McKenna Cup 2024

[Orchardman]

What is micky harte playing at?

Paddy tally has spoke against this today, about St Marys having a small pick of players and yet harte wants Marys's two best players, sean o neill and peter harte. Why does peter harte, who played plenty of football last year, have to play for his county in the micky mouse mckenna cup. It's one thing taking players from UUJ or Queens, but St Mary's have very little to start with.

National league, which no team ever seems to want to win, is surely plenty of time to get a team together to get systems going. I would say the same if Armagh did this as well. And yes, harte and other managers will say that it's up to the players to choose, but we all know they don't really have a choice. The only thing that's important at this time of year for a college player is sigerson next month, the mckenna cup and national league are shadow boxing cups, rubbish

[LeoMc]

Where a player is established on his County panel (e.g. P Harte) the County Manager is not going to learn much in the McKenna cup and they should be allowed to play for the University to leave room in the County panel for another player. 

It is slightly different for fringe players who may be border line for making the cut for the National league. They will have established themselves in the Sigerson panel but may need a couple of games to impress their County manager so they have some football beyond Sigerson.

[Armaghgael]

Anyone have the Queens panel?

[trileacman]

What is micky harte playing at?

Paddy tally has spoke against this today, about St Marys having a small pick of players and yet harte wants Marys's two best players, sean o neill and peter harte. Why does peter harte, who played plenty of football last year, have to play for his county in the micky mouse mckenna cup. It's one thing taking players from UUJ or Queens, but St Mary's have very little to start with.

National league, which no team ever seems to want to win, is surely plenty of time to get a team together to get systems going. I would say the same if Armagh did this as well. And yes, harte and other managers will say that it's up to the players to choose, but we all know they don't really have a choice. The only thing that's important at this time of year for a college player is sigerson next month, the mckenna cup and national league are shadow boxing cups, rubbish

Agree wholeheartedly.

[tyroneman]

I would imagine MH wants to let the fringe/new players have a solid base of established players to bring them on in each game and help them ease into the side. It makes no sense for Tyrone to field 15 inexperienced players.

A new forward will show what he can do much better with Peter Harte feeding him the ball than chasing after poor ball in which is a result of, nerves, over eagerness or a 'look at me' syndrome.

Add in the fact that MH doesn't believe the colleges should be wagging the dog.....

Not saying this is right or wrong but would be my take on the logic behind it. 

[DuffleKing]

Surely there's an abundance of established players available to any manager without the 3/4 that are college students?

[PAULD123]

What is micky harte playing at?

Paddy tally has spoke against this today, about St Marys having a small pick of players and yet harte wants Marys's two best players, sean o neill and peter harte. Why does peter harte, who played plenty of football last year, have to play for his county in the micky mouse mckenna cup. It's one thing taking players from UUJ or Queens, but St Mary's have very little to start with.

Micky harte is a great manager and must be admired. But his continual disrespect to the McKenna cup is a disgrace. It should be simple. It should not be the players choice. If teh University wants them then they should be cup-tied to the university, whether they choose to play or not. No player should be allowed to opt out of the uni team to play for the county. The only reason a player should be able to play for his county while at uni should be if the uni team state they don't want him.

[haranguerer]

Utter bollocks. County football is more important than university football. M Harte knows what hes at, and is right to claim those players for the good of his team. It might not be great for the competition, but if you're trying to build a team and also a team mentality, its not great having a few of your players playing against you at any point in the season. And the NFL is pretty high stakes now - its not the experimentation ground it once was. From Tyrones point of view, this is a great policy of Hartes

[Radda bout yeee]

Utter bollocks. County football is more important than university football. M Harte knows what hes at, and is right to claim those players for the good of his team. It might not be great for the competition, but if you're trying to build a team and also a team mentality, its not great having a few of your players playing against you at any point in the season. And the NFL is pretty high stakes now - its not the experimentation ground it once was. From Tyrones point of view, this is a great policy of Hartes

I think it disrespects the competition in the respect that it becomes just another inter county competition and doesn't give the universities a fair crack at the title as their best players are being forced into playing for their county! The Uni's are just there to make up the numbers which is not fair in any competition!

[Orchardman]

Of course I understand harte's position is that a new team needs built, and he will be the one getting it in the neck if things don't go well this summer. But at the same time, this is only for basically 3-4 weeks, and wer talking about 2-3 players only.

To me it's more the stubbornness that he's been at this since around 2007 when he picked a load of UUJ players like coly cavanagh etc, and there was a big ruckus about it. He ended up winning the war as usual, and the Ulster council backed down. Harte's line is that the college teams are lucky to be in the mckenna cup and should just be happy with that, maybe we should just let him run the Ulster council.

