Tyrone Club Football and Hurling

[longrunsthefox]

Well done to Omagh CBS on their great win in today's Rannafast Cup Final on a scoreline of 3-13 to 1-10. Not a bad return for a team that very few in the school fancied to win anything. A fine achievement for the two lads in charge. Young Mc Crory looks like he is quite a prospect

Who are the two lads in charge?

[orangeman]

Well done to Omagh CBS on their great win in today's Rannafast Cup Final on a scoreline of 3-13 to 1-10. Not a bad return for a team that very few in the school fancied to win anything. A fine achievement for the two lads in charge. Young Mc Crory looks like he is quite a prospect

Who are the two lads in charge?

Omagh CBS Rannafast Champions for only the second time!

Omagh CBS 3-13   St Pat's Armagh 1-10

Played in harsh weather conditions of high winds and rain at Dunmoyle.

Team managed by Kieran Donnelly and Finnian Moriarty.

[KIDDO 4]

Another McCullagh, 4 players from the current county  champions in the  winning squad,happy days.

[blueshark1]

Well done to Omagh CBS on their great win in today's Rannafast Cup Final on a scoreline of 3-13 to 1-10. Not a bad return for a team that very few in the school fancied to win anything. A fine achievement for the two lads in charge. Young Mc Crory looks like he is quite a prospect

His father was a handy footballer too. Colm Senior wouldve played with Drumragh in his playing days

[redcard]

Another McCullagh, 4 players from the current county  champions in the  winning squad,happy days.

would that not make them overage for this comp kiddo

[KIDDO 4]

RANNAFAST CUP STAYS IN TYRONE
Sat 21st Nov 2009

Corn Rann na Feirste

Scoil na mBráithre, An Omaigh 3-13     Coláiste Phádraig Ard Mhacha 1-10

Tyrone continues to rule the top grade of Colleges' football.  Most of the top trophies have sat in Tyrone cabinets over the past few years, and the BT Rannafast Cup shifted west from Dungannon to Omagh CBS after an enthralling final against St Patrick's Armagh on Saturday.

In hindsight, the decisive score was Collie McRory's goal 17 minutes into the game.

Armagh needed to show something for the first half when the stiff breeze assisted their efforts, but instead McRory's strike left them with a huge hill to climb after the break, trailing 1-4 to 0-5.

Worse was to come 5 minutes into the second half when midfielder Stephen Kelly charged down the centre and planted a terrific shot in the bottom corner of the Armagh net.

However that score seemed to raise St Patrick's and they hit back with three points, two for Niall Patterson and another for Daniel McQuaid.

However the elements were against them and as soon as Omagh re-asserted themselves with a number of points, there was only going to be one outcome.

Philip Kelly fired in an Armagh goal near the end.  It was not going to rally his troops enough to wipe out the deficit though and substitute Tom McGrath deservedly bagged a third Omagh goal in the 57th minute to secure the Cup.

There is little doubt but that the first half goal had a big impact on the game.  The quality of Omagh's play improved after the gap opened, while Armagh struggled despite matching their opponents in terms of possession for long periods.

At the back Blaine Garrity, Micheal McCann and Tomas McCarron stood out for the winners while up front Collie McRory had a fine game.

Indeed McCarron and McRory are already into a strong MacRory Cup squad, and it is expected that another couple will also get the call up from Ciaran McBride and Noel Donnelly after this performance.

Tom Murphy was the most dangerous Armagh forward, but his supply of ball was limited at times.

Conor White and Se Reavey played well in Armagh's defence while Michael Carson got up once more for a fine score.

Omagh CBS : Ryan Brolly, James Gallagher, Blaine Garrity, Colm O'Neill, Micheal McCann, Tomas McCarron, Barry O'Neill 0-1, Stephen Kelly 1-1, Brendan Donaghy, Ciaran McConnell, Ruairi Bradley 0-7, Damian Ball 0-1, Christopher McClean, Collie McRory 1-2, Cormac O'Neill 0-1.

Subs : Tom McGrath 1-0 for C McClean.

