All Ireland Qualifiers

[Big Jim]

That's a really good piece.

Rory takes all questions and answers them without trying to avoid anything awkward. He's direct and honest. No chance he'd ever be a politician with honesty like that. Someone we should be very proud of.

 

[pablo]

That's a really good piece.

Rory takes all questions and answers them without trying to avoid anything awkward. He's direct and honest. No chance he'd ever be a politician with honesty like that. Someone we should be very proud of.

I agree. He speaks very well and is refreshingly direct but measured.

 

[pablo]

Your point about wanting injuries to clear up is exactly what I thought at the time and still think played a massive part in it. But I'm also torn by the fact that if they didn't have this mass Covid outbreak, then you are relying on such a wider circle of people not to let the cat out of the bag. Because when news broke about Tyrone not being able to play the game because of this outbreak, then all the family members of the entire playing panel, management and support team would then be asking "Who has it? Do you have it? Do I have it? Do we need to isolate? Do we need to get tested? Oh Jesus, I was with my elderly parents yesterday, have I given it to them? What about the kids going to school yesterday? Do we need to get in touch with all the people we've seen recently and let them know?"

There's so many ways that could play out with the people in the entire Tyrone set up, with how they answered that to the ones at home, ranging from "yeah it's actually not that bad, but say nothing", "we're just trying to get the game postponed to get players back, but say nothing" or just playing it down "awk it should be grand, we've tested in camp and most of us are negative, don't worry about it." The Tyrone management team could have sworn people to absolute silence and to tell your families it's all being handled in house and not to worry.

I just feel that you're requiring on a massive amount of people not in the group not to say anything. But also, they are so brazen, that after the game has been postponed, what are you going to do about it? What can be done? They could have just said we're doing this, we'll ride out the storm for a few weeks and after it's all over, we just won't speak about it again and if anyone does try to pin something on us, we'll just say it's sour grapes and know that we have people from Tyrone on Sky and RTE who will stick up for us.

Ultimately I think it's a mix of both. A few players probably did have Covid, most squads did. I think they just milked it for all it was worth and Tyrone have the gal to go ahead with it, such is their nature.

Just on your first point-and I see what you are saying. But my thinking was that if the outbreak within the squad was so intense and had such impact on availability etc, then why was detail and information about the situation so sketchy and vague? All they kept saying was 'things are bad and unless we have more time, we can't play'. I would have expected more detail-even a little as to which players, how many were affected and to what degree.
Agree totally with the bit in bold and I think Pat Mustard may have said the same; Tyrone probably had sporadic cases pop up throughout the year but unlikely anything like the focused and single mass outbreak they claimed had occured. I feel they milked that story to get more time for injured players to recover. Might have been one or two lads with covid also, but certainly not to the numbers within that time frame they were claiming. And how in turn did that impact on Kerry? How did they plan/reschedule their schedule (are we or are we not playing and if so, when?) And how did it play on their (Kerry) mental preparedness? What were they expecting to face when that semi final eventually took place? That All Ireland title for Tyrone should have an * after it to indicate 'questionable'.
Thats enough about Tyrone from me for a while. Glad to rant and get it out of my system.

 

[PatMustard]

@pablo - you can add a * to most, if not all Tyrone wins.

2003 - the Jordan incident alone (@Ard Mhacha 13 ’s BP will go through the roof reading that). I could go on, but that’s enough right there.

2005 - The solicitors getting involved, and numerous incidents in our semi final (sorry @Ard Mhacha 13 ), and the gouging of Cooper in the final.

2008 - I can’t recall anything off the top of my head. I’m sure there’s something they did. There’s always those silly beards. Yeah, that’ll do.

 

[stevie_06]

@pablo - you can add a * to most, if not all Tyrone wins.

2003 - the Jordan incident alone (@Ard Mhacha 13 ’s BP will go through the roof reading that). I could go on, but that’s enough right there.

2005 - The solicitors getting involved, and numerous incidents in our semi final (sorry @Ard Mhacha 13 ), and the gouging of Cooper in the final.

2008 - I can’t recall anything off the top of my head. I’m sure there’s something they did. There’s always those silly beards. Yeah, that’ll do.

2008- they didn't win Ulster. They actually had the sheer audacity to win Sam through the back door. The cheek of them

 

[pablo]

2008- they didn't win Ulster. They actually had the sheer audacity to win Sam through the back door. The cheek of them

Let me jump in here before the rest of the pack and say...they didn't win Ulster in 2005 either. We bate the bastards!
One immortal moment from that Ulster final replay was the 2nd half introduction of the Cheeky Girls as subs, only for one of them (the one with less hair-Gabriela?) to be red carded after a few seconds.

 

[stevie_06]

Let me jump in here before the rest of the pack and say...they didn't win Ulster in 2005 either. We bate the bastards!
One immortal moment from that Ulster final replay was the 2nd half introduction of the Cheeky Girls as subs, only for one of them (the one with less hair-Gabriela?) to be red carded after a few seconds.

Thanks Pablo. The sheer mention of that always give me chance for a rewatch

 

[Ard Mhacha 13]

Thanks Pablo. The sheer mention of that always give me chance for a rewatch

This just never gets old

 

[Ard Mhacha 13]

@pablo - you can add a * to most, if not all Tyrone wins.

