LIKE FOR ANY other sports writer, there are always a few people in my orbit hungry for a morsel of insight into team preparations.
For betting purposes, you understand.
And there was a time when you might have caught wind of the odd rumour of an injury that was being kept in-house, or a bust-up in training.
In the case of the first example, you’d advise that money was better off kept in the póca. But when there was a bust-up, I always took that to be a healthy sign that the players were caring enough and fighting literally and figuratively to get a starting jersey.
Nowadays, those avenues are closed off. Today’s players don’t even trust the clock on the wall of their parent’s homeplace. A few years back, Mattie Donnelly’s father Liam told a story that when he asked his son where he might be playing in an upcoming match, he got a reply that he imagined somewhere on the pitch, adding, “if selected”.
All of the pre-match punditry was suggesting that the Box-It Athletic Grounds on Sunday was going to be a painful experience for Tyrone. Some of the more outlandish predictions were forecasting a margin in favour of Armagh by double digits.
This wasn’t something that one or two of the Tyrone journalists, among the most partisan of the press corps, were reminding others in the press box on Sunday as the Red Hands made it a thrilling close contest.
Personally, I felt Armagh would win all week. And then closer to the event, another element swam up to the surface for me.
When Malachy O’Rourke was managing Fermanagh, they beat Monaghan in the first round of 2008. Never mind that Monaghan had ran Kerry to a single point in an All-Ireland quarter-final the year before.
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The year after, they beat a Down team who – with a lot of the same players – reached the All-Ireland final the following year.
In his final year, despite suffering relegation from Division 3, they still managed to beat Cavan away from home in the quarter-final.
When he took on Monaghan, they won promotion out of Division 3 in 2013, before beating defending Ulster and All-Ireland champions Donegal in the Ulster final. He followed that up two years later.
His final year with Monaghan brought his first defeat in their opening Ulster championship game, to Cavan.
Such a record needs respecting. It showed that when O’Rourke had the space and time to plan for a game, he almost always (10 out of 11 Ulster openers) won.
With Tyrone preparing with a camp in Portugal, he was going to find some badly-needed focus after a Division 2 league campaign that only brought wins over third-from-bottom Cavan and bottom-of-the-table Offaly.
The wider habits of the squad were also under scrutiny. 2021 Footballer of the Year Kieran McGeary was missing for a spell travelling. Darragh Canavan was supposed to go to Australia midway through the league and only for Donald Trump’s war-mongering, had to settle for a quicker spell Stateside.
Michael McKernan and Niall Morgan, two undroppables, also had spells when they found themselves out of the starting line-up, while Padraig Hampsey has not played all season.
And despite all that, I had a feeling. I advised to try a small sum on Tyrone. I even had a nibble myself at 11/4 odds.
Sure, they needed a late Ben McDonnell goal when he had virtually nowhere to aim for in the closing stages, after Armagh had Darragh McMullen dismissed for a puzzling second yellow card.
But they weren’t far off it, and they will take that into their round 1 game, away to a provincial finalist which won’t happen for another six-seven (IYKYK) weeks.
That will be one to see where the Tyrone support is at. What they might also consider is that O’Rourke has also had to take the job at a time of significant transition.
Yesterday, he handed championship debuts to Ethan Jordan, Ronan Cassidy, Joey Clarke and Ciaran Bogue. No other team that considers themselves in an elite bracket will be touching those numbers this year.
Others that saw gametime include the group that were blooded in 2024, almost all on the same day against Cavan: Aodhan Donaghy, Ben Cullen, Ciaran Daly, Eoin McElholm and Lorcan McGarrity.
The expectations placed on Tyrone is partly down to them being a relatively recent All-Ireland champion. That they won just six of the 14 Championship games in the following three seasons doesn’t cut through.
From the 2021 All-Ireland winners, Tyrone have lost Ronan McNamee, Peter Harte, Conor Meyler, Niall Sludden and Conor McKenna from the starting team.
Michael O’Neill is no longer involved, struggling with injuries. Substitutes Tiernan McCann and Cathal McShane have also retired. Mark Bradley is also gone and one of the highest-scoring forwards in the club game, Paul Donaghy, has turned down approaches to return.
This is a new team, facing an Armagh team that are hugely seasoned. Despite McGeeney making 10 changes throughout the game, they didn’t hand out any debuts, instead rotating starters back on in extra time.
Some questions will hang over from Sunday. Will Ethan Jordan be handed long-range frees, or will Niall Morgan resume them, presumably after shaking off the knock he sustained in breaking a kickout aimed at Jason Duffy?
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Missing key players, poor league, defensive issues: can Tyrone turn it around?
What are the extent of the injuries that forced Darragh Canavan and Brian Kennedy off? Both are going for scans tomorrow.
And can they get Ruairí Canavan fully recovered and ready to take on a more ball-carrying role? Can Conn Kilpatrick continue his incredible form that he produced in Armagh, for example?