St Patrick's Armagh : Ethan Rafferty, Se Reavey, Sean Farry, Shea Freeman, Paul Campbell, Conor White, Michael Carson 0-1, Philip Kelly 1-0, Daniel McQuaid 0-1, Matthew Jones, Niall Patterson 0-4, Sean McLaughlin, Tiernan Donnelly 0-1, Tom Murphy 0-3, Ryan McShane.

Subs : Tommy Conlon for S McLaughlin, Cormac Fearon for P Campbell.

[sandwiches_in_the_boot]

Well done to Omagh CBS on their great win in today's Rannafast Cup Final on a scoreline of 3-13 to 1-10. Not a bad return for a team that very few in the school fancied to win anything. A fine achievement for the two lads in charge. Young Mc Crory looks like he is quite a prospect

His father was a handy footballer too. Colm Senior wouldve played with Drumragh in his playing days

Played with St Enda's, won at least one county title in the 50's (a couple of his brothers did too).

[No way ref]

Well done to Omagh CBS on their great win in today's Rannafast Cup Final on a scoreline of 3-13 to 1-10. Not a bad return for a team that very few in the school fancied to win anything. A fine achievement for the two lads in charge. Young Mc Crory looks like he is quite a prospect

His father was a handy footballer too. Colm Senior wouldve played with Drumragh in his playing days

Played with St Enda's, won at least one county title in the 50's (a couple of his brothers did too).

In the fifties !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[randomtask]

were there tyrone senior trials on today?

[nothingbettertobeat]

yes trillick at 11 this morning.

[KIDDO 4]

TYRONE Scor na nOg winners 2009
Rince Foirne                             Killyclogher
Amhranaiocht Aonair                 Padraig Colton Omagh
Ceol Uirlise                               Augher
Aithriseoireacht / Scealaiocht     Faolan Frien Castlederg
Bailead Ghrupa                         Errigal Ciaran
Nuachleas                                Omagh
Rince Seit                                Omagh
Trath na gCeist                         Kildress

[ziggysego]

Congratulations to Omagh CBS that the weekend. Young Collie MacRory is making a quare name for himself. Prehaps one to look towards for the future.

[KIDDO 4]

The Greencastle background  must also have helped young Colm.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

From today's Irish News, some recognition for that man Auchinleck...

Stick at it tyrone
Celebrating 125 years of Hurling
By Kenny Archer

In recent times, several Tyrone stars have stated a desire to become 'the Kilkenny of football'. An outsider might draw at least one parallel, that hurling 'among the bushes' apparently attracts the same (minimal) amount of attention as the big ball code does for the Cats.

Certainly, Tyrone is one of only two Ulster counties never to reach the Ulster SHC final (the other being Fermanagh). And arguably the most famous hurler from the O'Neill county was Peter Canavan, who was once registered with Killyclogher hurlers in order to enable him to represent his county until a row dividing football in Ballygawley was resolved.

Yet it has also been contended that a Tyrone man helped save hurling, before the Gaelic Athletic Association was formed.

On December 30, 1882, a meeting was held in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in Dublin, at the lecture room of Dr Hugh Alexander Auchinleck "for the purpose of taking steps to re-establish the national game of hurling".

A few days later a set of rules was adopted and the Dublin Hurling Club formally established with Auchinleck, a native of Liscreevaghan, Strabane, chosen as president. A certain Michael Cusack was elected vice-President.

Dublin Hurling Club lasted only a few months but it is credited with saving hurling from extinction.

That may be over-stating the case, but hurling has had a tenuous hold in Tyrone before then, and since. Around the same time, in the 1880s, there are documented recollections of games of 'caman' between a team from Washingbay and another consisting of players from Clonoe and Coalisland.

Coming right up to date, and this year's winners of the Ulster Club Junior Hurling Championship are Tyrone's representatives Naomh Colmcille – an amalgamated club for players from Clonoe and Coalisland.

Red Hands also lifted the inaugural Lory Meagher Cup this summer, defeating Donegal in a surprise triumph in the final at Croke Park, a first ever appearance by hurlers from the county at GAA headquarters.

