked sand into their eyes once more – coming out of the pack to claim the 2021 Ulster and All-Ireland titles in a Championship beset by Covid concerns.
Next stop on the way home? The Armagh City Hotel. This was the destination too as tears were dried in the wake of All-Ireland final defeat to Dublin three years earlier; in victory, though, some felt it like rubbing salt into an open wound.
“That was maybe an anomaly because of Covid… there was very few places they could have it that could take the numbers at that time,” says Cavanagh.
“Still, I’d say there was some people in Armagh city wouldn’t have been thrilled with that.”
Since Tyrone’s fourth All-Ireland title, whether by consequence or coincidence, something flipped for Armagh.
In the second League game of the following season, roared on by a crowd of 14,328, they ripped into the Red Hands like they weren’t there. Tyrone might still have been blowing out black smoke from their team holiday in Orlando, but the Orchard were determined to lay down a marker.
This derby hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons as Tyrone finished up with 11 players following an unsightly row in added time, All-Ireland winning captain Padraig Hampsey, Player of the Year Kieran McGeary, Peter Harte and Michael McKernan all shown straight red cards by referee David Gough, alongside Armagh’s Greg McCabe.
For McGeeney and co, the fallout didn’t matter; what mattered was that a line in the sand had been drawn.
“The atmosphere that day was absolutely electric,” recalls Mattie McGleenan.
Part of the Tyrone team that lost out to Dublin in the 1995 All-Ireland final, a long-serving teacher at St Patrick’s, Armagh, and a proud son of Eglish just across county lines, McGleenan understands the depth of the rivalry better than most.
He was back at the Athletic Grounds in early June as McGeeney’s men mercilessly ended Tyrone’s defence of the Sam Maguire – a purgatorial year that never quite kicked into gear brought to a close at the hands of Tyrone’s greatest foes.
The seeds of a renewed rivalry - one that mattered for more than simply one-off bragging rights - were being sown. And, for Armagh, strength would somehow be hewn from heartache.
Losing back-to-back Ulster finals and All-Ireland semi-finals would be almost too much for most groups to bear. Yet the only thing it showed them was how close they were.
“People would say on this side of the border that Tyrone would never have won an All-Ireland, only for Armagh,” says McGleenan.
“Back in ‘02, everybody across the border in Tyrone was saying ‘Jesus, if Armagh can win it, why not us?’ And, after what happened in 2021, Armagh had the same thing this time.”
At the Athletic Grounds on Saturday evening, the Orchard wear the crown of All-Ireland champions when Tyrone come to town. It is an unusual, uncomfortable spot for the Red Hands to find themselves in but, with serial winner O’Rourke at the helm, there is renewed optimism about the place.
Roughly 80 per cent of the pupil population at St Patrick’s are on the Armagh side of the argument – “we’re in the minority here, big time,” smiles McGleenan - yet, for all that comes with watching your neighbours go all the way, his position is a unique one.
Far from wanting to hole up in a darkened room while the celebrations were in full flow, McGleenan is left to lament the shift in the GAA calendar that has robbed schools like his of what made September so special.
“Aw, the craic around the place would’ve been unbelievable.
“We had an orange day in October, because we had seven past pupils on the panel that won [Oisin Conaty, Andrew Murnin, Jason Duffy, Shane McPartland, Joe McElroy, Daniel Magee, Ethan Rafferty], then Ciaran McKinney, Armagh’s goalkeeping coach, is another past pupil.
“Those lads were unbelievable MacRory Cup footballers for us, so to see them win the All-Ireland is a special thing - because I came second. I’ve been there, I know what that feels like, and I wouldn’t wish it on any man.
“We have eight lads from Tyrone who won All-Irelands too; Conor McKenna, Michael Conroy, the Cavanaghs, Ryan Mellon, Cormac McAnallen, Philly Jordan and Collie Holmes. We have 23 All-Ireland winners from the school, seven from the ‘02 Armagh team, then you can throw Joe Brolly into the mix for a bit of craic… we’re steeped in the rivalry here.
“So for Armagh to win it, with those lads I knew, was fabulous for our school. You understand what them lads are putting into it.
“Now there’s a confidence and bounce that can only be found through Sam Maguire. I walk down the street, you’ll have people shouting out the window at me again, there’s good banter in the air… they’re up for it.
“The young lads in the school are all in Armagh gear at PE, they’re all living the moment for what it is.”
Cavanagh isn’t just as ebullient but, since calling time on his county career in 2020, his perspective had shifted.
Training several times a week in the Armagh City Hotel, he is chatting to the Orchard players – many of whom are former foes - on a regular basis.
“They’re just normal lads, same as I was when I was in that bubble. I had to swallow my pride and go over and congratulate them surely…
“Them winning last year, I can’t say I was 100 per cent screaming at the TV, looking them to win, but I was very comfortable as a neutral. After they won I knew they were going to celebrate hard, and rightly so.
“Knowing some of the players now, I can honestly say I have no problem with it, but that definitely wouldn’t have been the case in the past. My answer then would’ve been a bit less diplomatic.”
TEAMS
Armagh: B Hughes; T McCormack, B McCambridge, P Burns; Connaire Mackin, A Forker, G McCabe; B Crealey, J Og Burns; O Conaty, R Grugan, D McMullen; C McConville, A Murnin, S Campbell
Tyrone: TBC
