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[In the Onion Bag]

Here are the ACTUAL STATS  as we near the end of the decade

                                      Kerry                    Tyrone
AI Titles                             4(possibly 5)               3

AI Final appearances             7(possibly 8 )              3

Semi appearances                  10                         4

Here is the full run down of the Tyrone and Kerry routes through the decade if anyone is interested in throwing on the anorak and analyzing them. I could not sleep well last night and this is the shite in my head at 2am, I've probably made a mistake or two.

Tyrone have played in 56 championship games from 2000-2009 inclusive.
They have won 37, drawn 7 and lost 12.

Kerry have played in 64 championship games from 2000-2009 inclusive - to date.
They have won 47, drawn 8 and lost 9.

Tyrone have played 21 different counties in the decade beating 18 of them at least once.
Cork, Meath and Sligo are the 3 teams they did not beat.

Kerry have played 20 different counties in the decade also beating 18 of them at least once.
Tyrone and Meath are the 2 teams they did not beat.

Tyrone have beaten the following 18 teams in 37 wins:
Derry 5 times.
Armagh and Down 4 times each.
Kerry 3 times.
Cavan, Louth, Dublin, Monaghan, Antrim, Fermanagh and Wexford 2 times each.
Donegal, Laois, Mayo, Galway, Leitrim, Westmeath and Kildare Once each.

Kerry have beaten the following 18 teams in 47 wins:
Cork 10 times.
Limerick 5 times.
Tipperary and Dublin 4 times each.
Galway, Mayo and Clare 3 times each.
Armagh, Monaghan, Longford and Waterford 2 times each.
Antrim, Derry, Fermanagh, Wicklow, Sligo, Kildare and Roscommon Once each

Tyrone have drawn with the following 5 teams in 7 draws:
Armagh and Down 2 times each.
Derry, Cavan and Louth all once.

Kerry have also drawn with 5 teams in 8 draws:
Cork 4 times.
Dublin, Armagh, Galway and Limerick once each

Tyrone have lost to the following 9 teams in 12 losses:
Armagh 3 times.
Derry 2 times.
Down, Donegal, Meath, Laois, Mayo, Sligo and Cork once each.

Kerry have lost to the following 4 teams in 9 losses:
Cork 4 times.
Tyrone 3 times.
Meath and Armagh once each

In Tyrone's 56 games they have played against:
Ulster Opposition: 35 times: W22,D6,L7
Leinster Opposition: 12 times: W9,D1,L2
Connacht Opposition: 5 times: W3,D0,L2
Munster Opposition: 4 times: W3,D0,L1

In Kerry's 64 games they have played against:
Munster Opposition: 33 times: W24,D5,L4
Ulster Opposition: 12 times: W7,D1,L4
Leinster Opposition: 10 times: W8,D1,L1
Connacht Opposition: 9 times: W8,D1,L0

Tyrone's 56 games:
28 games in Ulster championship, with 16 wins, 6 draws and 6 losses, winning 4 Ulster titles.
14 games in Qualifiers, with 11 wins,1 draw and 2 losses.
7 games in Quarter finals with 4 wins and 3 losses.
4 games in Semi finals with 3 wins and 1 loss.
3 games in Finals with 3 AI wins.

Kerry's 64 games:
27 games in Munster championship, with 19 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses, winning 6 Munster titles.
8 games in Qualifiers, with 8 wins.
10 games in Quarter finals with 9 wins and 1 draw.
11 games in Semi finals with 7 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses.
8 games in Finals with 4 AI wins, 1 draw and 3 losses.

I'll sleep better tonight now that is off my chest....

KM- there are people who can help you through this but you first must accept that you need to help yourself.  Get a life.

[comethekingdom]

Help KM ??  I thought he done a great job compiling all the info.

[JMohan]

I have great time for Kerry and Kerry people - but if Meath winning Sunday would shut KM up ... I'd take that any day

He really should be on the Hogan Stand

[Hardy]

I have great time for Kerry and Kerry people - but if Meath winning Sunday would shut KM up ... I'd take that any day

He really should be on the Hogan Stand

What are you talking about?

[blewuporstuffed]

I have great time for Kerry and Kerry people - but if Meath winning Sunday would shut KM up ... I'd take that any day

He really should be on the Hogan Stand

What are you talking about?

i think your confusing kerry mike with mike sheehy

[longrunsthefox]

Kenny Archer gives Pat Spillane and the Kerry mindset some touch in the irish News today. Spillane's obvious distain for Tyrone and Ulster... (partitionist) and gloating although he tipped them for the All Ireland this year.  Archer rightly suggests it was also relief they would not be in the final to beat Kerry again. 
He ends. "Most of the country now thinks that most Kingdom    footballers followers are arrogant, spoilt brats, who throw their toys out of the pram when they lose and rub others' faces in the dirt when they win. There will be little sorry now if Kerry don't win the All Ireland."
He is spot on... Up The Royal or Rebels... whoever Kerry play

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

And that aforementioned article:

Pundits can't let bias Spill out for all to hear
Hitting the Target
By Kenny Archer

GOOD, better, best. It's a simple enough progression, learnt at primary school by most people.