By the way, though I'm a teacher, I didn't go to St Mary's, so have no care of how they do, but it's the issue at hand that is not right. No sign of him helping his old pal paddy tally from 2003 

[Orchardman]

Utter bollocks. County football is more important than university football. M Harte knows what hes at, and is right to claim those players for the good of his team. It might not be great for the competition, but if you're trying to build a team and also a team mentality, its not great having a few of your players playing against you at any point in the season. And the NFL is pretty high stakes now - its not the experimentation ground it once was. From Tyrones point of view, this is a great policy of Hartes

Yes, no doubt about it, county football is the big one. That is county football playing championship in the summer is the big stuff, way ahead of anything. In terms of football from January to march, sigerson is much more important for some people. Personally speaking, I would never go to any mckenna cup or national league game. I agree it should be more important, and that's another grip i have with the whole drawn out county season with meaningless games, until the season really starts in JULY!


Ultimately it's club football I'm interested in, not university nor county football.

Anyway, best of luck to Micky in 2012

[BennyHarp]

Mickey Harte is 100% correct in picking the lads to play for Tyrone. I suspect these fellas would prefer to play for their county as it could lead to playing in the biggest games in the GAA calendar, so its nonsense to suggest that these players should be forced to play for their Universities. Although the Sigerson is a mighty competition it is not quite as important as those involved in it actually think it is. What is the average attendance at Sigerson Cup finals? Ive been to a few and it would be no more than a big McKenna cup game.

As for the point about Peter Harte being an established Tyrone player? In my opinion that just isnt true yet and he, as much as anyone, needs games in a Tyrone jersey. What i saw last year was an immensely talented player, who was struggling at times with the demands of inter county football. More games with experienced Tyrone players in the less pressurised environment of the McKenna cup will only help his progression.

[trileacman]

Someone once argued to me that Harte's selection of college players in the Mc Kenna Cup worked against players who were tradesmen. Guys that came from McCrory football had the Sigerson Cup to highlight to county managers there ability and worth as serious inter-county players. Players who had played vocational schools should have the McKenna Cup to show what they can do especially when playing against the college sides. There is a certain truth in that, moreso in the case of tradesmen playing with clubs in the lower leagues where the club competition wouldn't be rated as highly.

[onefaircounty]

What is the average attendance at Sigerson Cup finals? Ive been to a few and it would be no more than a big McKenna cup game.

Some college football has higher attendance figures than NFL, attendance figures are a moot point given the general scheduling of Sigerson games. I've been to plenty of McKenna cup and Sigerson games and one is mile better than the other.

I'm with the college bosses on this. They have added plenty to the competition and are handicapped entering as they are always away, the Sigerson comes just after the competition while county teams still have a couple of months and a full league programme to try stuff. I think it's fairly plain to see, in my opinion.

[bigfrank]

Thursday, January 5th, 2012 | Posted by admin

One New Face for Tyrone v Queens

The long wait for a return to inter county football is almost over.  Mickey has named a new look  Tyrone team to take on Queens who are probably the strongest of the University sides in this years competition.  Urney's Johnny Lafferty makes his first appearance in a Tyrone Senior team while Peter Harte moves to centre half back.  The word is that Stephen O'Neill has picked up a hand injury and isn't available for this game.

1 John Devine – Aireagal Chiaráin
2 PJ Quinn – Baile na Móna
3 Justin McMahon – An Omaigh
4 Damian McCaul – Domhnach Mór
5 Sean O'Neill – An Droim Mór
6 Peter Harte – Aireagal Chiaráin
7 Stephen McNally – Oileán a'Ghuail
8 Aidan Cassidy – Eochar
9 Colm Cavanagh – An Mhaigh
10 Matthew Donnelly – Trí Leac
11 Martin Penrose – Achadh Uí Aráin
12 Michael Murphy – Gallbhaile
13 Patrick McNiece – Oilean a'Ghuail
14 Jonathan Lafferty – Urnaí
15 Tommy McGuigan – Árd Bó

17 Dermot Carlin – Coill an Chlochair
18 Conor Clarke – An Omaigh
19 Kyle Coney – Árd Bó
20 Ciaran Gervin – Doire Locháin
21 Peter Hughes – Eiscreach
22 Aidan McCrory – Aireagal Chiaráin
23 Niall McKenna – Domhnach Mór
24 Ronan McNamee – Achadh Uí Aráin
25 Stephen McNulty – Cluain Eo
26 Ronan O'Neill – An Omaigh