How Tyrone was transformed from makeweights into one of football's superpowers

Irish Daily Mirror

12-07-2025

It wasn't that Tyrone were an irrelevance. No, throughout the first 100 years of the GAA, they had won people's respect.
Their problem was they won precious little else.
The bottom line is that up until the GAA's centenary year, Gaelic football had two permanent superpowers and everyone else either came and went or else weren't seen at all.
And Tyrone were stuck in the latter category.
These are the facts. In 1983, 99 years after the GAA was formed, Tyrone had three Ulster senior championships and three minor All-Irelands engraved onto their honours board.
But in the 42 years since, the etcher has been carving history. Until 1986, they had never appeared in an All-Ireland final. They've since been to seven.
Until 2003, they had never won an All-Ireland. They now have four.
Until 1998, they had won three minor All-Irelands. They now have nine, the latest arriving last Sunday.
Until 1990, they had never won an Under 21 All-Ireland. They now have eight.
And that's before we mention the two National Leagues, the six All-Ireland Vocational schools titles, the 13 Ulster senior titles, picked up since 1984. Someone should write a book about that year.
For that was when it all changed for Tyrone, when the foundation stones were built which saw them turn from an easy touch into a genuine football superpower.
'I'm not comfortable with the word superpower being attached to us,' says Benny Hurl, who was involved in the management team that won a minor All-Ireland last week. 'A lot of hard work goes on in Tyrone for sure, but hard work takes place all over Ireland. It's not just us.'
Perhaps so, but it's clear that Tyrone works smart as well as hard.
For these are the facts: only two other counties, Dublin and Kerry, have won more All-Irelands this century; only three teams, the Dubs, Kerry and Mayo, have appeared in more All-Ireland semi-finals since 2000 while no county has won more All-Irelands than Tyrone at minor and Under 20/21 level in the same timeframe.
This is the story of how Tyrone footballers morphed from Clark Kent into Superman.
FOOTBALL IS ART
Before there was Mickey Harte, there was Art McRory, the founding father of Tyrone coaching. 'A hugely gifted and influential man,' says Hurl.
McRory was a teacher by profession but really he was more than that. 'A pioneer,' says Joe McMahon, a Tyrone All-Ireland winner in 2005 and 2008. 'He guided; he led; he moulded men.'
It was McRory who brought Tyrone to the 1986 and 1995 All-Irelands as well as to their first national title at senior level in 2002. More than that, he was Tyrone's Rinus Michels, Harte their Johann Cruyff.
Everything started with McRory, those successful coaches that came after - Harte, Paddy Tally, Hurl, Peter Canavan, Ciaran McBride, Danny Ball, Brian Dooher, Fergal Logan, Martin Coyle, Liam Donnelly - learning from the master.
Between them all, they shaped Tyrone. The titles started coming, first at underage level, then - when Harte took charge in 2003 - at senior.
'Anything Mickey did was competitive, whether it was a drill or an in-house game,' says McMahon. 'He is a great wordsmith in terms of how he gets his message across, too. When he speaks, people listen.
'When I was there, his big thing was instilling pride and privilege into you with regard to playing for Tyrone. 'You have earned this jersey,' he'd tell us. 'Make sure you leave it in a better place'.'
This is 2008 footballer of the year Sean Cavanagh's take: 'Mickey's big thing was he never felt inferior to anyone or anything, ever. The stars almost aligned. Peter was established; a new crop of underage players had emerged; and Mickey took charge.
'We knew the talent was there in 2003. But we had never won anything, All-Ireland wise. We had an inferiority complex.
'So, Mickey drilled into us that we were better than Dublin, than Kerry, than Armagh. Ever since we won that first All-Ireland, we have not feared anyone. We almost love the feeling, 'Come on Tyrone, we are on our own'. That is who we are. We are not ashamed to be a part of that.'
JUST JEALOUS GUYS
Before Tyrone, there was Down, All-Ireland champions in 1991 and 1994. Then came Donegal, champs in 1992; next was Derry, the 1993 winners, and then Armagh.
'One thing you have to acknowledge is that Tyrone is a big county, and a footballing county. There is a lot of ambition here,' says Cavanagh, who remembers being a boy waiting for two hours to see the Derry bus pass through The Moy, his village, with their 1993 All-Ireland.
'The stimulation of the other Ulster sides winning in the early '90s played a part in our rise, no question. For me growing up, we were told as children to support the Ulster team in an All-Ireland. We always felt that Ulster pride.
'I idolised the likes of Anthony Tohill, Mickey Linden; their success stoked fires in us. We had the brilliance of Peter The Great and came so close ourselves in 1995. I remember crying in the Cusack Stand that day when Dublin beat us by a point.