Admittedly that was only the newly-introduced fourth tier of the hurling championship but that brief moment in the spotlight was some reward for the few Red Hands who have held the hurls aloft over the years.

Indeed, a wider audience might view Tyrone hurling as having largely been about two places, Carrickmore and Dungannon, and their two hurling clubs, Eire Og and Eoghan Ruadh.

The names tell their own tale, separate entities from the footballing Naomh Colmcille in Carmen and the Clarke's of Dungannon.

The hurling element has almost always been distinct from football in Tyrone, even in the early days. However, Brendan Harkin, who managed the Red Hand hurlers to two Ulster Junior Championships and an All-Ireland JHC in the mid-'90s, insists that degree of separation is not the cause of hurling's weakness in Tyrone: "It doesn't prevent hurling being played, we can't use that as an excuse."

It's hard to explain why hurling fell so far behind football in Tyrone. At first, the caman code made as many inroads as football. Appropriately enough, though, given Auchinleck's involvement at national level, hurling was relatively strong in Strabane, with the Lamh Dhearg club from there winning the first ever Tyrone SHC in 1905.

The GAA was slow to become widely established in Tyrone, though, and suffered periods of drastic, almost terminal, decline in the first quarter of the 20th century.

Yet while football revived, hurling barely recovered. From 1907 until 1946, a 40-year period, only one Tyrone SHC final was contested, Strabane Lamh Dhearg again the winners in 1926.

Killyclogher St Patrick's had collected the second Tyrone SHC in 1906 and Cappagh (Killyclogher) repeated the feat of taking the trophy off Strabane (albeit after a 21-year gap this time) when they won the revived SHC in 1947. Dungannon won the next year, then Dromore and Cappagh (Killyclogher) won a couple more titles in the early 1950s – after that, though, Dungannon became the dominant force in Tyrone club hurling, although there wasn't much competition.

As Harkin, a Killyclogher man himself, points out: "Over the years there have been quite a lot of clubs in Tyrone – the problem is that they're not all operating at the same time. There's been a couple of strong clubs and that's about it."

The situation now is much better than it was half-a-century ago, though. Records state that the only hurling club in existence in Tyrone in 1960 was Dungannon. There was only one SHC contested from 1958 to 1965.

As in other parts of the country, the spark came from a Central Council initiative of 1964, and subsequent funding, with Tyrone Coiste Iomana set up in February 1965. Juvenile teams were established in Dungannon, Moortown, Omagh, and Coagh, then in Benburb, who won the SHC in 1966 and were succeeded as champions by Omagh.

Tyrone minors even beat Donegal and Armagh to reach the 1966 Ulster MHC final, and did so again in 1967, but the upsurge in interest and involvement did not last.

There was no SHC in 1968 or 1970. Sure, the SHC final has been contested every since from 1971 onwards, but those 38 seasons have largely been about the big two, Carrickmore and Dungannon.

Only three other clubs have picked up the Benburb Cup over the past four decades, namely Omagh St Enda's (1971 and '73), Dunamanagh Aodh Ruadh (1981), and Killyclogher St Mary's (1991, '94, and '95). Since those back-to-back titles for Harkin's club, though, it's been all about the Carmen-Dungannon duopoly, with Strabane Shamrocks the only other senior finalists in the past decade, five years ago.

At least there has been that rivalry – for which we can thank a man from that bastion of football, Kerry. Gerry Ryle came to teach at Dean Brian Maguirc School in Carrickmore and dusted off some hurls to excellent effect. School lessons led to a club being formed in 1970, initially under the Naomh Colmcille banner, with the first SHC won in 1972, before branching off to become Eire Og in 1974.

In their 40 seasons, Carrickmore have collected 20 Tyrone SHCs, including an eight-in-a-row in the '80s, and moved ahead of Dungannon in the titles tally, even though the east Tyrone club collected this year's crown.

However, Harkin sees signs that those two might have serious rivals again in years to come: "Another positive was that Naomh Colmcille got to the League final and only lost it by a point to Carrickmore."