We might not have heard the last of Tyrone this summer.
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Have we seen the last of Malachy O'Rourke and Tyrone in 2026? Don't bet on it
LIKE FOR ANY other sports writer, there are always a few people in my orbit hungry for a morsel of insight into team preparations.
For betting purposes, you understand.
And there was a time when you might have caught wind of the odd rumour of an injury that was being kept in-house, or a bust-up in training.
In the case of the first example, you’d advise that money was better off kept in the póca. But when there was a bust-up, I always took that to be a healthy sign that the players were caring enough and fighting literally and figuratively to get a starting jersey.
Nowadays, those avenues are closed off. Today’s players don’t even trust the clock on the wall of their parent’s homeplace. A few years back, Mattie Donnelly’s father Liam told a story that when he asked his son where he might be playing in an upcoming match, he got a reply that he imagined somewhere on the pitch, adding, “if selected”.
All of the pre-match punditry was suggesting that the Box-It Athletic Grounds on Sunday was going to be a painful experience for Tyrone. Some of the more outlandish predictions were forecasting a margin in favour of Armagh by double digits.
Personally, I felt Armagh would win all week. And then closer to the event, another element swam up to the surface for me.
When Malachy O’Rourke was managing Fermanagh, they beat Monaghan in the first round of 2008. Never mind that Monaghan had ran Kerry to a single point in an All-Ireland quarter-final the year before.
The year after, they beat a Down team who – with a lot of the same players – reached the All-Ireland final the following year.
In his final year, despite suffering relegation from Division 3, they still managed to beat Cavan away from home in the quarter-final.
When he took on Monaghan, they won promotion out of Division 3 in 2013, before beating defending Ulster and All-Ireland champions Donegal in the Ulster final. He followed that up two years later.
His final year with Monaghan brought his first defeat in their opening Ulster championship game, to Cavan.
Such a record needs respecting. It showed that when O’Rourke had the space and time to plan for a game, he almost always (10 out of 11 Ulster openers) won.
With Tyrone preparing with a camp in Portugal, he was going to find some badly-needed focus after a Division 2 league campaign that only brought wins over third-from-bottom Cavan and bottom-of-the-table Offaly.
The wider habits of the squad were also under scrutiny. 2021 Footballer of the Year Kieran McGeary was missing for a spell travelling. Darragh Canavan was supposed to go to Australia midway through the league and only for Donald Trump’s war-mongering, had to settle for a quicker spell Stateside.
Michael McKernan and Niall Morgan, two undroppables, also had spells when they found themselves out of the starting line-up, while Padraig Hampsey has not played all season.
And despite all that, I had a feeling. I advised to try a small sum on Tyrone. I even had a nibble myself at 11/4 odds.
Sure, they needed a late Ben McDonnell goal when he had virtually nowhere to aim for in the closing stages, after Armagh had Darragh McMullen dismissed for a puzzling second yellow card.
But they weren’t far off it, and they will take that into their round 1 game, away to a provincial finalist which won’t happen for another six-seven (IYKYK) weeks.
That will be one to see where the Tyrone support is at. What they might also consider is that O’Rourke has also had to take the job at a time of significant transition.
Yesterday, he handed championship debuts to Ethan Jordan, Ronan Cassidy, Joey Clarke and Ciaran Bogue. No other team that considers themselves in an elite bracket will be touching those numbers this year.
Others that saw gametime include the group that were blooded in 2024, almost all on the same day against Cavan: Aodhan Donaghy, Ben Cullen, Ciaran Daly, Eoin McElholm and Lorcan McGarrity.
The expectations placed on Tyrone is partly down to them being a relatively recent All-Ireland champion. That they won just six of the 14 Championship games in the following three seasons doesn’t cut through.
From the 2021 All-Ireland winners, Tyrone have lost Ronan McNamee, Peter Harte, Conor Meyler, Niall Sludden and Conor McKenna from the starting team.
Michael O’Neill is no longer involved, struggling with injuries. Substitutes Tiernan McCann and Cathal McShane have also retired. Mark Bradley is also gone and one of the highest-scoring forwards in the club game, Paul Donaghy, has turned down approaches to return.
This is a new team, facing an Armagh team that are hugely seasoned. Despite McGeeney making 10 changes throughout the game, they didn’t hand out any debuts, instead rotating starters back on in extra time.
Some questions will hang over from Sunday. Will Ethan Jordan be handed long-range frees, or will Niall Morgan resume them, presumably after shaking off the knock he sustained in breaking a kickout aimed at Jason Duffy?
What are the extent of the injuries that forced Darragh Canavan and Brian Kennedy off? Both are going for scans tomorrow.
And can they get Ruairí Canavan fully recovered and ready to take on a more ball-carrying role? Can Conn Kilpatrick continue his incredible form that he produced in Armagh, for example?
We might not have heard the last of Tyrone this summer.
Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here
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Armagh Big Days Ahead GAA Tyrone