'But at the same time the fires were starting to ignite and from then on, it was only a matter of time before we began to win things … big things.'
TROUBLES ENDING
The Troubles is a touchy subject. Those of us who lived through it, don't like to speak of it, too much loss, too much pain.
Yet you can't ignore the fact that the GAA has thrived in the six counties since the political situation stabilised in the 1990s. Just look at the facts. Until 1990, Ulster teams had won the All-Ireland on eight occasions.
Since then, Tyrone (four), Down, Donegal and Armagh (two each) and Derry (one), have brought Sam home. You can't say it is a coincidence that as soon as the intimidation ended, our games thrived.
'As a child, I remember going to Dungannon Leisure Centre and being told, 'take off your Tyrone top, you aren't allowed to wear it',' says Cavanagh.
'It was a real taboo thing. Now GAA jerseys are everywhere and anywhere but because you have more of an openness and pride in the GAA, participation levels have gone through the roof. The political stuff has settled down.'
GRUNT WORK
Benny Hurl is a GAA man. It's in the blood.
A Sigerson Cup winning coach with UUJ, now a minor All-Ireland winner with Tyrone, he flies under the radar on a national level, but only because Tyrone have produced so many outstanding coaches. And that's just the point he seeks to make.
'Throughout the county, at club, at primary school, at secondary school, you have so many outstanding coaches,' says Hurl, 'people who have a love for Tyrone, surely, but the GAA in general. That's the same everywhere, I know. It's not just us.'
That's true. But Tyrone does things differently. They run their own summer camps, for example; the number of former inter county players - such as Peter and Pascal Canavan, Ciaran McBride - who are coaching in schools is disproportionately higher in quality and numbers than in other counties.
'In 1984, the GAA placed an emphasis on developing facilities for our centenary year,' says Hurl.
Tyrone, with 54 clubs, really went after that idea.
Cavanagh said: 'When I go to Go Games around the county, I see junior clubs which now have five or six pitches, walking tracks around them. I coach Under 5s. We have 30 kids on any training night. Thirty years ago, we would have had around five.'
Then there is Club Tyrone, the fundraising body set up in 1995. 'We are a big county, lots of engineering firms and big businesses,' says Cavanagh. 'There has been a real buy-in to developing football in the county.'
Their centre of excellence at Garvaghy is not just a building, not just a meeting place but a footballing university where coaching standards are raised. 'We're a big county; Garvaghy is smack bang in the middle,' says Cavanagh.
'The quality and investment in coaching have increased. The right people have been behind them. A lot of counties seem to be fractured. Tyrone has been very good at pooling resources and trying to get the best out of us.'
VIRTUOUS CIRCLE
'Success breeds success,' says McMahon.
His career came after the 1998 All-Ireland minor breakthrough and the back-to-back Under 21s who followed. He was on the Hill in 2003 but on the pitch in 2005 and 2008.
And that's the point people have missed. That generation in the Noughties has been followed up on. Today, against Kerry, Tyrone will appear in their 11th All-Ireland semi-final in 22 years. That's serious consistency and that's before we mention the four Hogan Cup successes enjoyed by their schools in that timeframe, the three Under 20 All-Irelands won in the last four years, the minor All-Ireland won last weekend.
McMahon says: 'You look at the quality of schools' football in the county. Tyrone schools and underage clubs constantly competing at the top end. The quality and drive of coaching has been way ahead for a number of years.'
Hurl reckons being a large county - one that has 54 clubs - helps as well as the fact it is largely a rural population, as the GAA thrives outside of urban areas.
For McMahon, the number of county players working as teachers in Tyrone schools is huge: 'That kind of coaching and belief they gave us was special.
'The power of those guys being role models in the schools; and then the people and role models you had in your own clubs, how would you not have success from that? The foundation of a good player is having that hard work and belief. The other attributes will fall in behind that and support that. The teaching is a huge part of why Tyrone has had success.'
NO FEAR
Once upon a time, Tyrone had an inferiority complex.
Like in 1986, they led that All-Ireland final by seven points before missing a penalty and losing it by eight. Today, they won't hold any fear.
McMahon says: 'We are not fixated on past glories. There are generations now who want to prove themselves and put their own stamp on things, write their own chapter for Tyrone's history.
'Any team that has success drives the next generation. That's who we are.'