THERE WAS SOMETHING, and there was nothing at stake in Omagh. But by God all the same, it felt to those inside the gates that everything was at stake in a game that brings both teams level on two points.
Here, we examine some of the talking points and controversial incidents.
Taking the knee
Rian O’Neill’s red card on 30 minutes will be disputed by the Armagh management. That is, unless it won’t, ahead of their meeting with Galway in round 3.
After the game when asked for his opinion, Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney was hedging on the offence. The joint captain’s knee was on Tyrone’s Cormac Quinn, but quite how much force and intent was there is, well, we will let anyone looking at it decide for themselves.
The offence he might be incited for is, ‘For behaving in any way that is dangerous to an opponent.’ It will carry a one-match ban that would rule him out of the neutral ground last round clash with Galway, if not appealed by Armagh.
McGeeney said afterwards, “Rian says someone pulled him down by the jersey and he tried to get up three or four times and somebody kept a hold of the jersey.
“I haven’t seen the TV footage of it. I am sure we will get a fair hearing. We will have to look at it.
“He’s been leading heavily. He’s a huge character in the team and it was a massive blow. Even the way it happened.”
Again, we invite anyone to take a look and decide for themselves what they see.
Here’s to the unsung heroes
When Tyrone won the 2021 All-Ireland title, they gained a total of 15 All-Star nominations.
Some players won a nomination, despite not being regular starters, such as Cathal McShane.
Added to that total was Darragh Canavan’s nomination for Young Player of the Year, while Conor Meyler and Kieran McGeary were both in the shortlist for Footballer of the Year.
It’s interesting to see that one player who was a regular starter never got a nomination; Michael O’Neill.
The Ardboe man was consistently named at number 11, yet played around centre-back and was there as a brilliant man to close down space and organise shape.
Despite being injured for all of the 2022 league campaign, the Tyrone management started him for the championship opener against Fermanagh, but he didn’t last the first few minutes as a trip in the first play on James McMahon had him sent to the sin bin.
Nonetheless, it is clear how much O’Neill is rated by joint managers Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher when he also was in grave difficulty with injuries for this league campaign, yet when Tyrone need him, he is put straight in.
The Armagh game was his first 70-plus minutes game however, since 2021 against Cavan. The two turnovers he made in one minute in the first half shows what he brings.
Unlucky General
It’s a fairly impressive stat to note that on no occasion this year have Armagh been beaten by more than two points.
It needs a bit more polishing though when you consider that Armagh lost four games – and drew one – out of their seven league games this year.
The championship record starts to look a little flaky when you consider that the only teams they have beaten in the ‘summer’ this year were Cavan, Down, Westmeath and Antrim, with all playing in division three of the National League.
“You just need that wee bit of luck or a break to go your way,” said McGeeney, again.
“So hopefully in one of these games it will fall in our direction to just get over the line. That gives you a wee bit of belief.”
Just the previous week, Armagh were heading for defeat to Westmeath at home, when a speculative ball in found a favourable touch from Andrew Murnin, deflected into the path of substitute Conor Turbitt who netted, and turned the game in Armagh’s favour.
But, yeah. Some of these days they are bound to get that elusive rub of the green.