2003 - the Jordan incident alone (@Ard Mhacha 13 ’s BP will go through the roof reading that). I could go on, but that’s enough right there.

2005 - The solicitors getting involved, and numerous incidents in our semi final (sorry @Ard Mhacha 13 ), and the gouging of Cooper in the final.

2008 - I can’t recall anything off the top of my head. I’m sure there’s something they did. There’s always those silly beards. Yeah, that’ll do.

I haven't managed to do my "End of Season Awards" post as yet (I know, I know, what's keeping me?!?!!) but naturally I'm very very tempted to put my Most Memorable moment as Them Uns getting 4 red cards in our National League match

 

[stevie_06]

This just never gets old

Was thinking the same. I know that year Tyrone and Canavan has the last laugh.

But by God still good to watch. I have watched it 3 times since posting it

 

[Ard Mhacha 13]

Great interview by Rory Grugan on OTB last night.

I particulary like Rory's comment "the perception doesn't always reflect the reality".

 

[Armamike]

Enjoyed Rory's interview. Speaks well. Didn't seem overly satisfied with the season, and if that is the sentiment of the team/squad then it bodes well for next year.

 

[pablo]

Enjoyed Rory's interview. Speaks well. Didn't seem overly satisfied with the season, and if that is the sentiment of the team/squad then it bodes well for next year.

Thats the impression I got also.
Very level headed guy. He said a few times that Galway were the better team on the day (although for me that is a very, very marginal call) and Armagh were dissapointed in that they felt their own performance was not quite at the level they were capable of.
Thats a very mature assessment to come from any player and for me indicates that this team has true ambition.

 

[Armamike]

Thats the impression I got also.
Very level headed guy. He said a few times that Galway were the better team on the day (although for me that is a very, very marginal call) and Armagh were dissapointed in that they felt their own performance was not quite at the level they were capable of.
Thats a very mature assessment to come from any player and for me indicates that this team has true ambition.

I think Galway were a bit better but not by much. Not much of the match analysis seems to take into account the impact of the sending off. We were doing ok at that point and then conceded 4 points to go 6 down. The sending off hurt us badly.

 

[pablo]

I think Galway were a bit better but not by much. Not much of the match analysis seems to take into account the impact of the sending off. We were doing ok at that point and then conceded 4 points to go 6 down. The sending off hurt us badly.

yeah-we did well for first 25 mins, then they probably had the better of things for next 25 mins. Snatched a goal that gave them bit of a cushion, but coming up to time of sending off, I thought the momentum had swung back in our favour and were reeling them in. It was already set for a knife edge finish before McCabes red card (I think they had not scored for 12 mins or so at point). That badly disrupted us and they quickly scored four points (two frees). But we came back.
I don't want to encourage more re-visiting of the bad press that hounded us in the aftermath of that game, but there is a wikipedia entry covering the Armagh Galway game. You would think it was detailing the Kennedy assasination. I hope someday the country will be embarrassed at the collective state of hysteria it fell into-calls for Garda investigations etc. FFS.
Ironically, one voice of support for us/TK and a call for calm was one half of the Cheeky girls! The one with more hair.

 

[gograngego]

Armagh in the social media world again. Rian O'Neill living up to his aura/name of being a bit of a plank & hardman

 

[PatMustard]

Armagh in the social media world again. Rian O'Neill living up to his aura/name of being a bit of a plank & hardman

Explain yourself boyo.

 

[gograngego]

Explain yourself boyo.

Video doing the rounds of O'Neill having a bouncer in Chicago in a headlock, like what we seen v Tyrone. Looks to be Turbitt from CE involved too.

 

[Big Jim]

I think Galway were a bit better but not by much. Not much of the match analysis seems to take into account the impact of the sending off. We were doing ok at that point and then conceded 4 points to go 6 down. The sending off hurt us badly.

In exactly the same way as the 2003 AI Final!! We were flying up to that point too.

I still genuinely believe we should have won the game v Galway, not because we were better, but because we really wanted it and with a full compliment it may have been different. That of course is speculation and we will never ever know.

 

[pablo]

In exactly the same way as the 2003 AI Final!! We were flying up to that point too.

I still genuinely believe we should have won the game v Galway, not because we were better, but because we really wanted it and with a full compliment it may have been different. That of course is speculation and we will never ever know.

I watched it again. Even knowing the result, it is still fabulous entertainment.
And I am more inclined to agree now that we should have won. A few of the lads that did come on had been out of action for quite a while. Thinking of Niall Rowland in particular-on another day with more match practice, that last attempt at end of extra time may have gone over.
In period leading up to sending off-Rory missed a relatively straight forward free. Nugent also turned his man brilliantly only to snatch his shot when he had a little more time than he realized. Murnin also pulled a shot wide in the first half when you would have expected him to put it over. We certainly were closing in on the game in that last 10 or minutes before the red card
In contrast, apart from opening 25 minutes, Galway were very efficient and annoyingly, just didn't seem to miss. They were very measured and methodical-waiting until they created an opening and space for a shot. As odd as it may sound, I can't help but feel that last equalizing point by McDaid during extra time was bit of a kick and hope-very different from how they had worked scores up to then.
We could have been now discussing parking and arrangements for this Sunday.