IN THE DAYS after the All-Ireland final, a number of big personalities in the Tyrone dressing room gave revealing interviews.
Conor Meyler, Niall Morgan, Ronan McNamee and Darren McCurry were among the intriguing characters who gave an insight into the work they’d put in to reach the summit and how much it meant.
“They are honestly a bunch of great lads, they really are, every single one of them,” says Kieran McGeary of his team-mates. “I suppose this is the year that it has all just clicked perfectly, because of our Ulster and All-Ireland success.”
The PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month for August tells a story that he feels sums up the unselfish and tight knit nature of the squad.
“The way they conduct themselves, on and off the pitch, the way boys help you at training, even moreso the fellas that, I’ll give you an example, boys that didn’t make the 26 on the Thursday night (before the final).
“It’s such a tough call for anybody, if you look at some of the players on the panel that never made the 26, they’re some of the best, best lads and best footballers if you were to go through Tyrone. I received a text when I went home (on the Thursday night) from one of them in particular.
“I’ll not give you his name because he would be a bit embarrassed but I received a text and it said ‘Anything you need in the next 48 hours just let me know, if I can help you in any way in the next 48 hours just let me know’.
“That just underlines the type of players they are. Straight away it’s all about the ‘we’ and not the ‘I’ in that situation. And that would be hard to go home on the Thursday night and know that you weren’t on the panel but if you have all the boys doing that, you’re not in a bad setup.
“That bus has been going for a while and there have been people that have stepped off it and people that have stepped on it.”
McGeary and Conor Meyler are both in the running for Footballer of the Year after sensational campaigns, while he’s been on a journey with others like Padraig Hampsey, Cathal McShane, Frank Burns and brother Hugh Pat too.
In 2015, McGeary, Meyler, Burns and Hampsey were part of the Tyrone side that lifted the All-Ireland U21 title. A year later McGeary, Meyler and McShane were key figures in Paddy Tally’s St Mary’s side that came from nowhere to land the Sigerson Cup crown.
“It’s been crazy, in 2015 that was only the start of it,” smiles McGeary.
“Sometimes at that stage you might think, ‘This’ll be the finish of it’. But, no, Conor is a great lad, honestly. You only have to look at the way he’s been playing over the last few years and perhaps this year in particular, maybe moreso it clicked for the both of us, out of nowhere.
“We didn’t really do a lot of talking away from football, we just got there, got the job done, got home type of thing. But it’s been class and out of all of them in 2015, in the Sigerson, Meyler captained us that time and we had a deadly comeback against UCD in the final.
“What a weekend that was and now to win a senior championship with him has been fantastic too. Look, I’ve had a lot of good memories and journeys with a lot of boys on that team.
“Padraig as well, in 2015 me and him were dead tight that time, captain and vice-captain. This year we’re captain and vice-captain as well. Even my own clubman, Frank, I’ve won stuff with club and then U21s and now senior All-Irelands so I’ve been on a lot of individual journeys with boys.
“I wouldn’t say there’s one particular thing that made it all click, it’s just the way the year fell, honestly. Big McShane was back, Conor McKenna was starting up, we had a number of new boys.”
Having worked with Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan for that U21 success six years ago, McGeary describes them as “two footballing geniuses”.
“The two gentlemen they are, they are nearly more concerned about you as a person than as a player,” he says. “They really do look after that side of things as well.
“They’re always asking how you were getting on. They did bring in their small footballing ideas, which went a long, long way. Sometimes, keeping it simple was the main thing.
“If you look at Brian Dooher’s game, when he played and captained two All-Ireland winning teams, his main ingredient was hard work. When you get that driven into a team who listen, it’s hard to stop them.
“That was one of the big words used this year, that ‘We trust ye, we trust ye. Ye will know what to do in the moment’. And we always talk about that, in the moment.
“As a team, we had small things this year (as themes), one of them was ‘Head, legs, heart’ and if you were to use those three things in your game, that would take you through it.
“Playing without fear was one of my big ones, the ability to know that you’re trusted was a massive one, that you’re being trusted to make a decision.
“Pete Donnelly always talked about putting out fires, as soon as you see a fire, go and put it out. We looked at numerous clips of other players who had the ability to do that and I suppose that was one of the things that I wanted to do this year, to put out fires as soon as you see them.
“Or if you can prevent them from starting then try to get it away as quick as possible, make the right decision in the moment.”
McGeary is keen to highlight the importance of former boss Mickey Harte, who spoke with a number of players at the team’s homecoming.
“He’s been very supportive all year. I remember seeing him on the pitch after we beat Donegal and he was delighted for a lot of the boys. He was like, ‘Yes lads, you have one more step to win the Ulster here.’
“Mickey always had his eye for Sam all the time. He nearly put he glasses on you to see what was in front of you. He was a big man for imagining it was there. I suppose he got the ball rolling for a lot of the players. He always talked about how you don’t have that many years and that, ‘it’ll fly, it’ll fly’.
“A few of us seen him the night of the banquet. He’s nearly the one that planted the seed for a lot of the players that are there.
“He slipped in and out and said hello to whoever he got to see. It was fantastic. He’s a great man and deserves all the credit he gets.”