Despite their disappointment in the senior championship final this season, though, Eire Og won their 12th consecutive Tyrone MHC, so the future looks bright for Carmen, with underage teams making an impact in Ulster and also at schools level.

Yet Harkin points to the work being done at underage level in other areas too: "We're going into 37 primary schools to coach hurling and some of the hurling clubs are continuing on with winter indoor hurling. Coaching in schools is on a par with football, although the concentration is on schools in the catchment areas of hurling clubs."

Over the years, Tyrone clubs have looked outside the county in order to improve, playing in Armagh, Derry, and Donegal leagues. Both Carrickmore and Dungannon have won Ulster Shields, while the Carmen minors won the 2003 Ulster title.

Yet Harkin also feels they must look within to better themselves. A county board man, having twice been chairman and also secretary, and more recently PRO, he is also an advocate of hurling, so his view is a balanced one.

"There's great respect for hurling in Tyrone," he insists, before immediately adding: "although there's not that much being played. People do regard it as a good game."

His advice is simple: 'Hurlers, help yourselves': "The county board is not obstructive. I used to say to the hurlers: 'If we want to be great, there's nothing to stop us. Don't look around blaming football clubs or the county board'.

"The destiny of hurling is really in the hands of the hurling people of Tyrone. They will get financial and other support from the county board but nobody really can go out and play the game and organise the game except those who belong to the hurling."

Just two years ago, the man who succeeded Harkin as county secretary, the long-serving Dominic McCaughey, strongly criticised the commitment of certain Tyrone hurlers in his annual report after poor attendances at training and even for matches. The hurlers themselves involved the Gaelic Players' Association in complaints about their treatment.

Since then there has been a more concerted effort all round, but it still hasn't been a steady upward graph of progress, as Harkin acknowledges: "It all comes down to the personnel involved. If the hurlers want to train twice a week and take the county seriously they will reap rewards.

"They won the Lory Meagher after a bad start because obviously they got involved and decided the way forward was to behave like county men.

"When I had the county hurling team we tried to reach certain standards. I said: 'If we believe, then we can. If we believe hurling's the best then we'll do our best. If we believe we're good enough then we get out of the lowest division and move up a grade. Don't sit around complaining, be positive, be active'."

Again, he stresses that Tyrone being a football-mad county should not and does not hinder hurling: "Children will look to the footballers, surely, but Tyrone footballers have made efforts at summer camps and different times to promote hurling, and so has Mickey Harte. There's definitely no obstruction; it's maybe just an easy thing to sit and complain. The thing to do is get up and do it."

The chief failing of Tyrone hurling has been their failure to build on their sporadic successes at inter-county level. After that upsurge in the second half of the '60s, they next reached the 1976 Ulster Minor final. Then it was not until 1988 that the Minors won the Special All-Ireland Championship, in their third final in-a-row, then retained it.

At senior level, a first ever national success came with winning NHL Division Four in 1987, then that Junior All-Ireland win against Hertfordshire in 1996. The next year Tyrone again went up from Division Four and in 1999 won their third Ulster JHC in five seasons, but progress was not sustained.

This year has brought a national title at inter-county level and an Ulster success on the club scene. There's no good reason why Tyrone can't compete consistently and improve; after all, there aren't many hurling clubs in Down or Derry either.

Harkin concludes with a positive, yet realistic message for hurling in his county: "Nothing is impossible. It's only 15 men on the field and if you put the effort in it's remarkable what you can do.

"I'm not painting a rosy picture, there's a lot of work to be done. But as in any other sport where you don't have great numbers, the few have got to do. If you don't have those few people, the outsiders can't do anything.

"The county board can organise courses and can do this, that, and the other thing, but you need a few people who want to promote hurling; if you have that, you might have success."

Hurling doesn't need help from a Tyrone man now – but Tyrone hurling requires Red Hands to commit to the code. Otherwise, an historic year when O'Neill county hurlers won more on the national stage than its footballers will go to waste – again.

[mick the master]

Anybody hear anything about the trails yesterday?