Yet in the playground world of some sports pundits, the only alternative to good is 'bad' – or, better (worse?) still, they'll say 'dreadful', 'awful', or some similar scathing word.

Since I stopped wearing short trousers on a regular basis, I've never had the mindset that declares winners to be wonderful and everyone else to be rubbish. Perhaps that comes from being a Liverpool fan, but I like to think that I can be relatively sane in my analysis of sport.

At least mere supporters can be excused for the simplistic remarks that come post-match or after their team wins a trophy, comments that basically go along the lines of: 'We won, so we're great and you're rubbish, na na na na na.'

Everyone is biased to some degree, and the extent of that is often greater in the GAA. For many, it's a case of 'my county, right or wrong'.

Yet for highly-paid pundits, especially those employed by a public service broadcaster, to indulge in such infantile behaviour, is inexcusable.

RTE's Pat Spillane, in particular, made no attempt to disguise his delight that Tyrone lost their All-Ireland semi-final last Sunday, even though their conquerors were Cork, arch-rivals of his own county Kerry.

Of course, the Red Hands have been the real rivals to Kerry for most of this decade, which was what truly motivated Spillane's unbalanced outburst.

Spillane ranted at half-time about the unfair dismissal of Cork midfielder Alan O'Connor with the fear of a man who thought Tyrone were going to come back and reach the final – where they would, of course, beat his beloved Kerry. Again.

I'm certainly not anti-Kerry. I've praised them on many occasions and, in May, tipped them to win back the Sam Maguire.

Pat may well be right that Kerry are 'The Team of the Decade'. However, this question will always be asked: 'How come they couldn't beat Tyrone in the Championship, then?' More questions flow from that, pertinent to Pat's remarks about the Red Hands.

If Tyrone aren't a special side then how did they manage to overcome the Kingdom on all three occasions? Shouldn't the great Kerry have won at least one of those matches? Don't those results suggest to anyone sensible that Tyrone are rather more than a team without great players, as Spillane ridiculously implies?

To paraphrase Lady Bracknell, from Oscar Wide's 'The Importance of Being Earnest' (admittedly not a noted GAA follower herself): To lose one All-Ireland final to Tyrone may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.

And to lose two after having already lost to them in an All-Ireland semi-final looks like a pattern.

Kerry certainly cared, and cared a lot, about each and every one of those losses, as Spillane's spite shows.

The eagle-eye may pick up on that phrase 'how did they manage?' and point to the sideline. Mickey Harte is undoubtedly one of the GAA greats in that regard. yet the man himself would readily acknowledge – and often has done – that he has been blessed with a highly talented group of players at his disposal. Mickey is the man with the plan, but he still needs top players to make it work.

Tyrone's two-time All-Ireland U21 winners of 2000 and 2001 were arguably the greatest ever at that level and many of them have progressed to one of the best senior sides of modern times, as acknowledged by Armagh legend and current Kildare boss Kieran McGeeney.

Kerry have been great too. Spillane trumpeted his county's record run of 10 consecutive

All-Ireland semi-final appearances, and five (possibly six, if they beat Meath this Sunday) finals in-a-row, both of which are truly remarkable achievements.

But for most of those seasons Kerry have had to win at most just one serious match in Munster to get into the All-Ireland quarter-finals, the game in question being when (or if) they come up against neighbours Cork.

The provincial championships format undoubtedly helps Kerry and hinders Tyrone and other Ulster teams.

Unlike the ungracious Spillane, however, I can happily acknowledge that it's Kerry's quality that takes them on from the last eight into the last four – and into those last five finals.

Maybe Spillane was in a bad mood because Armagh minors had humiliated their Kerry counterparts in the curtain-raiser, the young Orchard lads repeatedly ripping open the Kingdom rearguard.

In truth, he probably wasn't too bothered about that as, despite not winning an All-Ireland minor since 1994, Kerry have done rather well on the senior scene over the past 10 years.

However, he should heed the words of a soccer great, Matt Busby, who once said: "Winning isn't everything. There should be no conceit in victory and no despair in defeat."

Both Tyrone manager Mickey Harte and his Cork counterpart Conor Counihan showed they understood those sentiments.

Kerry (but not Spillane) were gracious in 2002 after Armagh surprised them in the All-Ireland final, but elements in the county have since shown far less good grace after losses to Tyrone.

Instead of allowing Spillane's bitterness to infect the studio, the pundits should have offered some serious analysis of how Cork maintained their five-point interval lead to the end of the match, despite being a man down.

Playing very well was a huge factor, but Cork cynicism also played its part, with some 'robust' tackling.

Notably, nowhere near the same amount of time was devoted to discussing why John Miskella was NOT sent off, as he should have been, compared to the furore over O'Connor's dismissal.

At times it also seemed that the Rebels had at least 16 men on the pitch, and I'm not talking about referee John Bannon and his linesman, who presumably did not deem Miskella's strike as a red card offence.

Attention should have been focussed on the Cork runners/ water-carriers, who seemed never to be off the pitch and were clearly cleverly disrupting Tyrone, especially as regards their short kick-outs in the second half.

Of course, it's only Ulster teams who can be accused of cynicism.

It's a pity for Kerry people that Pat Spillane is their public face – and that's not the type of personal criticism that the man himself might stoop to in describing someone.

Perhaps I should say 'public voice'. The point is, much of the rest of the country now thinks that most Kingdom football followers are arrogant, spoiled brats, who throw their toys out of the pram when they lose and rub others' faces in the dirt when they win. There will be little sorrow now if Kerry don't win the All-Ireland – but may the best team win.

[ziggysego]

I have great time for Kerry and Kerry people - but if Meath winning Sunday would shut KM up ... I'd take that any day

He really should be on the Hogan Stand

Eh? KM is a gentleman. You sure you don't mean MS?

[Donnellys Hollow]

Kenny Archer gives Pat Spillane and the Kerry mindset some touch in the irish News today. Spillane's obvious distain for Tyrone and Ulster... (partitionist) and gloating although he tipped them for the All Ireland this year.  Archer rightly suggests it was also relief they would not be in the final to beat Kerry again. 
He ends. "Most of the country now thinks that most Kingdom    footballers followers are arrogant, spoilt brats, who throw their toys out of the pram when they lose and rub others' faces in the dirt when they win. There will be little sorry now if Kerry don't win the All Ireland."
He is spot on... Up The Royal or Rebels... whoever Kerry play

What a load of nonsense. Kerry folk are the salt of the earth for the most part. They're a proud county and are gracious both in victory and defeat in my experience.

Spillane is only a wind-up merchant and its not as if he's an official spokesman for Kerry followers. Brolly waffles on about Ulster football as if the rest of the country is still in the dark ages. I wouldn't let his views change my opinion of the good GAA folk of Ulster though.

Pure gutter journalism.

[longrunsthefox]

Kenny Archer gives Pat Spillane and the Kerry mindset some touch in the irish News today. Spillane's obvious distain for Tyrone and Ulster... (partitionist) and gloating although he tipped them for the All Ireland this year.  Archer rightly suggests it was also relief they would not be in the final to beat Kerry again. 
He ends. "Most of the country now thinks that most Kingdom    footballers followers are arrogant, spoilt brats, who throw their toys out of the pram when they lose and rub others' faces in the dirt when they win. There will be little sorry now if Kerry don't win the All Ireland."
He is spot on... Up The Royal or Rebels... whoever Kerry play

What a load of nonsense. Kerry folk are the salt of the earth for the most part. They're a proud county and are gracious both in victory and defeat in my experience.

Spillane is only a wind-up merchant and its not as if he's an official spokesman for Kerry followers. Brolly waffles on about Ulster football as if the rest of the country is still in the dark ages. I wouldn't let his views change my opinion of the good GAA folk of Ulster though.

Pure gutter journalism.

They have absoultly been anything but gracious in defeat in recent years.. from Spillane to Sean Walsh to Jack O'Connor's book and their supporters. For years we admired Kerry here in Tyrone especially in the 70s and 80s glory years. What begrudgers they turned out to be when we started to beat them . Horrible shower.

[Hardy]

Who is Kenny Archer? Whoever he is, he must have no embarrassment threshold. If some of the more rabid partisans here posted something like that we'd laugh at him. This character gets paid for it!

[Donnellys Hollow]

I've seen better articles written for the Inter-Cert English exam. That really is one of the most pathetic things I've ever read.

[longrunsthefox]

He reflects how many now see Kerry whatever the standard of writing.

[Billys Boots]

It takes gracelessness, paranoia and self-obsession to a new level.  And apparently the Northern lads rate this guy highly; what a joke.

[Donnellys Hollow]

He reflects how many now see Kerry whatever the standard of writing.

There are many pathetic people out there then